Hi new story, I've had this published on Ao3 for a bit but it isn't getting much attention so I thought maybe I'd post it here and see if it does better. This story takes place shortly after Seabound.

The other ninja had left to try to spend time with their families, losing Nya had made them realize just how little time they all spent with those they loved. Pixal and Borg had joined Cole and Lou on their visit to Shintaro. Vania wanted to see her favorite ninja and meet the robot assistant turned samurai. Kai and his parents were still grieving and had left with Jay and his family to the island of the keepers on a tropical vacation or so they claimed. Lloyd, Wu, and Misako went to go track down a lost library somewhere on the dark island. Zane was left to defend Ninjago and was all alone in the monastery. He was walking past Wu's room and noticed an armor stand containing the Dragon Armor, the golden weapons were also on a wall behind the armor. He could still feel the power of the weapons that had once coursed through him, the power that had killed both him and the Overlord. There had been a phrase whispered to him through the whole ordeal, through the song the elements themselves seemed to be singing, one phrase had echoed from the weapons themselves, Not Yet. He could now hear them whispering again.

"Soon,"

He had never told anyone about the golden weapons talking to him, mostly because he never fully believed it himself. Those moments had been filled with agony, he could have easily imagined the weapons talking to him. But now he couldn't deny he heard something. Zane shook his head. No, he was imagining things, the monastery was way too quiet, his processor was probably trying to fill the void. He walked into the library, desperate to try to find something that could bring Nya back to them. He knew Jay's mental health was in a rapid decline and nothing anyone said or did would help him. Only a trip to the storm belt, the place where storm and sea met, could do anything for him and that's why Kai had called both his own parents and Jay's.

There was an old dusty book bound in lead and the pages were of dragon scales. It looked as if it had survived the fire all those years ago with only some ash mixed with the dust of thousands of years.

Curious, Zane opened it. The chain and lock that had once held it closed, had rusted to the point where they disintegrated from a mere touch. Inside was a drawing of a figure that looked like a ninja and it seemed to be merging itself with the dragon armor and all four golden weapons, the drawing above displayed a massive dragon. There was ancient wording that looked even older than the ones on the temple of Wojira. Then he realized exactly where he'd seen it before, in the first realm.

"Her Dragon Will Devour the Darkness," it read.

Suddenly a familiar cloud rose up through the city.

"Shit, not again," said Zane in panic.

There was no time to call the other ninja, and certainly no time to wait for their arrival. Zane was on his own to defend the realm from the Oni's second invasion attempt. He quickly ran to Wu's room and grabbed the shurikens of ice. The armor caught his eye again. Wu would forgive him, he hoped.

He put the armor on and fixed the shurikens to the belt beside the sword. He then looked at the other three weapons. Lloyd had been able to handle them when forged into armor, he had to hope he could do the same now. He grabbed the sword of fire and placed it on the belt then the nunchucks and then put the scythe on his back. He took the bounty and landed it outside the city. The police were waiting.

"Oh good, the ninja are here, are the rest on their way?" asked the commissioner

"No, there is no time to call them and they are scattered across Ninjago, by the time the closest one got here the Oni would have won," said Zane

"What should we do?" asked the commissioner

"Evacuate any remaining citizens onto the bounty, it's parked outside the city, hurry," said Zane as he got into a fighting stance.

His mind briefly went back to what Nya had to do to protect the city and save Jay. He was just one ninja against an army of Oni, an army that had caused them to need to use the tornado of creation last time. Suddenly there was a voice, unmistakable in it's source, no possible way for it to be a hallucination.

The weapons shouted at him.

"NOW!"

The dragon in the book flashed through his head. He froze the ground and the path in front of him and opened himself, not just to his element, but to the armor and golden weapons. He let the power of both consume him, the shurikens taking the lead, aiding all of ice to take over the ninja. Zane felt his body expand and change, the white light coming from the dragon armor absorbing into him. The golden weapons affixed themselves to the parts of his body most in tune with their element.

There in front of the Oni army was a gleaming white dragon with golden eyes, three times the size of Firstborn. His teeth were bared, embossed on his left foreleg was the sword of fire, at the base of his wings were the nunchucks of lightning, on his tail was the scythe of quakes, and the shurikens shown brightly on his chest. He roared and bashed his tail on the ground causing the earth to shake beneath him and the Oni, the golden scales forming the scythe glowing as he used its power.

Rearing up on his hind legs he slashed at the oni with burning gold claws and the sword scales shining bright.

The Oni fought, slashing him with their weapons, golden blood poured from the wounds but trace lines of gold stemming from the weapons quickly closed the wounds, leaving him looking like shattered porcelain fixed by the Kintsugi method.

Zane flew into the air, every beat of his wings producing a thunderclap from the glowing nunchucks. He breathed ice over the oni, golden flakes seen in every fragment. Those who managed to dodge his attack quickly found themselves speared through on sword-sized teeth as he had rocketed back to the ground scooping 20 Oni at a time into his jaws.

The battle was over in moments, the Oni standing no chance against a being of creation itself. Zane roared, the thunderous sound blasted the cloud of destruction into mere wisps that were dispelled in a beat of his wings. With the city now safe, Zane flew to the docks, careful not to land on the wood that would never hold him. He had something to try.

"NYA!" He called out to the sea

There was no response. He growled. The shurikens suddenly implanted a phrase in his mind.

It was worth a shot.

"WATER! YOUR TWIN ASKS YOUR PRESENCE, WOULD YOU DENY ICE WHEN HE ASKS FOR YOUR COMPANY?" He roared to the ocean.

Suddenly Nya appeared, first as a glow on the water then in her humanesque form.

"Ice is held by Zane, you are not him," said Nya

"There you are wrong, I am Zane," he said with a small laugh

"Zane is a nindroid, not a dragon," said Nya "Do not claim to be someone close to me when clearly you are not him,"

"Like you, I had a sacrifice to make to protect Ninjago, the other ninja are spread far and wide leaving me alone to protect the city, the Oni attacked once more, leaving me no choice but to merge with my own element and the weapons of spinjitzu, the dragon form courtesy of the dragon armor, master Wu will not be pleased with me that I cannot return it to him," said Zane

"Prove to me you are my friend, my brother," she said, her own element telling her this was her twin, ice.

"Our first conversation after my death was on Chen's island you said "Zane you're back!" to which I replied "What is on my back?" while turning my head around," said Zane

"It is you," exclaimed Nya

"Nya, the others, especially Jay, are having a very hard time dealing with your departure, I know you can feel him, the ying-yang promise has ancient magic behind it binding the souls of the two participants, you leaving him breaks both of you," said Zane softly

"I know, it hurts but there is nothing I can do," said Nya sadly

"But I can, I didn't just merge with Ice, I merged with the golden weapons and the dragon armor as well. So not only am I ice, I am the four elements and creation itself, I can create you a new body and you can part from the sea," said Zane

"But then you would have to merge with the ocean, its call is so loud it's impossible to ignore," said Nya

"Merging with a created body will still allow your soul to be in tune with the sea but its call will be quiet and easy to ignore, you will still have the abilities of the ocean but your body will be human," said Zane

"So just like I used to be but slightly more powerful?" asked Nya

Zane nodded. He crashed his tail against the ground causing dirt to come loose. He breathed ice over it before waving his claws over the golden ice, there were flames in his claw that melted the ice. The creation water mixed with the dirt making mud that glittered with gold. He then formed the mud into a shape that looked like Nya and then used his burning claw to bake the mud.

He then concentrated and breathed a golden mist over the mud form.

"Once you merge with the body, you need to use your powers to go to Jay on the island of the keepers, it will be faster if you swim," said Zane

"Thank you, brother," said Nya. She closed her eyes and walked to the body, it looked just like she once did, only the hair was much longer and the gi was the color of the sea. There were also no physical flaws, and the face would never need an ounce of makeup.

She merged with it.

Sinking to her knees at the sensation of weight, she looked up at the smiling dragon in front of her.

"I also got rid of that perfume allergy you had, physically the body is flawless, but it is still human, therefore not limitless. Your bond with the ocean will allow you to breathe in water as well as the air. I have one more person to bring back to our family but I suggest you go to Jay now," said Zane

She did her best to hug him but she didn't even come up to the middle of one of his toes.

"I take it you aren't the ninja of ice anymore," said Nya

"No, I am the dragon of creation, the mount of destiny herself," said Zane

"Wow, I guess I'll see you back at the monastery later?" asked Nya

"I'll see if I fit in the courtyard," laughed Zane

Nya jumped into the sea and swam towards the island of the keepers, well that's what she assumed, she was just following the pull of her soul towards its other half, to Jay.

"Hey Kai, did you feel that?" asked Jay

"What?" asked Kai, drinking from a coconut.

"That weird feeling of impending doom, it didn't last very long but there were also a few earthquakes," said Jay

"I felt the earthquakes," said Kai

Suddenly there was a ripple on the surface of the unnaturally calm ocean.

Jay starred, his heart rising in his chest. Was this it? Was it her?

She rose from the water, her much longer hair falling down her back and over her shoulders.

"Nya?" asked Jay, his voice filled with hope as he tentatively rose to meet her.

She nodded before they ran to each other, hot tears spilling down his cheeks as he muttered her name, burying his face into her shoulders.

"H-how?" asked Kai

"The Oni came back, Zane had to face them by himself, he merged with ice and the golden weapons as well as the dragon armor, he apparently became a dragon of ice and creation, he was able to use that power to give me a new human body to merge with, I still have my powers and then some but the overwhelming call of the ocean is deafened," said Nya

"That guy is in for the biggest hug he's ever gotten," said Kai

"Also, because of our core elements being the same but different states, elementally Zane is my twin, oh and he's three times as large as firstborn," said Nya

"Where is he now?" asked Kai, Jay was still hugging Nya, he wouldn't be letting go for a long time, Nya didn't care.

"He said he had one more member of our family to bring back," said Nya

"He-He's going to reform Garmadon isn't he," said Kai

"I think so," nodded Nya

"I hope he's prepared for Lloyd's reaction," said Kai with a smirk.

...

Garmadon was currently being beset by the largest dragon he'd ever seen. Worse, his destructive powers seemed to have no effect on the beast.

Zane gently but firmly grasped Garmadon in his claws.

"LET ME GO YOU BEAST!" shouted Garmadon as he struggled to get free.

Zane chuckled.

"I think it's time to bring that dragon blood of yours out of hiding, and just a friendly warning, I ATE THE ONI FOR BREAKFAST THIS MORNING!" growled Zane

Summoning the creation energy he had used for Nya, he breathed it over Garmadon. This caused the dragon blood in him to overwhelm the oni blood and revert it to dragon. His body morphed slowly back into the man Lloyd happily called his Father.

"Who are you?" asked Garmadon as Zane slowly set him down.

"Long story to be told when all are together again, but it's me, Zane," smiled the dragon

"Zane? How in the world did you become Destiny's Mount?" asked Garmadon

"The oni returned, I had to merge with my element and the golden weapons also the dragon armor," said Zane

"You realize this makes you the direct servant of destiny, her pet. You are subject to her call and required to do what she tells you, you cannot go against her," said Garmadon, waning in his voice.

"The elements have been calling me from the moment I did what must be done to destroy the overlord, I have to believe it was always her plan for me to be her mount. But first, Lloyd, Misako, and Wu are on this island, reunite with them. I must fly to Shintaro to speak with Cole," said Zane, he took off into the air, thunder rolled as he flew and rain began to fall.

Garmadon watched as the massive dragon barrel-rolled through the air, lighting crashing with every beat from his massive wings. Suddenly a beautiful woman appeared next to him, clad in deep blue and white robe with armor of platinum and a white gold tiara. Her long ebony hair braided down her back as she also gazed at the dragon getting smaller and smaller as it flew away.

"Fret not master of destruction, I have awaited my dragon for eons and I have carefully crafted the bonds between him and his friends, I will not make a decision that breaks those bonds. Nor is he merely my pet. Fate loves her dragon and treats it as her beloved partner, her husband swears she loves the dragon more than him. I aim to do the same, my husband is creation itself and has also claimed my dragon as his mount. It is just as some mortals claim their pets as their children," she said before she disappeared.

….

Moving past the notion that he had just spoken with Destiny herself, Garmadon made his way through the jungle. He was drawn to the sound of voices who were discussing bunkering down for the night because of what they thought was the sound of a storm coming. Garmadon suddenly tripped on a root and face planted in front of his brother, son, and wife.

"Dad?" asked Lloyd hesitantly.

Garmadon stood up and nodded, his voice catching in his throat as Lloyd crashed into him, hugging himlike his life depended on it.

"How?" asked Misako

"Destiny's Dragon has emerged," said Garmadon