A/N: aaaand we're back.

we're just gonna rapidly swing back and forth between canon and AU for a bit, just hang tight, folks. thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows, i appreciate anyone who's taking the time to actually read this XD

so for today, enjoy the One Where Everything Is On Fire. cheers!


The ride back to Ninjago is just as jarring and upside-down as the ride to the Underworld, except this time Nya gets to sit in the passenger seat of a vehicle instead of dangling off the back. She tries to watch the transition, waiting for the moment that they cross over, but the car is moving too fast and the wind is whipping against her face—

So she's forced to close to her eyes and hold on for dear life, swallowing the panicked shriek that almost jumps out of her throat. When she finally has the courage to peek, the swirling purple vortex is fading into what looks like—pine . . . trees . . . ?

Nya sits up straighter and leans over the edge of her seat, surprised to see how fast the ground is passing underneath them, rocks and shrubs smudging into blurs and streaks of color. The sky overhead is painted with the warm colors of sunset and peppered with dim pinpoints of light on the horizon line —

Stars! Nya can see stars, she can see the sky again! Oh wow, oh gosh, she's missed it so much. This forest isn't familiar, but who cares, Nya is in Ninjago again!

Cool evening air rushes through her hair, messing it up even further. Nya's vaguely aware that Kai's going to be downright horrified at the sight of her, but whatever, she's too excited to care very much. So Nya hangs on and lets the vehicle bounce her all over the place. If she didn't know what's coming, she might be happy right now.

But then Nya glances to her left and sees the skeleton sitting there, sees the lifeless gleam in its eyes, and she remembers—this isn't supposed to be fun. This is dangerous. Nya doesn't even really know where they're going, much less what's gonna happen when they get there.

The trees thin out into a vast clearing, eventually narrowing into a distinct path that winds up a hill, leading to—

"Whoa," Nya breathes, scooting forward to get a better view of what she assumes is the Fire Temple. It's nothing like she'd imagined, it's wayyy bigger. Like, a gazillion times bigger. The ancient oriental architecture is stunning, glimmering in rich golds and reds, shining spectacularly with the light of sunset. The beginning of an awestruck smile starts to curve Nya's mouth upwards until she remembers herself and stops.

First the vehicle has to cross an eerie-looking bridge that's suspended rather ominously over a river of lava. Then they roll through the entrance and continue halfway down a passageway, lit by blazing torches along the walls. Further down, Nya can see warm light, like maybe there's fire somewhere, but then the skeletons drag her out of the car and lead her a different direction. Apparently she's not allowed to see whatever lies deep in the temple's interior.

Kruncha is there, bony hand around her wrist, guiding her through a series of dark tunnels full of twists and turns. She tries to memorize the layout, but Kruncha changes direction too many times for her to keep track of. Finally they emerge from the tunnel into a pocket of space, like being in a tiny cave.

It's empty except for a hole in the floor, over in the corner. A bright red glow shines through it and the air around it is noticeably warmer. Considering she's been shivering for more than three weeks, Nya is instinctively drawn to the heat, eyeing the hole curiously. She turns around to ask Kruncha about it, but he's gone.

Huh.

Shrugging, Nya edges over to the opening in the floor and kneels, warming her hands over it. What's down there? She cautiously peeks over and the heat gains intensity, almost like looking into an oven. The only thing she can see below is a bubbling red expanse, glowing with a compelling radiance. She thinks—

Could that be—?

"Get away from there!" barks Kruncha, hurrying over to her. "If you get boiled ahead of schedule, Lord Garmadon will blame me."

Hastily scurrying backwards, Nya stammers, "Ahead of—what?"

"Never mind that," he replies. "Just—stay here." Kruncha points to a spot on the ground, a safe distance away from the hole.

"Okay, fine. Don't get your pelvis in a twist."

"My what?"

"Nothing."

Kruncha casts her an irritated glance before clonking around the corner and disappearing into the shadows of the corridor. The cave she's in feels cramped and crowded, even though she's the only thing in it, so Nya backs against the far wall and curls up, feeling very out of place. Maybe she should try to get some sleep. Something big is coming—she can feel some sort of invisible anticipation in the air.

Just when she'd escaped the Underworld, she gets thrown in another dark and spooky place.

"Why's it always gotta be caves?" Nya mutters, tucking her feet under herself and settling in.

So this is the Fire Temple, huh? Pretty cool. She wonders what its purpose is, besides being used for holding hostages. The interior is probably awesome; Nya wishes she could explore it. The way out is right there, she could totally just leave . . .

But the corridors are like a labyrinth and as much as Nya wants to go back outside, she's not interested in getting hopelessly lost in the middle of some ancient temple. She's made it this far, it would be a shame to go out like that.

The plan from here on out is uncertain. When is Kai coming? Is he coming here? Will the Skulkin be heading somewhere else tomorrow? Are they leaving her here or bringing her along? Nya groans at all the mystery and rolls onto her side. Might as well get some much-needed rest while she's alone.

It can only go up from here, right?

oOo

To Nya's chagrin, things end up going down—quite literally.

She's only asleep for a short time—barely long enough to feel even a tiny bit more energized. The rude awakening comes in the form of something very heavy and very uncomfortable, but Nya doesn't know what it is, it's too dark.

She sits up, blinking groggily. There are at least three Skulkin with her now, none of them familiar. Nya pushes herself to her feet, finally realizing why she was so uncomfortable.

There's a thick metal chain wrapped twice around her middle, the end of it trailing off somewhere behind her.

What the actual f—

"Oh, good, you're up," one skeleton says to her offhandedly, messing with something near the wall. Nya turns around in circles, tugging at the chain and tripping over her own feet in the dark. What's going on and why does she feel so panicked—

"Kai? Kai?"

The voice that says the words doesn't belong to her, but it sounds just like her. Nya's breath quickens as her eyes dart around the room frantically. The skeletons haven't noticed anything, and there's no one else here—

"Kai?"

It's undoubtedly her voice, but—but she's not even talking right now! There can't be two of her, that's not—

That's not . . .

WAIT.

Quick as lightning, Nya remembers Garmadon's shadow pushing into her and creating another her. And then Garmadon absorbed it and—

Nya flinches as that voice whispers in her mind again, triggering a wave of abrupt pain in her neck.

"I have to go."

It's her, it's her voice, it's the creepy clone that Garmadon made of her! But it's not real. It's just a shadowy illusion, a mere wisp of reality. But—Kai might not know that.

After all those weeks of not knowing what's going on, you can imagine Nya's overwhelming shock when everything falls into place—all at once.

Garmadon took that shadow copy of me so he could use it as bait. He knew Kai was looking for me, so Garmadon took advantage of that and clearly managed to find where Wu's team is—

A skeleton nudges Nya forward a little, but she barely notices.

Then he's going to lure Kai here, to the Fire Temple, where the Sword of Fire is hidden! It all makes sense now! Garmadon needs Kai to retrieve the sword for him, so he's probably going to use some sort of threat or bribery—

That hole in the floor is really close now, she's standing right on the edge of it—

"Kai . . ."

The voice sends a shiver up Nya's spine, even though the air is getting really hot all of a sudden—

—because Garmadon can't be here himself. He's gonna trick Kai into getting the sword, he's—he's gonna—

Nya's mouth falls open and she blinks from the hole to the Skulkin and back again. The chain, the lava underneath her, Kai on his way . . .

The Sword of Fire must be under her, too. She's been right over it this whole time, and now—

"Nya!"

It's Kai, Kai is here, she can hear him—

"Don't worry, I'm right here, brother."

At the end of the sentence, the voice isn't hers anymore. It distorts into Garmadon's chilling tone, the cold-as-ice sound she's definitely learned to recognize by now. Nya bites down on her lower lip. Should she say something? Should she scream? Screaming feels right.

But Nya doesn't get the chance.

"Garmadon," she hears Kai snarl. There's a shuffling noise and a dismayed sound—like Kai is reaching for a weapon but coming up empty.

"Forgot something?" Garmadon taunts.

How is he here? He's stuck in the Underworld, he can't be in Ninjago.

Unless . . .

Unless his shadow abides by a different set of rules. Maybe he can project his image here, just like what he did to lead Kai to the Fire Temple. Nya feels better now. If it's just a shadow, Kai's not in any real danger—

"You can't hurt me here! You're banished. Trapped in the Underworld!"

Well, clearly Kai has the same idea, then.

"And that is why you're going to remove the Sword of Fire for me."

Oh no, oh no, Kai is smarter than that, he won't fall for any dumb tricks—

"I don't think so," Kai growls defensively.

Nya breathes a sigh of relief. Good. Kai's never gonna do Garmadon's bidding, not while she's still alive and breathing—

Then she realizes that's probably the point.

"Are you sure about that?" Garmadon hisses.

It all happens way too quickly for Nya to think clearly, but she'll always remember the blinding flash of panic when she feels two bony hands on her shoulders and hears one skeleton say, "Nothin' personal."

Seconds later, she's falling, and the only coherent thought is that her "out of the frying pan, into the fire" joke is about to become much too literal, then she has enough sense to wonder if the chain is connected to anything and holy FSM she's going to die—

Just when the heat is reaching a dangerous level, Nya jerks to an abrupt halt, pain flashing up in her torso where the chain is digging in (this is child abuse, she oughta report these maniacs—).

Nya blinks as the world comes slowly back into focus, the heat making her squint. Then Nya realizes—

She's not dead! She's alive, there's still a chance they can win this thing!

"Kai!" she yelps, beyond relieved to see him standing there, albeit looking a little terrified. That's fine, she's scared, too, but they'll figure it out.

"Nya!" the panic in his voice matches hers.

Garmadon's ginormous shadow appears on a wall. "If you don't remove the Sword, how else will you cut the chains to save your precious little sister?"

Nya doesn't appreciate the way he says that, like she's a five-year-old damsel in distress that relies on her big brother to do everything for her, even though, in this case, she might have to leave it in Kai's hands. Finally, she finds her voice.

"You know it's a trap," she yells, and Kai's eyes meet hers. Nya tugs forcefully at the inconvenient chain. "I can—free my—self," she insists between grunts of effort.

It makes no difference. Nya blinks. "Okay, that's tight."

Her stomach does an impressive somersault as the chain drops even more and she shrieks. Kai's desperate, "Nya!" is followed by Garmadon's mocking, "Tick tock, tick tock." Nya's too stunned to really hear any of it since her head is spinning from almost being boiled alive twice in one minute, and her vision is going a little blurry—

But she hears a cry of "Ninja go!" and sees a blinding tornado of fire and sparks come hurtling toward her, and at this point Nya has accepted that this is how she's gonna die—

Then she feels the chain break and she's falling again—until two arms are around her and there's fire swirling everywhere and how is she not dead yet—

Suddenly the world stops spinning and there's solid ground underneath her. The whirl of fire dissolves into nothing and, dizzily, Nya takes a second to appreciate the fact that she actually just survived that and is somehow not on fire.

A hand takes hold of her arm, helping her up, and Nya stands to see Kai next to her. She has a lot of questions right now, but there's no time to discuss anything. She and her brother only have a few seconds to share a grateful look before Garmadon is prowling again.

"Stay close," Kai warns. Nya hurries to keep up as he steadily advances, sword raised defensively. After all that, Kai doesn't have to ask her to play it safe this time.

"Trust me, I'm not going anywhere." Her voice shakes a little as she speaks, which is probably going to be a lasting effect. She'd just spent a number of weeks underground, living off of unidentifiable bits of food and sleeping on rocks. Things like scarred for life and irreparable trauma race through her mind, but she doesn't have time for those thoughts right now.

To Garmadon, Kai declares, "You can't hurt us! You're only a shadow!"

"Even shadows have their uses," Garmadon says.

That statement is oddly cryptic, and Nya's observation skills have always been better than Kai's, so she notices the shadow creeping along the wall before he does.

"Kai, look out!"

Kai whirls around and starts, looking shocked at the perfect shadow-replica that's charging for him.

"Stay back, Nya," he orders.

"Stay close, stay back, make up your mind!" says Nya, even as she dives behind a nearby large rock. Hiding makes her feel like a coward, but after everything that's happened recently, Nya is pretty content to let Kai handle this one.

Except, when Kai takes a swing at his shadow duplicate, the sword phases right through it. Immediately after, Shadow Kai advances and knocks Kai over with a few swift kicks. Nya balks as Kai pushes himself up, groaning.

"That's not fair!" she yells at Garmadon.

She can hear the sinister smile in his voice. "Oh, am I being too hard?"

At his words, a whole army of Shadows appears, brandishing shadow weapons. They can fight, but Kai can't fight back. Nya thinks this situation is incredibly stupid and no way did she survive all that just to get creamed by a bunch of shadow people.

Kai's on his feet again, attacking with his usual vigor and determination, but the Shadows win again, and Kai goes sprawling, the Sword of Fire skidding across the ground before a Shadow grabs it. Nya grips the rock she's hiding behind, battling with herself. The two of them stand a better chance than Kai does on his own, but this is starting to look like a fight that they won't win. And Nya really doesn't want to die here, she's come way too far for that.

But as soon as she's accepting that they're losing, another shadow appears along the wall—one that's oddly familiar. It takes out a few of the Shadows with a series of sharp movements, and right after that, it morphs fluidly into what looks like the shadow of some giant bird. Its massive shadow-wings create invisible gusts of wind, sending Kai's Shadow duplicates flying in every direction.

Nya takes this opportunity to help Kai to his feet, feeling a glimmer of hope rise inside her. He casts her a grateful look, opening his mouth like he's gonna say something, but then Garmadon yells something and—

Kai's eyes focus on something across the room, and Nya turns to see that it's the old man—what had Garmadon called him? Wu.

Then there's a bunch of general chaos. Garmadon opens a window out of thin air, and through it, Nya can see a few different things happening to three other guys, all conveniently color coded. There are boys in white, black, and blue, all being attacked by Skulkin warriors in the middle of the forest. Wu seems agitated by this.

"My brother must not unite the four weapons! We must keep them apart!" he bellows. Kai's whole body goes rigid, and Nya wonders if she's supposed to be having a similar reaction. Truthfully, though, she doesn't know what's going on. She knows that the four golden weapons are, like, crazy dangerous . . . but besides that . . .

"Awaken, Guardian of the Deep!" Garmadon yells suddenly, and the whole floor starts vibrating. Nya edges closer to Kai. "They're stealing the sword! You must not let them escape."

Everything from the ground to the ceiling shakes violently, earthquake-level vibrations that send bits of rock crumbling down the ancient walls. Fissures and cracks weave across the floor, a particularly jagged one passing right under Nya's foot. She jumps away hastily.

Wu tries to leap over to them, but instead of landing on solid rock, his feet find purchase on the monstrous head of—

Nya's vision goes blurry.

That's—it's a—there's no way

Blindly, Nya reaches for Kai's hand, just to feel it, to make sure she's not dreaming. Because—

The head rises out of the lava, revealing a real, actual, fire-breathing dragon that rears up and lets out a deafening roar. Nya is pretty sure she screams, but she can't be certain. Pillars of rock collapse heavily in front of the entrance, officially sealing them all inside. The day is just turning out to be one nightmare after another, she just wants to go home, gosh darn it.

"There's no way out," Kai panics. "He's taken away all our options!"

Nya doesn't know where her sarcasm comes from, but she really wants to say, "How observant of you!" right about now, because duh!

The old man, looking grim, hops into the lava pool, landing on a piece of rock that's floating there. "All but one."

The dragon momentarily forgotten, Kai calls out, "Sensei! What are you doing?"

Alright, Nya doesn't know anything about this Sensei guy, but she knows there's a dragon stomping around right in front of her and she doesn't want to die. So she doesn't hear the rest of the shenanigans taking place. Both eyes are on the dragon, which is pacing around, snorting softly like it's evaluating her. Her dad used to tell stories about dragons, she vaguely remembers something like that. Maybe—

"Noooo!" Kai screams, and Nya whips around to see her brother dramatically fall to his knees. She tries not to roll her eyes (she tries very, very hard). But then she hears Garmadon's sinister, "Then I will see you there, brother!"

She's just in time to watch Garmadon's shadow dive into the lava and disappear. Sensei Wu is gone. And so is the Sword of Fire.

That can't be good.

Kai despairs, "This is all my fault! Sensei won't be able to hold up for long."

Nya doesn't want to be insensitive, but . . .

"Forget Sensei—what about us?"

The dragon roars again, louder this time, and Kai pushes himself up so he can stand protectively in front of her as the animal's searing breath rushes through their hair.

"What do we do, what do we do, what do we do," Kai whispers frantically, squeezing his eyes shut as another wall-shaking roar echoes through the room.

"You're asking me?" Nya asks, eyes wide. She doesn't see how they're supposed to get out of this one. If the dragon doesn't eat them, it'll shove them off this rock and they'll go splashing into the lava down there—

The dragon whips its tail towards them and Kai throws both himself and Nya to the ground as the tail goes soaring over their heads, leaving hot wind in its wake. Groaning, Nya rolls onto her back, pushing up onto her elbows to survey the situation. Exits blocked, lava everywhere, scary man-eating dragon about to crush them—

"It's the Sword's guardian," Kai tells her, panting. "I think it's mad."

"Well, where's the Sword?"

"Sensei took it to the Underworld!"

Even the mention of that place makes Nya want to throw up. "The Underworld?" So that's what was going on while Nya's brain had been short-circuiting at the sight of this house-sized reptile.

Kai looks like he wants to ask her something, but the dragon shrieks again and the siblings cover their ears, wincing. Her dad used to tell them stories about dragons, she can almost remember—

"We're not stealing the Sword!" Kai yells uselessly at the dragon. "Calm down!"

And that gives Nya an idea.

She pushes herself to her feet, keeping her hands out in front of her in a taming gesture, wide eyes fixed on the rampaging animal. Nya takes a step forward. A moment too late, Kai realizes what she's planning.

"Wait wait—" he hisses, grabbing for her arm, but she's already too far ahead, because again: Nya is crazy and apparently can't resist getting herself into perilous situations.

Still, she continues to advance slowly forward, breaths calm and even, footsteps light. Kai protests from behind her—"Nya, I swear to FSM"—but she can barely hear him anymore. The dragon stomps loudly and the ground shakes, bouncing Nya a little before she steadies herself again.

"Easy, boy. Eeeeaasy," she soothes. Talking to a dragon the way she talks to a cat is probably not going to help, but she's gotta try. The dragon rears up on its hind legs again, but Nya resists the urge to abandon her mission.

Take no shit, take no shit—

The mantra rings in her ears until it's louder than the dragon, louder than Kai telling her to come back, louder than her own self-doubt. She's never tamed a dragon before, she's never even seen one until today. But it's only trying to protect the Sword, and—

It's only trying to protect the Sword!

Nya gasps as it clicks, and she knows exactly what to do now.

"You want it?" Nya asks. "You want your Sword?"

The dragon levels its head at her, cocking it to one side at the word. It growls deeply.

Nya continues. "We do, too! But we need—"

Another ear-splitting roar. Nya steps back a bit, switching to a new tactic.

"If we don't get the Sword from Lord Garmadon, he's gonna use it for—like, really bad stuff!" The dragon quiets, snorting curiously. "Yeah, you don't want that to happen, right?"

Nya's aware of Kai's eyes on her back.

"Listen, you gotta help us get the Sword back, okay? We're gonna take really good care of it! Promise!"

Now the dragon is significantly more passive, eyeing her with new interest. It lowers its head, nudging her gently. Kai's strangled noise accurately represents how she feels at being this close to a dragon's mouth, but it doesn't hurt her.

"We can work together, okay?" A blink from the dragon. "We're gonna get your Sword back and keep it super safe, where Garmadon can't find it!"

The dragon is silent for a long moment, tilting its head at her and exhaling puffs of thick smoke, which she desperately tries not to ingest. Its threatening gaze is growing more dangerous by the second, and Nya is starting to wonder if it understood a word she said, because her father never told her anything about—

Promptly, the dragon lowers its head, bumping it against her stomach so hard that she nearly topples to the floor, but Nya thinks it's a gesture of understanding. A truce.

"O-kay . . . are we good?" Nya asks, tentatively reaching out a hand. When the dragon doesn't move, she gently rests her hand on its snout, fingers light.

Laughing disbelieving, Nya turns her head to look at Kai, who has yet to get off the floor. He shakes his head, mystified.

The dragon nudges her again, peering around to give Kai the reptile-equivalent of a suspicious glare. Kai blinks.

"Don't worry," Nya laughs. "He's one of the good guys. Most of the time."

"Very funny, sis."

Nya steps away from her new dragon ally and holds a hand out for Kai, who takes it and lets her help him up. Then he pulls her into a hug, which, in Nya's opinion, is long overdue.

"Good to have you back," he says, and Nya feels her shoulders relax. "I was so worried."

"Never doubted ya," she says, even though she'd definitely struggled with some negative thoughts. But hey, Kai came through in the end, and she realizes her faith in him had never wavered. Just her faith in herself. But then Kai's hug is suddenly too tight and her ribs flare in pain.

"Ah," she hisses, pulling away. Kai eyes her worriedly, looking her up and down, and Nya is made painfully aware of how awful she looks right now. Kai reaches for one of the bruises on her arm.

"How did—"

"It's fine!" she insists, smiling as convincingly as she can. "Just a scratch."

Kai frowns. "Awfully dark for a scratch."

Nya waves her hands, directing Kai's attention elsewhere. "Okay, worry about it later. Remember what Dad used to say about dragons?"

"Um. No, not really."

Rolling her eyes, Nya says, "Dragons can bridge the gap between the two worlds—between Ninjago and the Underworld."

Kai still looks lost. "And?"

"And, you can get the Sword back! By riding him!" The dragon scuffs one foot against the ground, kicking up dirt and pebbles. Kai seems hesitant.

"Are you sure?"

No, Nya's not really sure. But she remembers her dad talking about it, and if there's anything her dad was, it's honest. She knows that now.

So Nya gives Kai her best reassuring smile and takes his hand as they approach the Fire Dragon together. Nya has no idea what comes next, but as long as Kai is here and she's alive, she figures everything's gonna work out.

Now, all they have to do is stop the Lord of Darkness from finding the Four Weapons and destroying all of Ninjago.

Easy peasey.


A/N: anyone seen bits of season 12 yet? thoughts?