~~ Ch48:Fri3, Ouroboros ~~

Past/Memory

"You didn't tell him?! Lloyd! You shouldn't be lying to your father like that! He has to know!"

"He doesn't need to know!" I protested.

"Lloyd! They were planning to release the Great Devourer! The beast that turned your father evil! He deserves to know!"

"No!" I screamed. "I can't! I won't! He'll hate me!"

And even I don't know where that thought came from, and I burst into sloppy sobs all over again.

Water and Fire abruptly stopped lecturing me, and instead gathered me up between the two of them in a group hug, holding me close between them and not letting go until my sobs turned to simply quiet tears.

"Honey, no," whispered Water. "No, no, never. Your father would never hate you."

"He'll hate me," I repeated, suddenly so sure of myself. "He'll leave me, because I couldn't be bad. I don't have a mom because I can't be good, and then I won't have a dad because I can't be bad! And then I'll be all alone, and he'll be all alone, and everything will be miserable instead of happy and safe and home! I can't! I won't! He mustn't know!"

"Lloyd, I'm sure he would never. You haven't even tried and -"

"I tried! I said I didn't want to be bad! You didn't see the look on his face! And then, and then it's like he completely forgot, and he just kept talking about how evil I'm going to be! But I'm not, and I can't, and I'll never be what he wants and - "

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

And I woke up.

I remember that afternoon. The day after the Ninja had left me on our rooftop, after they'd saved me from the Serpentine. I'd been so upset, and Water and Fire, Uncle Ray and Auntie Maya, had been so kind. Reassured me over and over that my father did want me, did love me, would always love me.

That old fear still lingered, tucked well away and almost smothered but not quite. But I won't let it win. My dad loves me. I won't let the fears I had as a child dictate my actions now.

Ugh, I was so uncomfortable. And in, for me, a horribly familiar position. Back against bars, cold metal beneath my butt, knees bent awkwardly, neck stiff.

In a cage.

It was bigger than the one they'd kept me in as a child, but still nowhere near enough to be comfortable. Er, not that a cage can be comfortable. But, you know, it would be nice to be able to stretch out my legs.

My arms were manacled together with stone handcuffs. Something special too, considering I couldn't summon my Green. Not a spark.

Not good. I almost wished to be unconscious again, even if it meant being under Skales' thrall. When had he released my mind anyway? And why? Why the cage at all? This was kind of overkill. They didn't need to have my mind AND my body AND my powers captive. If Skales just kept me hypnotized, they wouldn't need the cage or power-restraining cuffs. They even would've been able to use me against my friends and family, if and when they came after us. (And crap, maybe I should've thought of that before now.) So why hadn't they?

Pythor strolled forward, face highlighted by a sunset very near to disappearing.

Oh, of course. Pythor wanted to gloat.

A glance towards an irritated Skales as good as proved this. Why Pythor was the one in charge, when it had been clear even when I was a child that Skales was more intelligent, who knows. Probably just ambition.

We were out in the desert already, no sign of Ninjago City. I wondered if it was late enough for my family to be searching, or if they figured I was still off sulking somewhere and would return in my own time.

The area looked vaguely familiar and I wondered why. Why would I recognize anywhere in the desert? I'd only been there for...

My eyes fell on a large stone statue of the Great Devourer, all the more terrifying in the setting sunlight.

The ruins of Ouroboros.

Deliberately ignoring Pythor, who was waiting for a reaction from me, I allowed my eyes to scan the rest of the area around me, comparing it to my vague memories. The ugly tents were new.

As was... my heart sank. There were no valleys or cliffs around here. That was a pit. Over the tomb of the Great Devourer.

They were literally digging it free. And for it to be so huge that, from here, it looked like the walls to a cliff that dropped off from where we were, it must be absolutely enormous. As deep as a mountain was high.

"What do you think, my old friend?" gloated Pythor cheerfully.

He probably wanted to do that lame 'you won't get away with this', 'I already have,' sketch, but I refused.

Instead I allowed my eyes to follow the filthy Serpentine, of all different tribes, male and female, from children to elderly, as they trudged out of the pit and towards the sad excuses for tents. They looked broken.

The ground trembled once, twice.

"The Great One is already awakening. It knows it's release is nigh!" announced Pythor gleefully, so desperately trying to get a reaction out of me.

Wow. Pathetic.

I finally allowed my eyes to fall on him, size him up. Fatter than what I remember. While the other Serpentine looked weaker, smaller. Dirty and exhausted. Some 'king'.

His smile began to waver. A hint of defensiveness crept into his posture.

I allowed myself a dismissive smirk, holding up my handcuffed arms.

"These were a good idea," I commented. "Though you'll be wishing by this time tomorrow that you had just let me take you out. My dad won't be so kind."

Pythor haughtily stuck his snout in the air. If he'd had hair, he totally would have been flipping it like some C-list celebrity. How had I ever been in awe of him? Let alone terrified out of my wits?

"I am not ssso fool as to think your father will be dessstroyed along with the ressst of Ninjago Cssity. You're my insurancsse, of courssse. Thossse Ninja of yoursss will have their handsss tied with the Great One, and Garmadon won't dare interfere if it meansss his preciousss son'sss death!"

I had to fight back a laugh. "You really think you can blackmail Lord Garmadon? THE Lord Garmadon? You are so dead. Really, really dead."

He puffed up in outrage, clearly having expected, wanted, me to be a whimpering wreck. And oh, it burned that my childish reactions had once fueled that ego.

"You're jussst trying to ssspare your cssity! You've failed!"

The ground trembled again.

"We releassse the beast at dawn! Ninjago Cssity will never know what hit it!"

I leaned back. Closed my eyes. "Even if that's true. Even if we can't stop you," I commented, shoving the thoughts of civilians being eaten alive out of my mind, of my friends fighting an impossible battle, the city leveled. "This can only end one way. Even if you kill me. This ends with yourself either dead or on the run, and the Serpentine and humans again in a stupid, pointless war. How is that winning?"

Pythor scoffed. "We will control the Great One! You ssstand no chancsse!"

"You really think you can control something the FSM himself couldn't? It devours everything. Why would you be an exception?"

Pythor smirked, as if he was oh so wise and I was just a dumb kid, and turned to slither proudly away. Probably to get some beauty sleep before his grand 'victory' tomorrow.

Skales stood there silently, just watching me. His swirling eyes were troubled. Doubtful. He nodded to another Hypnobrai holding a spear, who came to stand at attention by my cage, and then headed to the edge of that drop off, staring into that great pit.

~~ ! Go Ninja Go !~~

"Lady Irondragon said to let him have his space!" hissed Nya to her stubborn brother. Even as she snuck along with him across the dark rooftop.

It had been hours. Hours and hours. Lloyd had never come back to the Warehouse. Never reclaimed his cell phone, never sent a call or text to his friends to let them know he was ok.

Kai was panicking. And that panic was getting stronger and stronger as time went on. His little bro was upset, again, maybe in danger, again, and once again Kai wasn't there to help him. It was wrong.

He needed to know Lloyd was ok. Really, really, needed to know. Was not capable of getting a single wink of sleep until he knew.

Nya probably felt the same. But for her it was easier to blame any and all foolishness on her brother. Didn't change the fact that she had been prowling around with him for hours through the city.

Kai's eyes caught a flash of light where there should be only dark. A narrow alley, barely wide enough for a few garbage cans.

"Put that thing away!" barked a vaguely familiar cold voice.

"Unlike some ninja, us normal human beings need a flashlight when it gets dark," retorted another voice right back, this one slightly more familiar.

Kai and Nya exchanged glances, then peered down into the dark alley. A flashlight was sweeping to and fro over the ground, only vaguely highlighting two large, apparently adult male figures. One with much too large a head...

"General Number One?" called down the twins in surprise.

The older man in a crab helmet swung the flashlight up to see the teenagers, not even clad in their gi but in regular clothing. "You kids?" he called back, startled at seeing two of his young master's friends. "What are you doing out so late?"

"Same thing we are, obviously," huffed the other, quite a bit older man, and wow he just looked so familiar, with his beard and old-timey suit and...

"Gerald, the previous Ice Ninja," the man replied to their unspoken question. And ooh, that's right. They'd hadn't actually been introduced, but they'd seen him at that all-ninja meeting way back when. "And good timing. We've figured out what happened to Lloyd."

"Oh, good!" exclaimed Kai in relief. "Let's go get him, then!"

Gerald and No.1 exchanged glances.

"I'm afraid that will not be possible," tactfully worded No.1.

"What?!" demanded the twins, suddenly terrified.

Gerald wearily rubbed his face with both hands, and Kai and Nya remembered their parents mentioning that the master of Ice in their generation had actually been from the previous generation. He'd had no heir. The old man had at least twenty years on their parents, maybe longer.

"The Serpentine have captured Lloyd. There is only one reason they would do that. They are going to release the Great Devourer, most likely at dawn tomorrow. We can't get to Ouroborus in time to stop them."

No.1 nodded, even as the teens looked more confused then ever. "I will get Lord Garmadon and our Lady. The Warehouse in half an hour?"

Gerald nodded, almost regally, and gestured the two young ninja to follow him. "We will get Wu and the rest of the Ninja. As many others as we can as well. Tomorrow is going to be hell."

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

Skales stared down into the great pit. The great, gaping, wretched hole in the earth. The result of years and years of nearly every able-bodied Serpentine slaving from dawn to dusk.

Had it been worth it?

It was complete. And now, with Lloyd Garmadon as their captive, every part of Pythor's plan was ready. The Great One would be released tomorrow morning.

But what was the point?

Revenge had made so much sense, all those years ago. He still remembered.

That first taste of freedom, after decades of being wrongfully imprisoned away from the sun. Their only crime, being descended from those who had once warred with the humans. No one entirely sure what exactly had prompted the Wars in the first place, though perhaps it was as simple as mutual mistrust.

The humans had been victorious, as always. It wasn't fair. It had never been fair. Every Serpentine alive felt that down to their deepest core. Screamed inside as their already limited numbers, decimated after the Wars, dwindled. Less than a thousand when Skales was a snakelet, less that three hundred by the time Lloyd had stumbled across them and tricked their king into hypnotizing himself to do Lloyd's bidding.

It had made sense. It was fair. It was only right that they seek vengeance. That they make the humans pay.

The humans had long feared the Great One, as far back as thousands of years. The Serpentine had revered the mighty creature for nearly as long. It made sense.

It was nearly time. Soon, very soon, the great beast would be unleashed to devastate Ninjago City. To devour all in sight, leaving nothing behind. Much as the humans had done to his ancestral home of Ouroboros during the Wars.

He still remembered the stories, though any pictures were only what his juvenile mind had conjured. Great, massive walls. Tapestries and artwork of bright colors and elaborate designs. A huge marketplace. Large, sprawling houses, with gardens and fountains aplenty.

Revenge for their loss was only right. Revenge was fair. The humans would know suffering. Know the loss of their home, their city, their friends and family. And maybe the Serpentine would lock any of them who survived in scattered underground vaults and just forget about them.

It all made sense.

It all had made sense.

So why did he feel no victory, no surge of righteous ecstasy, at the knowledge that their time was at hand? In truth, nothing really brought him joy anymore. Nothing, except...

"Ssskales?"

Skales turned his gaze from the miserable pit to his beautiful bride. How he was so lucky, he'd never know.

"Ssselma," he hissed softly, instantly relaxing as he felt her lean against his side and nuzzle under his jaw.

"Why ssso glum, my love?" she gently prodded.

Skales was silent for a long time, staring into the dark pit. Then he turned his eyes to the many tents and haphazard structures around the perimeter and beyond.

Ugly. Small. Scraps stolen and patched and handmade from whatever vegetation they could find in this desert. A desperate attempt to revive a long dead city. But not much more than hovels, considering all time and effort had been directed to the most basic of basic necessities... and the pit.

New Ouroboros. Home.

It was embarrassing, after having spent the last few weeks in and about the elaborate human metropolis of Ninjago City.

And yet, of so much more worth than a hole in the ground.

"We will sssoon have our vengeance," he stated, though only halfheartedly. "The humansss will pay for nearly wiping usss out. Thisss must never happen again. They will learn to fear usss, and then they will leave usss alone."

He felt Selma frown where she was tucked up against him.

"Ssso Pythor has been sssaying sssince we ssstarted digging," she softly replied to him. "But... are not our numbersss already recovering? Do we not already live free under our preciousss sun? Mussst we incite another war?"

Skales closed his eyes, and felt her pull away. She stroked his jaw, then pulled his face down. He opened his eyes to meet hers.

"Husssband. I will follow where you lead, alwaysss. But there will be risksss."

Skales blinked. "Risksss?"

She nodded, setting a claw on her belly. "My love. I am with egg. Ssso I will only asssk this once..."

"Isss it worth it?"

Skales' eyes widened at the revelation. He set shaky claws against his wife's belly, a twisting surge of both joy and terror raging suddenly through him. A tear broke from his left eye, and he impatiently wiped it away.

He would be a father. Selma would be a mother. They would have a child. A child, with what type of future to look forward to?

More of... this?

"No," he whispered, terrified as he realized his answer meant treason. But he did mean it. "No."

Vengeance would bring no true joy, no lasting victory.

He didn't want to see humans suffer. It wouldn't fix anything. Would just continue a cycle of hate and war. Even if Pythor's strategy worked, if the Serpentine won, if the humans were forced into the same situation they'd forced the Serpentine into... was that really winning?

He didn't want that. He didn't want any of that.

He didn't want to become just like the humans he'd spent his entire life cursing. There was no honor in vengeance. This wasn't what he wanted.

So what did he want? Skales surprised himself at how simple the answer that came to him was. It had been there all along.

He just wanted a family. A home.

A home for all his people.

Selma looked at him, completely unsurprised, a sad smile in her swirly eyes, even as she whispered in return, "Ssso what now?"

Skales hugged her tight, and whispered his plan of treason in her ear. He would have to usurp Pythor. Which meant one on one combat over the right to the Serpentine throne.

It was risky. He could die. He could be dooming his future son or daughter to life without a father.

But, for the first time in such a very, very long time, he truly felt this was right. Fighting for a future, for a purpose beyond vengeance, work beyond digging and spying, a city and a home and a people he could be proud of.

"Pythor isss a coward who fightsss for nought but himssself," hissed Selma, with a spite to her tone that Skales had never heard before. "You will win, my husssband. Because you fight for all Ssserpentine. You alwaysss have."

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

Author's Notes: Hope everyone enjoyed! I know most of you wanted a Garmadon scene, but that's gonna have to be put on hold. For simple plot reasons, Selma and Skales were more important here. Speaking of, what did you guys think? Does it make more sense what's up with the Serpentine in this fic?

Oh, and exciting news! I've outlined out the rest of this story, and it looks like the final chapter will be 51, which means only three more chapters, and only two of which haven't been completed! Shouldn't be long now!

I also have a new oneshot up, for those of you who don't have me alerted. It's a gift-fic for ShinyShiny9, roughly based on Dork Squad, Assemble. Check it out if you'd like some movie-verse angst!