Another Chapter~ Hope you guys were as excited for this one as you were when you read the prologue! :D

I'm gonna work on an update schedule, so I don't keep youwating for hours and hours. and years.

Chapter One

There's supposed to be something comforting about being in a place you've been before. I've been in this room before, I've eaten at this table before, but when that was the case, I was with friends, and the stress of the situation was relieved by not being alone. Sitting in a room with no one but the guards who held their spears as if you had the energy, the power to lash out, to fight back, but when in reality, you hardly have the energy to hold your own head up because you've been weakened that much, and you can see all this food in front of you and it sucked, because even if you wanted to reach for it, you couldn't, your wrist chained to a chair-

'and oh god I'm starving I would eat this even with the chance of it being poisonous I would eat it right now' I closed my eyes for a minute, trying to push it away but there was something I couldn't ignore; the smell.

Being in the darkened room chained up was one thing, I could sleep, I could push the idea of food from my mind, focus on my breathing, work to get feeling back into my arms, but here? With such a spread on the table, it was all I could do to not let the starving hunger show through my eyes, I wouldn't let them see how weak they had made me simply by leaving me alone, how being here was getting a reaction out of me. Because really, that's all they wanted. They wanted a reaction, something to see that they were wearing me down. I couldn't give them that satisfaction, not yet.

I swallowed nervously, and winced, my throat too dry for that kind of thing. After sitting in the silence for another minute or two, Chen made his entrance. He was beaming as he slithered towards the table, sitting at the end, just to my left. "Aaaah, the former master of power! What a shock!" His grin was worse now, fangs visible, pointed and shiny. I slid my gaze over to look at him, then looked away. "Don't look so down!"

"Why not?" My voice was dry, humorless. I didn't have time for these antics. To my left, I noticed one of his kabuki-still human as they hadn't been members of his small cult-making a plate of food, carrying it over, before setting it down in front of me. I raised an eyebrow, looking at her in shock. She giggled, and bowed back, stepping out of my range of vision.

"Because getting to dine with me is an honor!" Chen proclaimed, his enthusiasm masking his smug contempt thinly. It rolled off him in waves. "And because tonight I'm ready to make a deal with you, young Garmadon." Another Kabuki brought a plate to Chen, and he waved them off. "Unchain one of his hands, so he may eat." I eyed him as my left hand was released, and he laughed. "Weren't expecting to be fed? That would be quite rude, even from me!" He took a bite of his own food and gestured for me to do the same. I hesitated, before taking a bite. It was warm, it was flavorful and it was delicious.

My stomach chose the second I took a bite to release a growl, almost as if reminding me I did need to chew the bite fast, and swallow it. I couldn't make an escape at any point on an empty stomach, especially not now. Chen chuckles softly. "Looks like someone missed eating..."

"Wonder why..." I grumbled, mouth still full of noodles. But sure enough, that bite went down fast, and so did the next one, and the one after that, and every bite until my plate was empty. Chen eyed me the whole time, only nibbling at his own food as if watching me was better than the food. "...thank you," I added afterwards, the number of eyes in the room on me making me shift.

Chen seemed to ignore me, and a guard came, chaining my wrist back to the chair as he finished eating his food. The plate in front of me vanished, along with the silverware. After a few minutes, Chen looked at me with a smirk. "I've got some questions for you to answer, little Garmadon..." I eyed the knife on a platter for a few seconds, before looking at him, again looking away seconds later. I couldn't keep eye contact with him, probably because it made me feel like a kid again, being played by the Serpentine. I could tell just by the power rolling off him that he had something more planned, that this wasn't a dinner because he knew I needed food. That could've been accomplished by having someone force noodles down my throat. This was more, this was him trying to win me over, or maybe even a last meal before an execution.

"Now...Lloyd." He started, standing, slithering around me, joining others out of my field of vision. I didn't want to turn my head. "We have business that must be discussed in private."

Ever since our defeat, we ran constantly. Not like we had a lot of choices to begin with, but now, with bounties on all of our heads, Elemental Masters became something Chen wanted squashed out. His army nabbed as many as they could after Lloyd was captured, but a few of us escaped without too many scratches. I remember I had found a place to hide, wedging myself in it, watching as they'd pass by, wincing when I saw Chen go by, dragging Lloyd behind him, like a little kid's stuffed animal. Lloyd looked like he'd gone through hell, he was bleeding out of his nose, and his whole right side was scratched up. When they caught him, he probably had put up a fight.

We all fought, and as I made my escape with Nya, I saw Zane and Cole running the other way, they managed to get out of there unscathed, which was pretty miraculous. We saw groups of Anacondrai swarmed around a few here and there, Elemental Masters who probably weren't going to be able to get themselves out of those fights. We knew that at least four had taken off by dragon, I could see them flying in the distance. Nya and I were sticking on foot. We had another meeting place planned, in case such a thing had happened. The others knew about it. We had agreed to meet there in case something like this happened, so we could know who was still out there.

Lloyd never showed up, but we figured not. Misako and Sensei Wu were already waiting there for us. Cole made it, but he got separated from Zane at some point. We didn't know where he was now. However, we saw the Falcon a few times, and it would dance, which made us think Zane was telling us he was okay. Karloff, Chamille and Tox made it out, but most of the rest either didn't remember where this was, or they were captured.

Kai and Skylor included in that number.

I sighed, and rolled over on my side, trying to get some sleep. We'd gotten to the point we were trying to hide in society. It was harder than we expected, keeping hidden, making a new life for ourselves. We had to cut all ties with who we used to be, had to change how we looked, and what we did. Which was how we ended up in Stixx, living in a small, rickety house over the water. We hated it, but it was safe. No one came looking out here, and no one here looked for us. Moonlight was creeping through the window, and I closed my eyes. How could we have lost? We thought we had them, we thought that that spell would help us. Instead, it backfired horribly, the spirits of the Anacondrai warriors only strengthened them, wanting to take their turn at ruling all of Ninjago. They had advised Chen until he took control fully, and he found some way to get rid of them, some secret weapon probably.

Below the thin mattress, I could hear the waves lapping at the struts holding up this side of the town. Underneath was a labyrinth of struts and supports, probably only reinforced by the thick mud where the strangleweeds grew. I shuddered, closing my eyes tighter. Maybe all of this was a nightmare.

Another chapter...What do you think is gonna happen next :) Let me know by reviewing!