STILL ALIVE

Review replies:

Draconis: I'm glad you like that one! I'll probably write another part after I'm finished with this story.

KitKat: NOTHING is more pressing than Morro's hair. Nothing.

EmoBilcipher: Yeah, I'm not sure if I actually got depression or if I was just sick or something, I know I felt really rotten for a few days but it's over now.

Entity: Grow up on the streets, you tend to accumulate a lot of saltiness. And anger. I wonder if that might possibly have to do something with the fact that she hasn't reached her true potential yet. xd

NinjagoMLP: Not suspicious at all. No siree. And nah, that's just Stiix.

Ebony: Give my boi a haircut

Windy: Given her reaction to it, I'd say nah. Now he has short curly hair.

Morro trudged along in the sand, feeling incredibly tired. Human bodies are so… limited! He had barely been walking an hour in the heat, and he was already exhausted. And thirsty. He didn't want to use up their supplies, though, so he kept quiet. He didn't want to do anything to mess this up. This was his chance to prove himself. Prove that he was on their side.

The group crossing the desert was fairly large. It consisted of the Nyas, the Coles, Lloyd B, Kai B, Nicole, Garmadon B, himself, and Dyana. Indigo and her boyfriend had also come along, due to the former's insistence. The pair had, to Indigo's dismay, been forced to agree to stay with the Coles a little way away from where the Nyas worked on collecting enough water to flood the city. They could both create water, but not at a volume enough to flood the city in one blow. They would have to stockpile it somehow.

He kept catching the others giving him weird looks, but he didn't think it was as much him being… well, him, as much as how different he looked with his hair cut. True to his word, Lloyd had gotten Zane to cut his hair short. He had washed it too. It was… really soft now. He couldn't stop running his fingers through the curls that appeared in it after it dried.

Nicole kept giving him looks as well, but these seemed more like admiring looks than suspicious ones. Before they left, she told him his hair looked cute. It was a good thing she walked off without waiting for a reply, because he was bushing and speechless for a good five minutes after that. Which, of course, was a great source of amusement to Lloyd.

The wind master was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the rock jutting out of the sand in front of him until he tripped over it, falling forward into the sand with a yelp. On the plus side, sand was soft. On the downside, now it was all over him. Stupid sand. Groaning, Morro rolled over onto his back, staring at the sky. He was too tired to get up. After a few moments, his view was blocked by Lloyd leaning over him.

"You okay?" He asked with a grin.

"No." The wind master muttered. "I'm hot, and tired, and thirsty, and now I'm covered in sand. I hate sand." The blond only chuckled.

"Come on, get up. Lying around won't get us out of this desert any sooner." He offered him a hand, but Morro just stared at it. "Come on. Here." Lloyd sat down next to him, grabbing a canteen from the side of his backpack. "Drink. If you're thirsty, you should ask for some water."

"I didn't want to bother anyone." Morro replied, sitting up and unscrewing the cap on the canteen.

"I think we would be more bothered if you suddenly collapsed from thirst." The green ninja raised an eyebrow.

"I guess." Morro finished taking a drink, then screwed the top back on and handed it back to Lloyd. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now come one, we want to get to the city by nightfall." The blond stood up again, offering the younger boy a hand again, and this time it was accepted. The two hurried to catch up with the others, who had slowed their pace when they fell behind but not stopped. The pair chatted for the rest of the afternoon, which helped the time pass more quickly. Before Morro knew it, night was falling, and the city was within view.

As before, the group stopped to rest in the small forest, since they hadn't slept in the last 36 hours. Morro wondered if Bansha had made the deadline short on purpose, if she knew that they would have to rush any plan they made in order to make it there in time to execute it. A day's worth of travel would mean, if they wanted to attack at nightfall, they would either have to skip resting or wait another full day in order to attack under the cover of darkness. Or not. He was probably overthinking this.

The party slept until nearly noon the next day, then the Nyas and the ghosts set off towards the city. Their plan was to go to the forest on the other side of the city, where they would have the cover of the trees, then the Coles would dig them a pit to collect the water as they got ready to flood the city. Come nightfall, the rest of the group would sneak into the city and locate Bansha, then wait for the Nyas to attack. As soon as Bansha figured out what was going on, they would kill her and any other ghosts around. Then they would get themselves and Indigo A and her family somewhere up high, so they wouldn't get washed away.

The afternoon passed slowly, but eventually night began to fall and the second group headed towards the city. Infiltrating was easy, they just stuck close to buildings and let Dyana's shadows hide them. Finding Bansha was easy, she had a live video feed of herself and her prisoners on every screen in the city. It was so quiet. Such a big city should be bustling with life, but everything was silent and still. It felt… wrong.

After about half an hour, they arrived in the courtyard of his old castle, where Bansha waited with the prisoners. Indigo's son was crying, and both his parents were trying to console him in hushed voices. Bansha was ignoring them. Had she just waited here for the last two days? Maybe she was an illusion.

The party settled in the shadows in the corner of the courtyard, watching and waiting, close enough to stop Bansha and her guards if they tried anything. Until the Nyas attacked, all they had to do was lie in wait.

TheDarknessReturn

Indigo stood at the edge of the woods, leaning on the trunk of an old tree as she stared at the city. Not long from now, the city would be theirs. And thoroughly soaked. Unfortunate side effect. What did the ghosts do when it rained, she wondered?

"Indigo, don't get so close to the edge." She looked over her shoulder to see Morro coming up behind her, a concerned look on his face.

"Why not?" She asked, but took a few steps back anyway.

"I don't want you to get spotted."

"Who's gonna spot me? We're half a mile away from the city." She raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know what-" he broke off as his eyes locked on something behind her. "What the heck is that?" Indigo turned around to see, to her shock, a giant ball of fire hurtling through the air towards them. She jumped back with a yelp, though she knew it couldn't hurt her, and the pair watched in stunned silence as it flew over their patch of trees and landed a quarter-mile away.

"Uhh…" Indigo said after a moment. "Should we check on the others?"

"Yeah." Grabbing her hand, Morro ran back to where the Nyas were filling a pit full of water. They didn't seem very disturbed by the fact that the forest behind them was on fire. However, they were disturbed by what fell next, a giant boulder that missed Nya 1 by a hair as it thudded to the ground in the clearing. There were exclamations of shock all around, and Cole 2 lifted himself up on a pillar of rock to see above the trees.

"More are coming!" He yelled in alarm. "Nyas, keep going! We'll keep them off you!" The other Cole joined him as Indigo shook his head.

"Something is wrong. Something is very wrong." Yanking her hand out of Morro's grip, she turned and started back towards the city.

"Indigo, wait!" He followed her, but she continued.

"If they're throwing things at us, they know we're here! They know what we're doing! It's a set-up!" She went faster. "I'm going to help!"

"Indigo, no! You'll be killed in the flood!" her boyfriend protested.

"I have a dragon! I'll just fly away!" Coming out from the trees, Indigo broke into a run, turning invisible. If she didn't get there soon, the others would be caught in a trap.

TheDarknessReturn

A distant tremor made Lloyd lift his head with a frown.

The only explanation he could think of was… Cole. But both Coles were with the Nyas. Why would they be making earthquakes? An accident? The blond didn't think much of it. Bansha hadn't reacted, maybe he had imagined it.

He did not, however, imagine the scream that sounded from directly behind him.

Lloyd's head snapped around in alarm to see vines wrapped around Nicole and Dyana, and more starting to coil around the others as well. The others hadn't reacted in time, and though they struggled, they couldn't get out of their grasp. Jumping to his feet, the blond scrambled backwards, looking around in alarm. Those vines. They were the same one that boy, Gray, had used to keep him and his Morro prisoner. He was here. But how did he know about them? Did Bansha…?! The green ninja turned to see the blade mistress striding purposefully across the cobblestones towards her prisoner, bladestaff clutched firmly in both hands. Oh no.

Feeling one of the vines wrap around his ankle, Lloyd yanked out of its grip before dashing forward. He felt something brush his arm – another vine, maybe – but he took no notice of it. She was almost to them. He couldn't make it there in time. Instead, he skidded to a stop and charged a ball of energy, taking aim. He could kill her. But, somehow, his foot slipped as he threw, his shot going far wide and harmlessly colliding with a stone wall. Oh no. Oh no no no. He charged another ball, but it was too late, and he could only watch in horror as Bansha stabbed Indigo's son through the heart.

Two identical screams rang out through the courtyard.

I just killed a child

~FFF