A/N: sorry about that little hiatus, Christmas break was busier than usual. i got to write some more, though, so this story has a surprising amount of chapter buffer now! score.
so here's the Nya In The Underworld AU that no one asked for! i tried to keep Nya as in-character as possible, considering we never got to see what exactly she was doing while Kai was failing at that training course :p
cheers!
Sometimes Nya would read stories about places like this. Dark, scary places at the core of the earth, where all the creepy things go when the normal people banish them. Nya's read a lot of fairytales. Lots of fiction. And nonfiction! She's read novels and watched documentaries and studied texts that Walter told her not to look at.
But even after all that, Nya had never imagined she'd ever be in the Underworld.
It just—it isn't something people normally expect to happen, especially since she's never really considered that the Underworld might be real. But here she is. Here she is, sitting in a tiny cell, very much in the Underworld.
Not that she's locked in or anything. The door is actually wide open, she can leave anytime she wants. Samukai led her there and told her, "This is where you sleep, for now. Explore all you want, but if you disturb Lord Garmadon, it's your funeral."
He left Nya standing there with what was probably a rather amusing look on her face. Sure, it's gratifying that she's got some freedom, but it's just—it's so boring. A clumsy Skulkin has been assigned to track her down and bring her food every now and then, but it's never anything appetizing. It's always squishy or lumpy or downright unidentifiable, so Nya's stomach is getting a little growly lately.
She did manage to steal a fork (jaggedly carved from rough stone), so she's been scratching lines into the wall for every day that drags by. So far she's up to three days. Three. Days. Three whole days trapped in the Underworld, waiting for who knows what to happen.
It was rough for a while. The first day was especially difficult. But then Nya realized a very obvious fact: Kai would be coming for her! Duh. There's no way Kai is sitting at home right now, doing nothing. He cares about her. If he was the one that got abducted by demons, Nya would sure as heck come after him. So really, all she has to do is wait.
Three days already feels like three years, so Nya is . . . having trouble with patience, which has always been a faulty trait of hers. Oh well. The Skulkin don't bother her, and she doesn't bother them. It's a solid truce for the moment. Overall, she's doing okay. She's just confused about what's going on and how she fits into all of it.
Nya occupies herself with gymnastics. The cell is small, as far as rooms go, but there's enough space to turn a decent cartwheel, or land a well-placed somersault. She can almost do a front flip, but backflips are still out of the question. With enough hours of practice, she'll be practically unstoppable. Although, Nya doubts she can cartwheel her way out of the Underworld.
It's during a fierce practice session that her assigned Skulkin (Kruncha—the names here are outrageous) wanders in, bearing a bowl of something steaming. She's in the middle of a (pretty impressive) round-off and her foot makes contact with Kruncha's head. There's a jolting smack.
"Gah, sorry," Nya apologizes, straightening up. Kruncha might be helping an evil warlord take over the world, but it's not like he ever did anything to her personally. "Didn't see ya."
Kruncha twists his skull back into the forward-facing position and mutters something about an "occupational hazard". He sets the bowl on the ground and turns to leave, rubbing his neck. Normally Nya would let him go, because she really has no interest in talking to him, but today she whips around and calls, "Wait!"
The Skulkin freezes in the doorway, one foot still raised in midair to take another step. Nya approaches him slowly. The whole thing is kinda awkward, since she's a prisoner right now and Kruncha is working for the enemy . . . but he's also not very smart, so she's hoping this goes smoothly.
"So . . . what do you know about the Golden Weapons?" Nya asks casually, leaning against one of the walls. Kruncha's knobby shoulders go rigid.
"The—the golden what, I don't know about any golden—"
"Come on," Nya sighs. "You can tell me. It's not like I can go anywhere right now, anyway."
Kruncha thinks about this, then turns his head to raise a brow bone at her. "Why d'you care?"
Nya gestures indistinctly. "Wha—because apparently it has something to do with me, and I wanna know why I'm here!"
Kruncha grumbles a sigh, but he turns around to face her fully. "Lord Garmadon is trapped here in the Underworld. Banished. He can't retrieve the weapons himself."
Alright, it's still not making much sense.
"And . . . ?"
"And, he sent us to find the map. It has the locations of the four Golden Weapons on it."
"Map?"
Nya doesn't remember anything about a map. No one ever mentioned it. It's like a chunk of missing information in her brain, an empty spot in a puzzle. Maybe—did Garmadon say something about a map? Was she not listening?
"The one hidden in the sign, right on your house." Kruncha sounds skeptical, like she's messing with him. Like she should know all this already.
"What." Their shop's sign had—had a map to the Golden Weapons—the whole time? Her entire life? Who put it there?!
Kruncha seems annoyed with her. "Why else would we enter the human world? For a joyride?"
Nya's head is spinning. Their shop is called the Four Weapons. There are four Golden Weapons. The map was hidden in their house all along. Again, there are loads of missing pieces, and Nya would do anything to know what the heck is going on.
"Anyway. The Sword of Fire is hidden inside the Fire Temple. Lord Garmadon plans to lure Wu's team there to retrieve it."
Wu? Sword of Fire? Fire Temple?
"You're the bait, in case that wasn't obvious by now," Kruncha finishes, heading out the door without a backwards glance. Nya has to lean heavily on the wall to keep her knees from giving out. Wu. That name is so achingly familiar, but why?
Sensei Wu! Your spinjitzu looks rusty.
The words echo in her head like a gong, ringing louder and louder until—until she remembers. Right before the water tower fell—before she was yanked right out of her yard—she hears Samukai's voice saying the words, spitting them out maliciously. The memory is barely even recognizable at this point, but it's there.
The old man is Wu? He has a team? He—
Nya sits down, one hand rubbing her forehead so she doesn't spontaneously combust from info overload. Things are . . . starting to make a lot more sense now. Not enough sense for her to understand it, but still.
Dubiously, Nya eyes the bowl of food, still sitting where the Skulkin had placed it earlier. Her stomach gives an aching growl, but still, Nya just grimaces and pushes the bowl away with her foot.
Dark thoughts start to weave their way into her consciousness, but Nya recognizes them and leaps to her feet again, throwing herself into another cartwheel. Distractions. The only thing she can do now is distract herself while she waits for Kai to come drag her out of here. It's gonna be fine. Heh, it's not like she's gonna be stuck down here forever.
Maybe if she tells herself that enough times, she'll actually start believing it.
oOo
Six days. It's been six days, and Nya is still trapped in the Underworld. Six days is almost a week, and a week is too long. Kai should've been here by now, what's taking so long, why is she still here—
The Underworld is nothing but dark caverns and shadowy rooms and huge, gaping atriums full of skeletons and oversized spiders clinging to the walls. Every object is hard and made of stone; the closest thing Nya has to a blanket is a scratchy length of fabric that she curls up on at night.
Or, what she assumes is night, anyway. There's no sense of time here, no sun, no sky. When Nya looks up, all she sees is jagged cave walls that extend into eternal blackness above. The food she manages to choke down is minimal, and she can't find warmth no matter how far she wanders into the various passages.
It's miserable.
Nya's beginning to feel claustrophobic, too, like the darkness is closing in from all sides, ready to suffocate her at any moment. She misses the bright autumn colors of Ignacia and the blankets on her bed at home. She misses the fire in the forge and Kai's proud smile when she learns how to make a new weapon.
She misses Kai.
Sometimes, when the Skulkin retreat to their nooks and crannies for the "night", Nya curls up in her corner and cries, but not for very long. Just long enough to get the emotions out. Then she replaces negative feelings with positive affirmations that—that don't usually work, if she's being honest.
Sometimes it's so bad that Nya's breath gets quicker and her hands shake and—and the whole room spins around and around because Nya feels trapped and she hates feeling trapped—
But not more than she hates feeling helpless.
Even though she doesn't understand the details yet, these creatures are using her, and she can't do anything about it because she's alone and weak.
What's she gonna do, barge into Garmadon's throne room and take him down singlehandedly? Heck no, Nya values her own life a little more than that, geez. And it's not like the Underworld has a front door that she can just walk out of. She's absolutely and utterly out of options.
Kai's coming. Just gotta be patient.
Unfortunately, patience is something Nya has a very limited supply of. Runs in the family. With every day that passes, Nya grows more restless, more angry, more hopeless.
Boredom is enough to drive her crazy on its own, so she tries to defeat it by practicing every gymnastics move she can think of, eventually inventing new ones to keep herself busy. Nya perfects her front flip and even gets halfway decent at a backflip—after acquiring a wild amount of scrapes and bruises from attempting it on solid rock surfaces all the time.
Sometimes she follows Kruncha around and keeps up awkward conversation. On occasion, he lets her sit in the workspace when the Skulkin are fixing their vehicles and building new ones. Their techniques are primitive at best, and Nya always wants to point out errors and offer assistance. But then she remembers—these are the bad guys. She's not helping them.
Days turn into weeks. Nya's mood plummets drastically. Hope dwindles, even though she used to be so certain that Kai would figure out where she is and come for her. The Underworld becomes familiar and Nya falls into a mundane routine every day, not that she likes it, but . . .
Well, what else can she do?
What if the Skulkin did something to Kai? What if he's not coming, what if he's—
Nya blocks those worries out as best as she can, but fears creep in through cracks in her defenses. Her condition becomes somewhat unstable as the days wear on, hour by hour, minute by minute. She's only vaguely aware of how terrifying she looks right now, covered with all variations of dirt and bruises from her gymnastics fails.
But despite the crushing weight of helplessness and soul-devouring fear she's wrestling with, Nya's fine! Totally fine! Great, in fact. She's so totally fine that it doesn't even bother her when Kruncha invades her personal space one day and yanks her out of the "cell" without any explanation.
(That's a lie—it bothers her a whole hecking lot.)
"Where are we going?" Nya demands.
"Garmadon requested an audience with you."
Garmadon? Oh no. She's in no mood to deal with that helmet-headed spawn of Satan. Nya tugs at her arm, wondering how much trouble she'd be in if she just yanked Kruncha's hand out of its socket. But rather than trekking back to the throne room, they stop in the middle of another corridor—
And Garmadon is there, too.
Kruncha releases her wrist and gives her a little shove. "Good luck," he grumbles sarcastically. Nya shoots him a glare, and in that same second, Garmadon wraps an arm around her shoulders. Her entire body tenses.
"Let's take a walk," he says in that low, smooth way of his. Nya has no choice but to keep up with him, extremely aware of his presence right next to her, leading her around.
"I think it's time I was honest with you," Garmadon sighs. "I suppose it's only fair."
Nya raises an eyebrow. "Um. You dragged me to the Underworld against my will. Nothing about this is fair."
Garmadon eyes her, looking annoyed—but amused, nonetheless. "Hmm. What if I were to tell you what your role is in all of this."
Nya blinks. She knows she's supposed to be bait, but besides that . . . everything is pretty hazy.
". . . I'm listening."
Still guiding her through the cavern, Garmadon explains, "Long ago, my father, the First Spinjitzu Master, created the Four Golden Weapons. Each one holds the power of a certain element—fire, ice, lightning and earth."
"O-kay . . ."
"And, to make a long and burdensome story short, my meddlesome little brother hid them away and banished me to this cursed place."
Nya frowns. "So—wait. The First Spinjitzu Master is your father? Then . . . how'd you end up like this?"
Garmadon hums deep in his throat, sounding displeased. "That . . . is a story for another time. What matters now is obtaining the Golden Weapons so I can rule Ninjago."
Well, that's definitely not good.
"Kruncha told me you can't leave the Underworld," Nya observes.
"Correct. That is why, in the final stage of my plan, I will use you to lure Sensei Wu and his pathetic ninja to the last weapon—the Sword of Fire."
Nya's getting angrier with every word, and the term "use" doesn't sit well with her, either. But—something still doesn't make sense.
"Okay, but why would that old man care about me?"
Garmadon stops walking, the arm around her shoulders tightening a little too much. Nya shifts uncomfortably.
"Haven't you heard?" Garmadon hisses sarcastically. "Your brother is Wu's newest recruit."
Something in Nya's chest drops. Thoughts explode and start whirling like crazy, crashing into each other before she can make sense of anything.
"I—wha—Kai? A ninja? No. There's no way—"
"Apparently you underestimate what lengths your brother will go to in order to rescue his little sister."
All Nya can do is blink as everything finally clicks into place. Sensei Wu was at their shop to find Kai, but Kai turned him away. Then the Skulkin attacked them, and she got kidnapped, so—
—so Kai agreed to be a ninja so he could get her back.
Part of Nya is touched at the gesture. Her heart swells at the idea of Kai doing something like that to save her, he was never the best at coordination, or teamwork, or . . . really anything that requires patience or practice. But clearly he's willing to try—for her.
The other part of Nya is absolutely terrified, because Kai is in a lot of danger right now. She can't let him walk right into Garmadon's trap, she has to warn him somehow—
Then something else clicks.
"How did you know the map was in our house?" Nya asks. "It could've been anywhere!"
"Many years ago, Wu and I knew your father well. Wu would only hide the map with someone honest—and trustworthy."
"I thought you said your little brother hid the map."
Garmadon snarls, "Wu and I are brothers."
Just when Nya's mind was starting to clear up, things get all fuzzy again. She pulls away from Garmadon and shakes her head hard.
"Wait just one second! You—you're the brothers from all those stories? The ones who fought in the Serpentine Wars together?"
As if he's staring at something very far away, Garmadon's voice is absent. "Yes . . . I suppose we are." Then he blinks. "Who told you about the Serpentine Wars?"
Nya's face falls. "Walt—uh . . . a friend of my father told me stories about them. But . . ."
But now he's gone.
And it's . . . all Garmadon's fault.
Nya is stuck in the Underworld. She doesn't have any outstanding abilities, she's lost, she's alone, and she's confused beyond belief. But she's mad, and that outweighs everything else by a landslide.
Blood boiling, Nya seethes, "You."
Garmadon appears unfazed. "Excuse me?"
"You! You sent your ugly Skulkin to the wrong house, didn't you?"
"How should I know? Those boneheads can't tell right from left, I can only imagine—"
"No!" Nya is fuming now, stomping right up to Garmadon and jabbing an accusatory finger at his chest. "You sent them to the first house thinking it was my father. You—you—"
Garmadon brushes her away easily. "Did I? Ah, yes, I suppose I did. A pity, really. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Nya's hands clench into fists, nails biting into the skin of her palms. Garmadon continues.
"My warriors are easily angered. It is not my fault if that man got in the way—"
As he continues to ramble on, the words blend together in a deafening screech, ringing in Nya's ears until all she can see is red. How dare he. How dare he. Walter was everything to her, he was—he was—
"He was my friend!" And before Nya even feels herself move, her hand whips out and strikes Garmadon across the face. He stops talking.
She should probably be horrified at herself. In fact, all things considered, Nya should really start running right about now. She just slapped the God of the Underworld. Technically, her life is, like, in immediate jeopardy.
But Nya doesn't run. She stays right there, feet planted firmly on the ground, eyes glued to Garmadon's neutral expression. She's angry that he isn't reacting at all, she wants him to yell or hit back or, you know, unleash the powers of hell or something.
Nothing happens. Garmadon just looks at her. Nya looks back. She realizes it's turned into a staring contest, a battle of the wills. Who will crack first?
Nya decides it won't be her.
They stay like that until Garmadon finally lifts his chin and glares down at her. "A lot of bite for such a little puppy." And he strides away, knowing very well he's just left her with even more fury than before. Nya doesn't really know what to do now.
Her sense of direction was lost a while ago down here, so she follows the corridor until it opens up into a sort of cavernous amphitheater. This must be where Garmadon gathers his skeleton army every time he wants to make some grand speech. There's a rippling lake on the other side, and Nya feels drawn to it.
She kneels down at its edge and tentatively sticks one finger in the water. The water ripples violently at her touch and Nya jerks her hand away before she can get splashed.
"Stupid cursed underground lakes," she mumbles. Even the water down here is defected. Figures.
Nya doesn't want to get up, though. Instead, she stares at the surface until the water quiets down. When her reflection is clear, Nya is made painfully aware of the state of herself, hair in complete disarray, bangs sticking out at an odd angle. There's random smudges of dirt on every available area of skin, even one on the side of her face. She touches it and—
Ow, okay, that's not dirt, that's definitely a bruise.
Kai is training to be a ninja and she's just stuck waiting for him to come save her. What good is Nya if she can't even save herself? Isn't that what she's always stood for? Isn't that the point of her samurai exoskeleton (work in progress)? She wants to be seen as a valid threat, a force to be reckoned with.
Not some—some helpless little baby.
With a frustrated cry, Nya reaches out and smacks her reflection, watching it distort as it ripples into fragments. That's what she is—a mess of shattered pieces, unrecognizable to even herself.
"Found her!" yells a high-pitched, scratchy voice. Nya starts at the sound and leaps to her feet. Two Skulkin are behind her, eyeing her nervously.
Tiredly, Nya sighs. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I gotta go back to my 'room' now." She figures it's better to take the path of least resistance this time around, she's done letting them drag her around by the arm.
Nya's morale takes a hit that day, though, and it's low for the weeks that follow. Two weeks and four days, to be specific (not that Nya's keeping track . . . but she is). She sinks into a numb sort of emptiness, letting it wrap around her like a cocoon. If Kai's not here to make her feel better, she'll just—do it herself. And the best way to feel better is to feel nothing, because at least then she can kinda forget about what's happening.
Not that it works very well.
Those two weeks and four days pass in a blur of haziness. Nya doesn't leave her open cell anymore, she just makes a home for herself there and gets used to it. Might as well accept it. After all, she's almost certain that she's staying here forever. Why would Kai come for her if he's a ninja now? What does he need her for?
Nya's so accustomed to her life of solitude here that it's a shock when someone interrupts her brooding one day.
It happens while Nya is dozing off for a midday nap, sprawled out dramatically on the ground, one arm over her face like she's shielding her eyes from the sun (which is ironic, since she hasn't seen the sun in . . . a lot of days).
She hears the cell door creak as someone opens it all the way.
"Leave me alone to die," Nya deadpans, unmoving. Man, the Underworld has really thrown her dignity for a loop.
The voice that follows is chillingly familiar. "Actually, I'm afraid I need you quite alive."
Nya's eyes blink open as she sits up, staring at the tall, dark figure in the doorframe. It's Garmadon, without a doubt. Oh, lovely. He's probably here to murder her for slapping him—
"Get up," he orders. "It's time for a change in scenery."
Change in scenery?
They're moving? They're—are they actually leaving the Underworld? She's going with them? It's almost too good to be true, this is her way out—!
"I'm sure your brother will be glad to see you."
Uh-oh.
They might be leaving the Underworld, but it's going to be out of the frying pan and into the fire. Nya stands and backs up until she's pressed against the back wall, feet braced against the uneven ground.
"I'm not coming with you," she says. Her voice doesn't sound as steady as she wanted it to.
"You don't have a choice," is Garmadon's hateful reply. His crimson eyes narrow dangerously. "If you ever want to see your brother again, you'll follow me. If not . . . this room will be your home for the rest of your miserable life!"
Nya flinches at the words and scrambles forward. "Okay, okay. Geez."
Bait is not something she's interested in becoming, but then again . . . Nya is sick of darkness and stone and purple fire. She misses Kai and her house and normal fire that's orange.
Besides, Kai might not be the sharpest crayon in the box, but she'd never underestimate him. Whatever Garmadon has planned, Kai can handle it. He won't fall for anything stupid. She at least has that to hold on to.
Nya's not scared for Kai, but she's maybe the tiniest bit scared for herself. She's not excited to find out what her role is in this whole scheme, and the unpredictability is sending her head spinning.
"Where are we going?" she asks.
Garmadon looks down at her and says, "I am not going anywhere. You, however, are going back to Ninjago."
Oh, that's right. She forgot he can't leave the Underworld, because of the banishment and all that. So . . . this means she's going for another ride with the Skulkin, which sounds as appealing as an egg-and-barf sandwich.
"But first, I require something of you," rumbles Garmadon. A knot of dread ties itself right between Nya's ribs. She frowns.
"Like what?"
"Don't move."
Nya only has time to vaguely panic about what that means. Before she can blink, a shadowy form tears itself away from Garmadon and slams right into her chest—
—and goes right through her.
It's the worst thing she's ever experienced in her life, like someone is shoving her whole body through a cheese grater. Her chest constricts so tightly that she forgets how to breathe, how to move, how to speak–
When the shadow emerges again, Nya drops to her knees, drained of energy. As she pants, raggedly gasping for breath, she notices a pair of red shoes in front of her—
Nya looks up and sees Nya. She sees another her, an exact copy—just without the messy appearance and various bruises. She stares wide-eyed at Garmadon.
"Wha—how did you—why—"
"How else am I supposed to lure your brother to the Fire Temple?" Garmadon says. With a wave of his hand, her shadow duplicate steps over to him and merges fluidly with his body until Garmadon has absorbed it completely.
"A projection," he states. "When faced with such idiotic limitations, one must be creative with their methods."
He yanks Nya to her feet and she stumbles dizzily behind him, immensely unsettled at the circumstances and how they're unfolding. There's nothing she can do now.
Nothing except hope Kai knows what he's doing.
A/N: little does she know, Kai has like . . . zero clue what he's doing XD
review, share, do whatever. hope your holidays were amazing, if you celebrated! :) catch you folks later.
