This was definitely one of my favorite chapters to write so far, and I think I'm gonna enjoy the next one too! I was looking forward to the Shintaro arc.
dragonsatdawn: Oof. Hope your finals went well!
I mean, depends on how you define true love! I'd say arguably they were really in love, it just went bad over time.
You know, I hadn't thought of it maybe being about Ray and Maya! That would be fun. Back in "Father Always Liked You Best" I'd claimed they were married back before the Serpentine Wars though, so I guess I couldn't have done that. ^_^''
Yeah, seems like every other season they have a different idea of what Ninjago City is supposed to be like.
Thanks for the review!
JustRandom: Chronologically? Quite old! Well over 40 years at the very least.
I'll admit that I do absolutely zero research. ^_^'' Fanfiction, man, not willing to make that much effort. Glad it at least sounds decent, though?
Oh dear, that's an unfortunate thing to be able to relate to. ^_^'' But to the other point, yeah, it sounded like Lou just really wanted Cole to be a dancer, so if nothing else he valued his own heritage above Lilly's.
I'm sure she told Wu "I should have chosen you" for a reason. It was her own choice and she should have abided by it (even though later we find out she did get deceived into it), but I can certainly imagine a lot of reasons she would have regretted that choice. Not that being married to Wu would have been much better in the long run, I reckon. :P
Ninjago is pretty dark now and then, but I'm out to help it for good measure. :P
Aw, man. XD Well, at least they were good practice?
ForeverFictional: Thanks for the review!
"I can't do this." Lilly had her head in her hands, slumped over Misako and Garmadon's kitchen table. "I can't be a mother. I'm not even a half-decent wife."
"Your heart is in the right place, Lilly," said Misako soothingly. "You know what they say about maternal instincts. Once the baby is born, maybe you'll grow to fill the role."
"Not a chance," Lilly groaned. "I have no control over myself, I swear. I lose my mind, I get violent. I'm going to end up hurting the baby!"
"Lilly . . . "
"And even if I somehow don't hurt it," Lilly barged on. "What kind of a home is he going to grow up in? Is he supposed to watch Lou and me tearing each other to shreds all his life? What child deserves that?" She let her head drop into her folded arms. "What am I going to do . . . "
Misako said nothing, silently tracing the patterns on the table. Lilly groaned again.
"This is all the creature's fault. I just know it. I just . . . it takes over my brain, it makes me so angry I can't see . . . I would never fight with Lou so much if I didn't have this thing in my head. If I could just get rid of it, I'd be a better wife. I could see myself being a mother, even. Why did it have to be me?"
"I'm not sure I should be bringing this up," said Misako slowly. "But maybe there is a way."
Lilly's head shot up, her eyes wild with hope.
"I just found out about this," continued Misako. "I was going to tell you. You see, recently I started researching the Kingdom of Shintaro . . . I don't know if you've ever heard of it. It's so remote and secretive that most sources believe it's only a myth. But I do believe it is real."
"And?" said Lilly breathlessly.
"My research calls it a kingdom of incredible wonders," said Misako. "It's built high atop a mountain, far from the rest of civilization. Among its many other miracles, I found a reference to the mountain itself being riddled with caves and tunnels. The Dungeons of Shintaro. These tunnels are supposed to contain the secret to an unimaginably powerful martial arts attack, a near-magic technique that can vanquish almost any evil. It is called the Spinjitzu Burst."
Lilly stared across the table at her.
"You think it would work?" She sat back, biting into the crook of her thumb. "Ohh, but I never even really mastered regular Spinjitzu, does that make it out of bounds?"
"I don't know," said Misako. "Honestly I know almost nothing else. There isn't much information about the technique. And I have no idea how you would even get to Shintaro, there are very few clues about where it is. Except for frequent mentions of how dangerous the journey there is . . . " She grimaced. "I shouldn't have brought this up."
"No, no." Lilly's jaw was set, her eyes hard. "You said it defeats evil? I need it."
Lou was devastated. He forgot all about being surly or punishing Lilly with silence; he all but begged her to stay. Unaware of the mind-creature Lilly was dealing with, he had no way of understanding why she was suddenly so obsessed with mastering some fantastical martial arts move, making deadly journeys to kingdoms that might not even exist. Pregnant, no less! With their child! Didn't she care anything about the baby?
"I do care," said Lilly quietly. "That's why I have to go."
Lou helplessly watched her gathering up her things, polishing her long-disused armor.
"What about me?" he whispered at last. "What if you don't come back, Lilly?"
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" spat Lilly. Then she came up short, realizing what she'd just said. In the edge of her vision she saw Lou's shattered expression. He left the room without another word.
Lilly groaned, hanging her head. This was why she needed that Spinjitzu Burst. Once she had defeated the smirking invader in her brain, she would stop being so cruel. She would be a better wife, a better mother.
Finally she was packed and ready to leave. She would have been fully prepared for Lou to hole up somewhere and refuse to even say goodbye, and she didn't try to look for him. To her surprise, though, he met her in the foyer. He saw her in full armor for only the second time, her hair pinned back in a severe ponytail. For a second he seemed lost on how to react.
Lilly kept her eyes on the floor, dismayed at the tight knot in her stomach. She braced for another argument, more reproaches, a tirade about how unseemly her armor was.
Instead, Lou managed to compose himself. His eyes were still roving over the glistening shoulderplates—was he impressed, just possibly?—as he fished into his pocket.
"Here, take this," he said. "To remember me by."
Lilly reached out and took the glittering object. It was a golden heart-shaped locket.
"It was going to be for our anniversary," said Lou, glancing away. Lilly flinched; they hadn't been speaking on their anniversary. She popped the locket open and found it already contained two photographs, his and hers. Again she cringed, without realizing. Then grief overtook her. When had she started flinching at the sight of Lou? How hopeless was this?
She closed the locket, swallowing.
"Thank you," she said. "I'll wear it with me."
On her trek to Shintaro, she took out the locket to look at it again, and very nearly chucked it into a stream. Something stopped her hand, though. This was why she was going to Shintaro, wasn't it? She was going to become a better person, free of the mind-creature's influence. When she got rid of it, she would love Lou again. She would treasure this locket.
It had been a very long time since Lilly traveled, especially in armor, and her endurance was low. Still, she compensated with her joy. Being out on the road again, alone and free under a sprawling blue sky, was beyond heaven.
She had a general idea of which direction Shintaro was, and she could sound the earth to search for the vibrations of human settlement or the hollow twang of underground tunnels. As she drew closer to the kingdom, it got easier and easier to sense it—which was fortunate, because the terrain grew harder and harder. She dragged herself over cliffs that would have baffled anyone other than an Earth master, and burrowed into the frozen ground to escape the howling blizzards and Dyer Bats at night. By the time she sensed she was approaching the kingdom, she was heartily grateful that her journey was almost over.
A snow squall was picking up again. Tiny ice particles bit at her face as she clawed her way up a snow-covered bluff. She knew Shintaro was close, she should be able to see it as soon as she crested this wall of rock. Her hands and feet slipped back half as much as she advanced them.
At last she floundered her way to the top, gasping. Lifting a weary head, she squinted through the driving snow.
There, indeed, was Shintaro. For a second she forgot the weariness in her limbs, forgot how to move. She could only stare. The mountain rose serenely in the distance, high above the ravages of the blizzards. Spires of pure white stone studded the mountainside, glittering in the airy sunlight above the clouds. They looked like they could have been encrusted with jewels.
After a second Lilly realized her eyes weren't only watering from the cold. She took a second to pull herself together, wiped her face, and carefully began the final leg of her journey, towards the castle straight out of her childhood dreams.
The royal guards of Shintaro were very startled to see her. Luckily she and Misako had sent a letter in advance, and it had apparently arrived just before Lilly did. The king had read it but hadn't yet informed his guards to be prepared for a visitor, so initially Lilly was hauled before him with some ferocity.
"We found an intruder at the city's edge, Your Highness!" barked the head guard, looking like he was barely containing his panic. Clearly he'd never handled an intruder before. "Fully armed!"
"I'm only visiting!" said Lilly hastily, genuflecting and presenting both her blades in a peace gesture. "Your Majesty, please. I sent a letter—"
"It's all right, Lilly!" interrupted the king. "Hailmar, please. Put that away. I've received advance notice of our guest."
The head guard, looking flustered, pulled back his spear and stood at attention. The other guards did likewise.
"Apologies if your welcome was a bit rough, my dear, we so seldom have visitors," said the king. "And I only received your letter at this very moment. Our mail service is none too swift as well, as you can imagine."
Lilly thought back to the mountains she'd just crossed, and realized the postman had somehow done the same. She bit back a smile for a second, before lifting her head to take her first real look at the king.
Oh shoot. He was hot.
"Welcome to the Kingdom of Shintaro, Lilly. I am King Vangelis." He smiled benevolently from his elevated throne. "You must have made an incredible journey to get here; I have never heard of anyone who could brave these mountains. Tell me, how did you do it?"
"I'm a Master of Earth, Your Majesty." Normally Lilly might have at least hesitated, wondering if the infamy of Earth masters extended even to Shintaro, but she forgot to. She was dedicating all her brainpower to not openly ogling King Vangelis. The slight but strong build, the slicked hair, the eerily-shaped dark eyes, the sensitive, androgynous face, the shimmering white robes. Dazzling golden wings glinted from over his shoulders. Serious eye candy here.
Reel it in, Lilly, she scolded herself, starting. You're a married woman! And he is a king.
"You might be less tempted if you just killed him," suggested the mind-creature helpfully. Lilly tried not to grimace. She'd rather let the creature keep talking than try resist and have it retaliate by forcing her to lash out in this royal court.
Luckily King Vangelis didn't seem to notice her distant look.
"An Elemental Master! How remarkable," he said. "You will have to demonstrate for us sometime."
"Gladly, your Majesty," said Lilly, pulling herself back to reality. "But I do have to say, I can't stay very long."
"Is that so?" King Vangelis looked intrigued. "Your letter mentioned you have a mission. What brings you to our humble kingdom, Madame Lilly?"
"I seek a secret which was said to be hidden deep within the mountain upon which your kingdom is built," said Lilly. "The ancient fighting form, the Spinjitzu Burst."
"Ohh." King Vangelis' face fell. "That is . . . unfortunate."
Lilly's heart sank. Complications! Peachy.
"Please leave us for the time being," Vangelis was saying to his guards. "I wish to speak with the visitor in private."
Lilly looked around, bewildered, as the guards dutifully filed away. She looked up to King Vangelis with an uneasy question in her eyes. Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly unsure how to word this.
"I am terribly sorry that you came all this way for nothing," he said at last. "But you see, the tunnels within the mountain are strictly off-limits. They are extremely dangerous."
"Earth can be dangerous, Your Majesty, I know," said Lilly respectfully. "But I am its master. I could traverse any tunnel."
"It's not the tunnels themselves, my dear!" said the king. "Although I'm sure those would be a significant challenge to most other explorers as well. The main concern, however, is that the tunnels are prowled by an implacable bloodthirsty beast. I fear you could not prevail against it."
"A beast, Your Majesty?"
"Yes. A monstrous dragon."
Lilly, standing there in full knight regalia, desperately restrained herself to a faint twitching in the corners of her mouth. A dragon. He had to be kidding.
So, today was going much better than anticipated. Lilly's supplies had been replenished, she'd been offered extra weapons (but refused in favor of her familiar dual blades), she was walking deeper and deeper into the heart of her own element, and she was dressed in full knight armor going out to fight a dragon. Basically living out one of her favorite childhood stories.
The only thing that stopped her happiness from being complete was the awareness of the tiny life growing inside her. She had been aware of it every moment she grappled over the freezing mountains, every time she barely escaped the claws and fangs of monstrous bats. It had always been easy to gamble with her own life, but now she made every move with an unfamiliar caution. For the first time in her life she was invested in getting out of this safely.
But she reminded herself that she was doing this for the baby, in the end. Fight dragon first, then find secret of Spinjitzu Burst, defeat evil mind-creature, become exemplary mom. Easy! No clue why they didn't cover this stuff in What to Expect When You're Expecting.
The mind-creature, speaking of, was none too pleased at this adventure. It kept up a steady stream of growling, grumbling, threats, brutal suggestions. Lilly actually managed to smile, taking this as a sign that the creature was frightened of its upcoming eradication.
She made no effort to reduce the clanking of her armor or the tromp of her footsteps, and every now and then she'd rap the hilt of one of her blades against the wall for good measure. If the dragon was as fierce as King Vangelis claimed, he should come for her rather than fleeing.
For quite a while she walked without encountering anything. The tunnels, scented heavily with moss and calcium, echoed pleasantly and glistened in the light of her lantern.
Then she heard a strange sound mixed in with her own noise. She shrugged it off the first time, and the second; by the third time she stopped, frowning suspiciously. There had definitely been a sort of scuttling. That better not be the dragon, because if so it was pathetically tiny.
"Who's there?" she called, turning towards the sound. "Show yourself! I won't hurt you if you don't try to hurt me."
Silence. She took a hesitant step forward, and the scuttling came again. Setting her teeth, she broke into a full dash down a side corridor. Up ahead she could hear the scuttling turn into a full-out pattering, like the sound of multiple small feet trying to run away. Presently there was a skidding noise and a despairing squeak.
"Dead end!" piped a thin, terrified voice. Lilly skidded to a halt herself, her heart seizing. There were humans down here?! She'd been prepared for all kinds of animals, monsters even, but humans! What wretched souls lived in here, in the dark among the barren rock?
Plucking up her resolve, she made a final sprint around a bend. The light of her lantern swung over three strange forms; one was cowering against the dead-end wall with his arms over his head, while two others also had frightened stances but seemed poised to fight.
Lilly stopped again, shocked. These were humanoid, but not humans.
"What are you?" she breathed. For a second she and the two standing ones stared at each other, thrown; then the other two hurled themselves towards her, howling ferociously.
"For the Munce!"
"Wait, wait! I come in peace!" shouted Lilly, taking a step back. Seeing that this didn't head them off, she tossed aside her lantern and whipped out her blades. She was a little caught off-guard when her two attackers suddenly dropped into violent tumbles, rolling towards her like errant boulders, but she recovered rapidly and smacked them aside with the hilts of her swords. Even as out-of-practice as she was, she instinctively sensed the difference between intrinsic aggression and self-defense.
"Stop that or I will have to hurt you!" she snapped, slamming her hilt down atop one of the attackers again. It gave a feminine yelp of pain and uncurled, sprawling hard. Seizing her chance, Lilly kicked aside the other attacker and swung both her blades to point at the downed creature's chest.
"All right!" she shouted. "Fight is over!"
The other creature uncurled, while the one who'd been cowering all this time gave a terrified squeak. Everything ground to a halt. The cave-creatures all stayed frozen where they were, staring tensely at Lilly, while Lilly, breathing hard, looked around at them.
They were a little smaller than her, especially the timid one. That one was purple all over, with pointy ears twitching beside a little red pointy cap. The two feisty ones were green and stocky, with wild unkempt hair. The one Lilly had downed was a female with a ragged ponytail, the other was a male with a shaggy moptop.
After a second the timid one visibly plucked up his courage.
"Please don't hurt her," he said, wringing his hands.
"Stop attacking me and I won't," said Lilly tersely. The creatures communicated something through glances, then nodded in acquiescence. Guardedly, Lilly drew her blades away from the female's chest.
"You fight well," said the female in a strange hoarse voice, picking herself up. "You have Munce's respect."
"Munce's?" Lilly knit her brows.
"We are Munce." The female gestured to herself and the other green one. "This is Meckle."
"Geckle," huffed the purple one, in a tone that suggesting this was a recurring issue. "And before you butcher that too, my name is Gleck."
The female Munce rolled her eyes.
"And I am Moosa. This is Mobb. What are you?"
"I'm . . . a human being," said Lilly, still a little bewildered. "My name is Lilly. I'm down here looking for a dragon."
A dramatic gasp went up from all three of the creatures.
"What do you want with Mriefbringer?" hissed Moosa.
"Uhhhh . . . "
"Griefbringer." Now Gleck was rolling his eyes.
"Ohhhhh." Lilly blinked. Well, that was an ominous name. "You've seen it?"
"Seen it?!" Mobb shuddered. "We're alive, aren't we? No, we haven't seen it."
"So many of us it has killed." Moosa glared down at the floor. "Killed and eaten."
"The scourge of the Dungeons!" piped Gleck.
"Oh," said Lilly. "I'm so sorry." She looked around at the sober little group. "Well, then maybe I can help you. I'm a knight. I'm here to fight Griefbringer."
"Ohhhhhh!" The Munce and Geckle looked up at her in awe.
"You will never survive," whispered Moosa.
"Well." Lilly tried to sound more confident than she felt. "Not the first time I've heard that." She looked around again. "Can you take me to it?"
The Munce and Geckle exchanged looks, then turned to her with solemn nods.
Lilly followed the little band of her new friends through endless convoluted tunnels. They chattered incessantly, telling her about their long history of living in this mountain, and the misery they had endured since Griefbringer appeared. Apparently it wasn't native to the Dungeons.
As they traveled, they came across many other Munce and Geckles. They came skulking out of alcoves and peeping up from pits, curious and a little wary. Gleck, Moosa, and Mobb eagerly told everyone they met that Lilly was here to fight Griefbringer, which brought many of the mountain-dwellers swarming over to praise her bravery and shake her hand. The more they did that the more Lilly got kind of worried. How tough was this dragon?
It did weird her out a little. She had assumed King Vangelis was just exaggerating—from what Wu had always told her, dragons weren't that bad. They were proud and territorial, and certainly wouldn't hesitate to kill you if you insulted them or threatened their hoards, but they never went after people unprovoked. This critter clearly was.
She also wondered, briefly, how King Vangelis hadn't known that entire swarms of beings were living down in these tunnels. It seemed like a pretty big population to miss.
As her escorts introduced her to more and more of their friends, she began to realize that literally every Munce had a name starting with M, and every Geckle had a name starting with G. This seemed like an odd but understandable naming tradition, but she was more puzzled by the realization that they actually couldn't pronounce names starting with other letters. She had a long argument about "Gilly" with Gleck, and got a little frustrated with him. Eventually she realized that he'd apparently been hurt by her tone, and that Moosa and Mobb seemed rather smug about it. She felt guilty and apologized, and was gratified by Gleck's shy smile.
All in all, she noticed a lot of infighting. The Munce and Geckles she met were often intermingled, but they squabbled constantly. Every other minute there seemed to be a new argument, and if it wasn't a flat-out argument there was still a lot of namecalling. Lilly wondered how they stood it; her nerves were wearing thin after only half an hour.
Eventually, though, the meetings with Munce and Geckles began to grow infrequent, and her escorts grew increasingly nervous.
"Are we entering Griefbringer's territory?" she said. Gleck nodded miserably.
"We had better leave him behind now," said Moosa scornfully. "Geckles are only good for crying and running away."
"I don't see you walking right up to Griefbringer's jaws!" snapped Gleck.
Mobb was opening his mouth to retort, but Lilly interrupted.
"I think you should all stop here," she said. "I don't want to endanger anyone else. Just point me in the right direction, and I'll find Griefbringer myself. Thank you for bringing me this far, you've been very kind."
"You are the kind one, Gilly," said Gleck fervently. "You will be hailed as the savior of all Geckles!"
"And of the Munce," said Mobb.
Lilly couldn't keep from smiling. Even her childhood idols would have envied this much appreciation for their heroics. Between this and Shintaro, she really felt like she was living out the very best of fairytales.
She shook hands with Moosa and Mobb, and on impulse hugged Gleck goodbye. She had only known him for a few hours, and perhaps with longer acquaintance she would have developed a contempt similar to Mobb and Moosa's, but right now she felt oddly protective of the little Geckle. His timorousness coupled with his obvious hero-worship of her won her heart.
Waving goodbye to the mountain-dwellers, she raised her lantern higher and continued down the tunnels. The Munce and Geckle's chatter died away behind her, and soon there was only the reverberation of her own footsteps.
She walked for what must have been another hour. The lantern began to gutter. She strained her ears, trying to pick up the sounds of a large creature through the renewed gibbering of her own mind-creature.
Presently, rather than hearing something, she became aware of an unusual vibration in the stone. Her heart seized as she recognized it as the movements of a massive creature. That must be Griefbringer.
She walked faster, following the vibrations. Soon she could hear shuffling footsteps as well, each one a ponderous thud accompanied by the sound of claws scraping stone. The lantern was nearly dead; she tossed it aside and continued by sound and sensation.
The vibrations were right around the bend now. She could hear the creature's breath. It must certainly have caught her scent. Reveling in the sudden flood of adrenaline in her system, Lilly snatched both her blades and slashed them in front of her.
"Come face me, Griefbringer, and say goodbye!"
A reptilian snort reached her ears. She heard and felt a scaly body lashing, and down the tunnel towards her came a torrent of flame.
A/N: Can I just say, the four-part "Ninjago: A Musical Journey" series they released for the 10-year anniversary is excellent. For the first two parts it's all like, "Ohhh, the falcon theme! Ohhhhh, that's Morro! Ohhhh, that's the scene where Zane rebuilds himself!" because I've had years of rewatching the episodes and hearing fan samples of the soundtrack. Then for later seasons, I no longer recognize individual scenes by the music (well, except Dragon Hunters, don't you judge me), but hot dang, turns out the music is still amazing. I would never have come to appreciate it properly if they didn't compile it so nicely with illustrative clips and everything.
All of which goes to say, the compilation made me realize that Lilly/Cole's leitmotif is absolutely gorgeous. It's so noble and sad. I don't know anything about music, is it in minor key or something?