Ahhh I loved writing this chapter so much XD Lot of crazy stuff's happening, but don't worry, it's still not the end. Don't be afraid to drop a review to tell me what you think, especially with all these changes to the original story, plus I'm always looking for new ideas!

Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy :)

- Fell_and_Fallen -

"So this is where you grew up," Jay whistles appreciatively at the sprawling forest below us. "Big place."

"Arashi is just a tiny town compared to the forest," my eyes flick over the sorely familiar trees, stirring bittersweet memories I've tried to forget. "It's easy to miss if you aren't looking."

"It's cool to see so many trees," the blue ninja turns to take it all in. "Where I grew up, all I ever saw were mountains of junk and sand."

"It's a beautiful place," a wistful smile quirks my lips. "It was hard to leave."

"Well now you get to go back, right?" his head cocks slightly to the left and a couple of auburn curls stick to his face. "That must be exciting."

"I wish it were for different reasons."

"Hey, you're going to take down the guy that destroyed everything in the first place," he gives me a reassuring grin. "That's something, right?"

"Yeah," I nod, but the word is numb on my lips. The grim anticipation in my chest swells, and I swallow it carefully. "You're pretty optimistic facing potential death."

"Someone has to keep us pepped, right?" Jay smiles. "Who else is going to it? Zane?"

Sensei emerges from the control room just then, saving me from Jay's almost ridiculous optimism. The grim look he's had since last night hasn't disappeared and closely mirrors my own.

"We will soon arrive at the village," he reports as he joins us at the railing. His weathered hands are curled tightly around his walking stick, tense and betraying his otherwise calm demeanor. "From here on out, we must be prepared for anything."

"I'm tired of waiting," my hands clench tight on the smooth wood under my fingers. Spitfire follows the movement with an anxious hum, his claws tightening against my wrist with pinpricks of heat. My stomach growls loudly, but not from hunger. "I'm just making myself sick."

"I'm with Ash. Why hasn't he made a move yet?" Kai says, his hair stirring in the wind that whips past the ship. His gaze is focused intently on the forest below us, scrutinizing every tree as if Desmond will suddenly leap out from behind one. "Something about this doesn't feel right. At all. It's too… quiet."

"Desmond wanted us to come. He knows we're prepared. He knows what power I have," my jaw shifts. "What is he trying to play?"

The Bounty suddenly lurches under our feet, plummeting a stomach-lurching ten feet before restabilizing. I keep my death grip on the railing as it wavers again, but thankfully doesn't drop.

"What's going on?" Kai asks as an alarm blares to life from somewhere.

"Something's hacking into the flight systems!" Nya shouts from the intercom. Her voice is nearly lost in hissing static, and I can hear Lloyd yelling something in the background. "I'm trying to keep them out, but-"

The ship drops again and I'm nearly flung overboard. My hair flies wildly into my face, whipping at my eyes as I struggle to make sense of the world that plummets around me. Someone grabs onto me, Zane I realize, and tugs me down to the floor for balance. I clench my eyes shut as the Bounty lurches with the crack of wood and gears, wobbling sickeningly from side to side before finally correcting and slowing to a snail's pace. When I look back over the railing, I'm staring at the tree line.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Jay moans from beside me, looking as green as the leaves just below us.

"There's something moving down there," Cole says as he gets to his feet and peers over the railing. "I can't see it-"

He staggers back with a shout as something flies from the forest and snatches at the wood. Something cracks and splinters scatter everywhere, cutting at my face and hands as the rest of us stagger back. With some distance, we get a better look at the foreign object, gleaming silver from where it's nearly torn apart the side of the ship.

"Is that a grappling hook?"

Just as Kai asks the question on all our minds, another dozen rip through the treeline and smash into the ship, grabbing hold of every exposed part of the railing and digging deep into the wood. We condense together at the center of the deck, staring wildly at the sudden chaos that surrounds us.

"… lot of readings… something's… careful…"

Nya's voice fades in and out of hissing static before going completely dead. My throat chokes with fear as something lurches down below, scratching against the side of the ship. The ninja draw their weapons.

"Someone needs to check on Nya and Lloyd," Cole says, his eyes darting between every sound.

"I will go. Be careful, all of you," Sensei warns as he backs toward the control room, holding his staff at the ready before disappearing inside. My hands clench and I just hope Nya and Lloyd are alright. If anything happens to them…

Something lurches over the railing, a dark shape that grasps at the ship before pulling itself onto the deck. It stands and faces us with dead grey eyes.

"What the hell-"

The ship creaks as another dozen figures appear, pausing by the railing and staring at us with the same flat gaze. I take a staggering step back, bumping into Zane who jerks and nearly slices at me with a shuriken.

"They're people," Kai says, his eyes flying from one figure to the next. He's right. They're human. Dressed in casual clothes and looking like anyone else you'd find on the street, but those eyes… Those dead grey eyes…

"It's Desmond," my mouth sticks as it suddenly goes dry. "It has to be."

"Are they zombies?" Jay shudders against me. "I hate zombies."

"He must be controlling them," Zane says, his voice still but anxious. "The same way Hale did you."

My stomach heaves. "Oh god-"

Cole's hand finds my shoulder. "Don't think about it. We just have to find a solution."

"We can't fight them," Kai shakes his head. "He knows we can't."

One of the people lurches toward us, a woman wearing slacks and a top smeared with dirt. The others begin to close in as well, moving toward us at an agonizingly slow speed. We close even tighter together.

I raise my arms, but they shake almost convulsively. I bite down on my lip. "What are we supposed to do?"

"We have to hold them off," Cole grits his teeth. "They'll kill us otherwise."

"But where are Desmond and Hale?" Zane asks. "They must be nearby."

"You're not going anywhere."

The woman smiles eerily, staring straight into my eyes with her flat gaze. I press even farther back, trying to distance myself from her terrifying, piercing stare only to find all the other zombies, things, puppets mirroring her same smile.

She chuckles. "Desmond sends his regards and his deepest regrets, Iris."

She lunges forward with a screech and I duck out of the way, looking up as the ninja scatter and the other puppets descend on us. One grabs my hair, tugging me back with a scream as another reaches for my arms. Spitfire blazes to life with a roar, my eyes filling with painful tears, and drives them away in a scatter of fire. One of them screams and stares down at burning hands, and I feel my stomach heave with guilt and excruciating memories.

Kai charges forward with a wild yell that snaps me from my memories, heading into the thick of the crowd with the other ninja. I start after them when I'm blocked by another puppet, his young face twisted in an ugly sneer. He holds his hands out to grab me as I knock him aside with the flat of my palm. He stumbles backward and into another group, and I watch with barely-contained horror as one of them falls off the side of the ship with a scream. I stagger back and into something big. I whirl around and raise my arms, but I meet Zane's eyes instead.

"Are you alright?" he asks, tugging me behind him as a group of puppets advances on us.

"No."

The puppets swarm all over the deck, barely held back by struggling ninja as even more climb up the side of the ship. Kai's backed into a corner, swinging his sword to try and escape, but a group of attackers are slowly closing in on him. I leave the uncertain safety behind Zane and rush to help him. The puppets pause to stare at me as I charge into them, covering my face in an arc of fire I quickly tug back. Even with the small amount of fire the puppets stumble away, screaming as parts of their clothes and hair catch. Kai crouches and gasps for breath in the lull, wiping some sweat from his forehead and a streak of blood from a cut above his eye. Zane joins us seconds later, his jaw tight as he stares down every puppet that comes near.

"Zane," I gasp, feeling my lungs heave as more puppets swarm around us. "Where are the others?"

"Here!" Jay tumbles by me, pushed back by an attacker.

Cole's scythe hisses into view as he makes his way over, and the five of us stand in a loose circle as the puppets start to surround us.

"They just keep coming," Jay pants, exhausted. "We can't keep up with this!"

"There has to be a way to stop them," I step forward, my hands trembling. "You're under a spell! You have to snap out of it!"

There's no answer except for a chilling chuckle that spreads through the group as they advance.

"You have no control over us," a man says, the suit he was wearing torn and stained from the fight. "Just like you have no control over yourself. Face it, Iris. You've lost."

"No, you have to fight it!" I shout, desperately looking from puppet to puppet for any sign that my words are getting through. I'm answered with smiles. "He doesn't have to control you!"

"Ash!"

I turn just as the man puppet grabs my throat, crushing my wind pipe under his massive hand as he lifts me from the ground. The other puppets rush forward, overwhelming the ninja before they can try to help. He carries me across the deck, a sick grin plastered on his face as my lungs heave emptily for breath and my vision pops with a thousand black dots. My head cracks against wood as the puppet shoves me into a wall, pressing his hand even deeper into my throat. Fire flares in my hands, but I can't bring myself to use it. This puppet is human, a man who doesn't know what he's doing. Desmond is controlling him, using him to do his dirty work. I can't sink to his level. I can't.

Faint shapes move beyond the haze of my vision as I claw at the puppet's hand with weak fingers. Someone shouts my name, but I can hardly make it out over the horrendous pounding in my ears. The puppet squeezes even tighter, laughing as my grip slowly fails and I let my arms fall.

My eyes start to close when the pressure suddenly lifts and I crash to the floor. My lungs expand with an almost suffocating gulp of air that I immediately splutter out. My chest cracks and burns as I struggle to find the air I'd lost in the haze that makes up my vision. Something reaches out to me through the fog and gentle hands find my face. I look up, expecting to see one of my friends, but instead I'm looking into the eyes of a monster.

Hale's lips twitch into a smile. "Good, you're alright."

"Get away from me," I shove him back with a weak arm curled in sputtering flame, coughing as my voice strangles my lungs. My teeth buzz, nearly chattering, but I manage to focus on the bastard in front of me.

He doesn't even flinch as he pats out the lightly smoldering seams of his gear. His bow is pulled over his shoulder, snug against his quiver, and his casualness makes me want to scream. "Please, Ash. Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be. Just do what Desmond says and he'll stop this attack."

"Save your breath, Hale. I'll never work with you," I cough.

"Don't be stupid, Ash, can't you see that you're losing?" he waves an arm at the chaos around us, at the ninja struggling to fight the puppets that are ready to rip our throats out. "Desmond is ready to kill you and your friends. The only way to save them is to give in."

"Do you honestly believe that?" I spit. "You expect me to help you after all of this? After you nearly killed me? The only thing you're getting is a cushy cage in hell."

"Listen to me, Ash, Ninjago is going to burn whether you cooperate with us or not," Hale presses. "I'm begging you. Save your own skin for once."

"Save my own- you're talking about destroying all of Ninjago and you're telling me I'm being selfish?" my hands clench. "I didn't think insanity was genetic."

He balks. "You know-"

"About your father/son bonding exercise?" my eyes narrow. "Yeah. My dad told me. Right after I told him the reason he had to die."

"What would you have done?" he snaps. "My mother is dead, Ash, because of your parents."

"My parents are dead because of your father," I hiss back. "Your father abandoned you for a selfish plot of revenge and twisted both of us into monsters for his own use. But you know what? I'm not playing anymore. What my parents did was right. Your mother was dying and they did everything they could to help her, but it wasn't enough. My mother raised you when Desmond refused, and what payment did she get? A knife in her back. My parents didn't deserve to die, just as much as your mother didn't."

"They killed her," his voice falls to a whisper. "They watched her die. Your parents were nothing but snakes who deserved what they got-"

I fly at him with a scream, throwing us both to the ground in an explosion of wild fire. Hale struggles against me, but I shove his hands aside as we start to roll across the deck of the ship. My shoulder slams against the railing and I bite back the pain to swing my elbow at Hale's face above mine. He dodges it and grabs at my arms, jerking away as my skin becomes boiling hot under his touch. I shove him away and scramble to my feet, grabbing his bow from his shoulder and throwing it the opposite side of the ship. He grabs hold of my foot and tugs, hard, sending me tumbling back to the ground. My head cracks against the floor, clouding my head with exploding stars as he drags me to my feet and shoves me against the railing. I struggle against his wrought-iron grip on my arms, spitting fire that he ignores as he grabs my face.

"Why can't you just give in? Why do you have to fight back?"

At first I think Hale's just being spiteful, but as my eyes meet his they're filled with desperation I've never seen before.

"He was ready to give you everything, and you just threw it away," his white-blond hair falls into his face, bedraggled and wild, like it's been through hell and back. "I was raised by my uncle while he poured every second of his life into helping you. He loved you, Ash."

"This is love? Killing my parents? Trying to kill me, to kill my friends, to destroy Ninjago? Are you even listening to yourself?"

"I don't care about any of that!" his grip tightens as he nearly shoves me over the railing. "I'm trying to save your life, Ash!"

"Right-"

My words die in my throat as Hale meets eyes with me again, sharp and grey as a hurricane, clouded with intensity. "Ash, don't you understand? After the accident, Desmond came to me so I could help bring you back. I couldn't care less about Ninjago and its power struggles, all I cared about was finding you and keeping you safe. From the very second we reunited in the woods, I have done everything I can to keep Desmond from targeting you. But if you keep refusing him, he will kill you. I'm begging you, Ash, be selfish. Save yourself."

"Hale-"

"I know, what I've done is horrible, unforgivable, insane, really. I'm going to hell for all the things I've done, especially to you," he shakes his head. "But it was the only way to placate Desmond, to keep him from doing something worse. I thought I could save you, that maybe if I did everything he said you would be fine" – He laughs humorless- "But you've always been so selfless, so good at taking care of yourself. You were always out of my league, even before you became a Queen of Ninjago. But that never stopped me from being completely in love with you."

I open my mouth and close it again, not knowing what to say. Hale doesn't look at me, and a few seconds pass before I feel something solid beneath my toes and I realize that I'm back on the ground. Hale lets go of me and takes a step back.

"You never needed my help," Hale says in an almost whisper. "You've managed to do all of this without me, to stand up to Desmond even when you know it's hopeless."

"It isn't," I manage to say through the sandpaper in my throat. His words still tear through my mind, jolting off the sides and burning through every thought. Hale was in love with me? All these years, all these attacks? Because he loved me? I try to shake it aside. "These are my friends, and my home. As long as anyone threatens them, I'm going to fight. No matter who stands in my way, and even if it kills me."

Hale's eyes search mind for a few silent seconds, as if he's looking for a chink in my armor. But I've made my decision, I made it the second I learned the truth of Desmond's betrayal. I meet his gaze fearlessly, making sure he sees the burning determination that smolders deep in my core. His jaw shifts and he looks away.

"Then count me out. If you're going to let Desmond kill you, then I won't be around to watch."

He starts to turn away, but I stop him with a smoldering hand. "You're not going anywhere until you release these people from whatever mind control you have them under."

He shakes his head. "It isn't me. My power isn't anything like this," he looks up at the puppets and gives an almost imperceptible shudder, like it bothers him. "Desmond's the only one who can stop it."

"Then where is he?"

"Somewhere nearby. He sent me to try and convince you one last time," he pushes my hand away. "If you're smart, you'll give in."

"Then consider me the biggest idiot you'll ever meet."

He cringes. "Ash-"

I shove him away. "Go, Hale, while I can keep myself from killing you. Leave and never come back. If I ever see your face again, well, you'll see what happens to Desmond soon enough."

"I'm sorry, Ash," his voice falls to a nearly inaudible whisper. "I wish I could make you understand."

"I understand plenty. Desmond poisoned you the same way he poisoned me, except I didn't fall for it."

He flinches like I've struck him, and I can't help the twitch of a satisfactory smile that tugs at my face. He backs toward the railing.

"Then I guess this is goodbye, Ash."

"Forever."

Hale gives me one last forlorn, devastated look before he clasps his hands on the railing and vaults into the trees below. I barely stop to see if he landed before a puppet lurches toward me, pulling me out of my thoughts and shoving back me into battle.

I pull my fire tight against me and start to fight my way back toward the ninja. A few scattered times I catch a glimpse of different colored cloth, and I know they're holding their own, but they're haggard, exhausted, and slowing with each swing at our relentless attackers. My own breath comes in gasps, and my throat throbs with the memory of the man's iron grip squeezing the life from me. We won't last much longer.

Hale was right. It is hopeless.

"Get down!"

Cole tackles me to the ground, pulling my head down as something sails overhead. There's a chorus of screams as I wriggle from under his arm and try to make sense of what's happening. Just a few feet away, a group of puppets are trapped, screaming, under a thick weighted net. They grapple against the thick ropes, but none of them pull free. Something else explodes and another net flies past our heads, toppling over another group of puppets who had tried to retreat over the railing. Jay scrambles out of the way as one reaches for his foot in a desperate attempt to escape, and flattens himself against the railing as yet another net soars overhead.

"What is that?"

Kai points to a spot behind me and Cole, and we turn to see a dark shape silhouetted against the bright afternoon sky. It looms closer and I realize it's a towering mech decked with gleaming crimson panels and rocket thrusters. A person's head peers from its core, their eyes obscured by a paneled mask as they prepare, aim, and fire nets from their outstretched hands and slowly but surely capture all of Desmond's puppets. The ninja and I get to our feet and cautiously face the impressive mech.

"Do not worry, I am here to help," a metallic voice drones from the mech. Some blinks in their helmet. "I have finished reestablishing your communications."

On cue, the intercom clicks to life.

"Is everyone alright out there?"

"We're fine, Sensei," Kai answers. He glances at the rest of us. "Hope you've been having a better day than us."

"Only a few of Desmond's puppets managed to make it below deck. Nya went to try and get the ship moving again and Lloyd is with me."

He pauses.

"At least he was."

My stomach drops. "He's not there anymore?"

Kai scowls. "He decides to pull a stunt at a time like this?"

"We have to find him," I turn to Cole, my voice almost hitching into a hysterical fit. "If Desmond takes him-"

"I'm fine!"

One of the weapon's chests bursts open suddenly, revealing a bedraggled but otherwise unharmed Lloyd. I nearly collapse as relief hits me like a brick wall, but then a completely different emotion sets in.

"What in the name of all that is holy are you doing, Lloyd!" The ninja hastily move out of my way as I descend on the kid, looming over him as he takes a frightened step back.

"Nya and I got separated, and I didn't know where else to go-"

"So you come out to the worst of the fighting?" I clench my hand against my forehead. "Of all the stupid things to do, Lloyd- if I wasn't so exhausted I'd kill you myself-"

"Ash-"

"No, I don't want to hear it," I grab his shoulders and start to shove him back below deck. "You're going to find your uncle and never leave his sight, you understand? I don't want to see you again until all of this is over-"

"ASH!"

Something explodes behind me, nearly shoving me and Lloyd below deck in a blast of acrid force. I hold Lloyd with a much different intention as I tug him behind me and turn back to the devastation on deck.

The ninja are scattered everywhere, and the mech is nowhere to be seen. A dismal shape stands alone on the deck, wrapped in billowing dark robes that seem to swallow all light around it.

The world comes to a screeching halt.

"Hello, Iris," Desmond smiles, his white teeth flashing. "Are you ready to face your destiny?"