Chapter Two: 'Stormus', Alina, and the Truth of Ice
After a few more discussions about they learned more about the kids: Julien having autism with anxiety, Seraphina being protective of Julien because he gets forgotten easily by everyone that's not friends or family, and the Smith siblings wildfire temper, the group got onto a bus after Julien took the lab coat off and headed for the museum.
(AN: I don't know if Yang's temple is in the forest or floating in the sky, so in this story it's in the forest where the tour group visited.)
Once they reached the museum, they exited the bus to see two people standing in front of the doors while looking around.
One of them was a fourteen year old boy with auburn hair and ocean blue eyes wearing a dark blue jacket over a dark gray shirt, frayed jeans, and what looked like black boots. The other person was a twelve year old girl with short black hair and electric blue eyes wearing a dark red long-sleeved shirt, a pale blue knee-length skirt, and a pair of black running shoes.
"Stormus! Alina!" Morro shouted as he ran towards the duo, who looked at him in shock before realizing who it was running towards them.
"Stormus?" Kai asked as he tried to keep in a snort.
"It's a nickname," Mada said as she waved aimlessly in her past father's direction. "He refuses to tell anyone his real name which only his sister and parents know, just like how I prefer to be called by my nickname."
That earned confused looks from the past ninja.
"If anyone hears my real name, they think of Lord Garmadon and not Sensei Garmadon."
After a few minutes, most which consisted of Cole and Jay making themselves look like idiots, they finally entered the museum before 'Stormus' suddenly turned around.
"Okay, so there's this thing that..." And then he went into a flurry of words that no one tried to keep up.
"Sorry about my brother," Alina said before grabbing 'Stormus' ear. "He gets it from Dad."
She earned blank looks in return and almost everyone looked at Jay.
"What?!" He shouted.
"They're our kids." Nya said as she pointed at the kids and he immediately saw the similarities.
Alina had Nya's hair but longer and his eyes while 'Stormus' had his hair and Nya's eyes, and even their clothing looked similar to theirs.
This time, Jay sputtered and tried to form a complete sentence before fainting with a smile.
"At least this time he fainted from happiness." Mada said to fill the sudden silence from watching Jay.
As it turns out, the item the excavators found wasn't ready for public view because of it probably being useful for any Elemental Master. Surprisingly, none of the guards wondered why the older ninja looked younger or just didn't care.
"How much longer?" Jay asked, causing everyone to groan before Alina moved everyone out of the way. The answer of why became clear after a few seconds.
'Stormus' suddenly had electricity surrounding him and looked like he was in pain.
"What the-?!" "Is he okay?!" "Is that normal?!" "What's wrong with him?!"
"When I was a baby, I was really fussy," Alina said with a blank face. "Neither of our parents could figure out what was wrong with me: I was fussy after I ate, after I was changed, even after I had my nap. 'Stormus' though had a different idea to get me to calm down and it ended up with him being like this once in a while. He forced his Element to appear and shocked himself in front of me, making me laugh and calm down. Turns out, I wanted something to play with but none of the toys worked for me."
After a while, 'Stormus' stopped releasing lightning and didn't look at affected before they arrived at a door. The guard who was at the door, the same older guard, opened it and let them into the storage room.
"Statue of Hypnobrai..." Kai muttered as he looked at the golden statue warily.
"Lots of crates... Jeez, didn't anyone put these things out on display yet?" Lloyd asked as he read the labels on the dusty crates.
"Considering that you were possessed by Morro, not you brother, in this room: no." Mada said to Lloyd then to Morro as he gave her a confused look.
"Is this an hourglass?" Jay asked, making everyone turn around to see what he was talking about. Sitting on a pedestal, untouched by dust or dirt, was an hourglass but there was a visible difference.
The hourglass had no sand in it, was as long as an arm from fingertip to shoulder, and in the middle was a glowing ball of blue light with pale blue lightning.
After a quick observation, everyone looked at the plaque that held the words that helped them understand the hourglass more.
Tezra's Hourglass of Technology
Whoever is worthy shall become the Master of Technology
"Tezra?" Nya asked curiously.
"One of Dad's ancestors," 'Stormus' said as everyone turned to look at him. "They say that she accidentally created a new Element and decided that instead of giving it away, she allowed the Element itself to choose its' Bearer but no one was worthy, so now it stays in that hourglass until the rightful Bearer arrives."
"Every Element is slightly sentient," Alina said as she started putting things away. "They can tell the Bearer who is worthy of their Element if they have no children and are near the end of their lives."
"So, the Master of Ice chose me because his Element sensed me?" Zane asked, and the twins shared a look.
"Yet it never happened to him." Morro said, earning a smack on the back of his head from Mada. "OW! That hurt!"
"It'd hurt more if it was Sera or Jules!" Mada shouted, causing the past ninja to look at the twins curiously.
"We have Dad's super strength." They said in unison, making the past ninja look at Cole before looking back at the twins.
Julien huffed before walking to the Hypnobrai statue... and picking it up with one hand shocking the past selves.
"We understood Seraphina having super strength with her Element," Jay said as Julien set the statue back on the ground. "We were just confused about you having super strength... until now."
"And what Mor means is: the Wind Element never spoke to Morro to pass on his Element-" Seraphina
"Maybe because he was killed suddenly instead of nearing the end of his life." Julien
"Anyway, I remember Papa going through Uncle Wu's stuff after the funeral and found letters bounded together," Mada said with a curious look on her face. "Strange thing was that the recipient's name on all of them said Hale Julien."
"Hale Julien? Could that be Father?" Zane asked hopefully.
"No, Grandfather's name was Henry Julien, but maybe this Hale Julien will give some answers." Julien said.
"Then we have to go to the Monastery in order to get the letters." Mada said.
"Which Monastery though?" Morro asked. "The one in the mountains or the one Dad and Papa built to train us and to be close to the business?"
"The mountain Monastery is abandoned so Papa must've moved all of it to the Monastery near Steep Wisdom." Mada answered, leading everyone outside to the bus stop.
It was a ten minute bus ride to the Monastery, or house if it was glanced at. The group entered an opened hallway covered beige walls and brown wooden floors with a couple door frames leading to different rooms. The first room on the right led to a sitting room with a couch and two recliners with selves full of books covering the back wall. The second room, this time on the left, led to a living room with a couch in front of a TV on an entertainment stand filled with games and DVDs, beanbags on one side of the room ready to be used, a black coffee table in front of the couch, and a door to the far right of the TV. The room straight across from the front door led to a large kitchen with an island in the middle, a large black dining table, brown cabinets and counters, and stainless steel appliances.
"How did we afford this?" Lloyd asked in shock.
"Every time you guys saved Ninjago, the city compensated all of you for your efforts, so when you and Dad got married, you combined your savings and bought the building in order to repurpose it and also decided to bring back Steep Wisdom so you still have a job and income even though you're not ninja anymore." Mada answered as she looked through the counter drawers.
"You like to keep important documents in a kitchen drawer since it doubles as your office because I took the office room as my room when I was born." Mor said.
"You didn't have to throw him out."
"He asked for it!"
"He was baiting you, and you should know better to not fall for it!"
The front door opened and a pair of familiar voices was heard.
"How would you react if it was you?"
"I still remember Uncle Wu's teachings about training without our Elements."
"Hehe, yeah I-" An older version of Kai walked into the kitchen and just stared at the group. (AN: It's the future self Kai sees in Grave Danger.)
"Kai, what's wrong?" A voice behind him sounded out before moving and revealing an older version of Lloyd with his hair in a ponytail wearing Garmadon's Sensei robes.
"H-hey Dad. Hey Papa." Mor said sheepishly.
"So let me get this straight," Montgomery, future Lloyd, said with his hands covering his face. "You're looking for the letters Uncle Wu has kept safe in order to find out why Zane was chosen as the successor and they need to find out how to get back to their reality?"
Everyone, minus his husband, nodded in agreement.
"End counter next to the stove, second drawer down." Mada got up and opened said drawer to pull out a stack of letters tied together before walking back to the table. She untied it and handed everyone a letter which they opened.
"Hmm... The Serpentine have not made an attempt to invade Glacier Barrens, hopefully because they can't stand the cold! Anyway Hale, please be careful and be safe. -Dad. Looks like Hale had parents that were worried about him." Jay said.
"News of Jamanakai Village's attack had finally reach Glacier, and we are proud of you son for trying to stop the Serpentine but not every battle can be won. Just please be careful out there. -Mom." Nya read.
Julien just stared in shock at the letter he was holding and everyone noticed him not moving.
"Jules?" Seraphina asked before gently pulling the letter out of her brother's unresponsive hands.
"Dear Hale, I know this is sudden but we have news to share with you: your mother had just gave birth to a baby boy! You have better step in to help us with him once this war is over and done for good. We decided to name him Henry Frost Julien, he had your mother's blue eyes and my brown hair. We hope you'll be able to meet your brother someday if the war still continues. Love, Mom and Dad."
Zane just stared at the letter in shock before grabbing it and reading it himself several times.
"Zane?" Cole asked, worried about his friend's reaction.
"The Master of Ice... was my uncle." Zane breathed out.