Pop music faded out as the DJ chose the next song on his soundtrack. The dance floor behind us rotated out its dancers. The smells of good food floated through the air. Dark clouds rolled lazily overhead.

And I stood like a tree planted firmly in place and then frozen in a block of ice by my son.

"So it is him." Thankfully, I didn't have to come up with something else to say before a darker skinned lady wearing one of the groups' matching knit scarves (green with orange dragons) stepped forward and addressed me with a glare.

"Er… it's nice to meet you," I said hastily, offering my hand for a handshake. She didn't take it as well as my old friend did.

"Tiana, please," she said to the angry woman quietly.

"Well?" a redhead in the back suddenly exclaimed. She looked like she'd been trying not to say anything and had reached her breaking point. "Aren't you gonna introduce us?!"

"Right, sorry," the blonde replied hastily. She turned back to me and gestured at each of her friends. "Sanjay, this is Manda—" (the redhead curtsied)— "This is Alina—" (a smaller woman who couldn't have been over 50 waved nervously)— "This is Lynn and Linda, and they like being introduced at the same time so I'm not being rude—" (two women whom I could now recognize as twins jabbed each other playfully)— "and this is Tiana, our boss." Tiana, the dark-skinned woman, simply scowled at me. I glanced over at Garmadon, hoping maybe he'd use some of his intimidation powers back. He didn't get the cue.

"It's nice to meet you all," I said, attempting an awkward bow. Then, gesturing to Garmadon, I said, "This is my friend, Sensei Garmadon, and I'm Sanjay."

"Garmadon?" I heard someone whisper. "As in—" Someone else shushed her.

"And you're Agamya, correct?" Garmadon asked in a straightforward fashion. The teal-eyed woman nodded.

"So you've heard of me, too," Agamya said, and seemed to glance sideways at me for a split second.

"Not much," Garmadon admitted. "Sanjay here gets a little dodgy whenever we try to ask about you."

"We?" one of the twins asked, but she was unheard as the redhead (Manda?) squealed loudly,

"No way! Agamya does the same thing when we ask about you! It took us, like, two years to even get your name!"

"Manda, please—" Agamya started.

The redhead was now bouncing up and down at an improbable pace. "You guys are definitely soulmates!"

I didn't even have time to process that statement before the scarier lady punched Manda in the shoulder.

"What she means to say," she growled, "is that we'd like to hear your side of the story. More specifically, why you hurt Agamya."

"Tiana, he didn't—" Agamya started, but I cut her off. At least someone had finally said something I had a response to.

"Unfortunately, I can't say I had much of a good reason," I sighed. "If you're referring to the last conversation we had, which you've apparently been informed about, I suppose I was hurting from the loss of my mother… but I don't have an excuse for acting the way I behaved." I took a deep breath, wondering to myself where that little burst of eloquence had come from and hoping it stayed with me.

"What he's trying to say," Garmadon said in a tone that mimicked Tiana's, "is that he's sorry and he wants to dance."

"What?!" I yelped as he nudged me. Thankfully, Agamya seemed hesitant, too.

"I really don't think that's—" she started, but Manda angrily spun her around.

"You've had a whole lifetime to get over your stage fright! You're dancing, whether you like it or not!"

"Stage fright?" I asked in confusion, as Garmadon grinned and said something I couldn't quite catch to Manda.

"She's right! You're going up there!" one of the twins exclaimed, and started pushing Agamya onto the dance floor. Garmadon did the same with me.

"I think you've found your people," I groaned, not trying to fight his far superior physical strength as he flung me onto the huge, crowded arena.

"Come on, you're the fun parent," he teased, and quickly separated himself from me by running off with Agamya's apparent friends.

"Fun parent?" Agamya asked, raising an eyebrow as the current song ended and the dancers around us stopped running into us.

"Oh, no, he didn't mean my actual son— I mean, I do have a son, back on Ninjago, but he's not— well, he's an android—" I sighed. "It's a long story."

"Seems like it," she said, and the faintest trace of a smile came back to her face. It hit me that it had been forever since I'd seen her smile.

"So…" I said awkwardly, "what was all that about you having stage fright? That's certainly not the Agamya I know."

"Well, I'm no spring chicken anymore," she laughed nervously, pointing to her silvery hair. "I'm not a great dancer."

"Your friends made it sound like you'd had stage fright all your life," I countered. "And, by the way, you're not allowed to make jokes about your age." I winked and she laughed, for real this time.

"So when did you die?" she asked. "I haven't seen you around."

I looked down guiltily. "I died five years ago," I admitted, "but after finding out that my mother was still stuck in transaction, I haven't really been social until… well, the last few days, really." I was about to apologize for not looking for her when I was interrupted by a loud, low groan.

"Is that the start of the next song?" Agamya asked in a joking tone. But the groan didn't stop— it got louder.

"Do you think something happened to the DJ?" I asked with concern. Suddenly, a panic-stricken voice announced over the noise,

"Everyone please stay calm, but I'm going to have to ask you all to stay where you are."

Agamya and I looked at each other. Her eyes widened.

"I guess that answers that," she whispered. The DJ continued in short, abrupt sentences. I couldn't see where he was, but someone was clearly relaying information to him.

"There's a… situation… on the border of Sectors C and D— wait, I wasn't supposed to—? Okay, folks, please don't panic, but remain in the park—"

The worried murmurs of the people around us were getting worse. Suddenly, Agamya grabbed my wrist and looked me in the eye.

"We have to find my friends," she whispered fearfully. I nodded and we started making our way through the swarm of people, most of whom were also running to reunite with their families around the huge park.

"Sanjay?"

I spun around as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Garmadon!" I said with relief, but his face was chiseled with grave concern.

"We have to go to the border of Sectors C and D."

I blinked, taken aback. "What? Did you not hear the announcement?" Agamya nodded in support.

"Dr. Julien," he said in a grave voice, "Morro and Owen."

My eyes widened as I realized what he was saying.

"They aren't in the park… but if they were within earshot of the announcement…"

If there was one thing I'd learned about Morro in my few days of living with him, it was that he tended to do the exact opposite of whatever he was told.

"Um, who are Morro and Owen?" Agamya asked, tilting her head.

"There's no time to explain," I said quickly, looking to Garmadon and then back at her with concern. "But I promise I'll explain when we come back. You go find your friends."

She hesitated, then shook her head. "No. Manda will kill me if I don't go with you, and Tiana will kill you if she learns you ran off."

That was pretty hard to argue with, so I nodded meekly and the three of us started heading towards the edge of the park as fast as we could without looking suspicious. It wasn't like it was my first time rushing into a potentially dangerous situation, but the swarms of the Departed Officials that were beginning to surround the park made me nervous anyhow.

"There," Garmadon whispered quietly, motioning to a break in the D.O.'s defenses. As silently and swiftly as three elderly people could, we managed to sneak out of the park without anyone noticing, and then we were off as fast as we could go to the border between Sectors C and D.

To my surprise and slight dismay, the awful groaning noise from the park did not seem to get any quieter as we left what we'd presumed to be its source. But as we gained ground to the forbidden area, another set of noises became audible, as well: the voices of children.

I was about to call out for Morro and Owen, but Garmadon spotted me and quickly clamped a hand over my mouth, shoving both me and Agamya around a corner as I heard the thundering of boots clamoring down the sidewalk.

"Hurry up, men!"

Departed Officials ran by in a panicked, informal way I'd never seen them run before. Not that I'd interacted with many of them, but in their matching police-style uniforms and small water pistols (which were much more intimidating in the Departed Realm than on Ninjago), they'd always seemed to carry about an air of authority. Now, not so much.

Once the swarm had past, our trio tiptoed into sight of the border, trying to get a look at what all the panic was about.

"Move aside!" the same voice from before called out, and I watched as at least fifty young children screamed and scattered in different directions, holding tightly to small bags of food and other trinkets as they left.

"Static orphans," I realized out loud, and glanced at Garmadon worriedly. We moved a little further back to avoid the D.O., scouting the area for any signs of Morro or—

"Ga'madon!"

All three of us spun around as a small black-haired boy addressed us from behind.

"Owen!" I cried in relief, and ran over to him. But before I reached him I realized something was very wrong. His face had gone pale, and he was trembling in fear. I dropped down to my knees and hugged him reassuringly as Garmadon ran over and started inspecting him to make sure he was all right.

"Who's that?" he sniffled, looking up at Agamya while Garmadon and I fussed over him. He was starting to calm down, thankfully.

"Agamya," she introduced herself gently. Owen glanced fervently back and forth.

"We gotta get outta he'a," he whispered, and pointed to the Departed Officials several paces ahead of us. They were all crowded around something, so they didn't notice us.

"In a moment," I promised him in a low whisper. "Where's Morro?"

Suddenly, the panic-stricken look came back onto the tiny boy's face. "He— he saw him, and said he knew what gonna happen, and—" Painful-looking tears welled up in his jet-black eyes. "He told me n-not to tell—!"

"He told you not to tell something?!" Garmadon asked, enraged. I stole a quick glance at the D.O. to make sure they hadn't heard, but whatever they were looking at had all of their attention.

"Wait a moment," Agamya said, furrowing her brow, "he saw 'him?' Who's him?"

"M-Mo'o," Owen choked, trying to furiously wipe his tears onto his coarse shirt.

"No, who did Morro see?" I explained patiently. Owen simply pointed towards the D.O. Garmadon and I shared a look.

"One of them is looking this way," Agamya hissed, nudging me and motioning towards a Departed Official with her head. She probably didn't know why we were avoiding them, but I appreciated her going along with it without asking questions.

"We have to see who Morro saw. Maybe it'll give us a clue," Garmadon announced gruffly. He looked at Agamya and made some military motion I didn't recognize. "Can you take Owen someplace safe? Not the park, there's too many patrols."

Agamya nodded firmly and took the little boy's hand in her own. I knelt down to address him while Garmadon started casually strolling closer to the scene of interest to try and see past the thick layer of guards.

"Agamya will take care of you," I reassured him. "If all else fails, we'll meet back up with you after the lanterns like we planned, okay?"

He sniffled and nodded, then suddenly leaned forward and whispered something in my ear. My jaw dropped in shock, but I didn't have time to respond before Agamya tugged him away, spurred on by a particular D.O. who seemed to have noticed we weren't supposed to be there.

I started catching up with Garmadon, rubbing my temples from the ache that had started due to the ever-present groaning. "So, what's all the commotio—" I started, but I froze when I saw his face. Whatever the D.O. were staring at in a trance, had him now doing the same. Fearfully, I walked up beside him and lined up my sight with his to catch a glimpse of what had everyone so terrified. And in a moment, I understood.

There, lying still on the ground, was the softly glowing, transparent figure of a boy adorned in a black ninja gi bearing the symbol of Earth.

Cole.

(A/N: I blame Lydia for my infrequent updates... her self-insert fic keeps distracting me... anyway, hope you're all enjoying the longer chapters and as always, reviews feed my muse! I'd like to give a quick shoutout to FirstFandomFangirl, Random Dragon 2.0, ABCSKW123-IX, StoriesAreMagic, The Jade Raven of Rivendell, Ebony umbreon, and Order of the Aether for reviewing EVERY CHAPTER. Seriously, I didn't realize how many of you guys there were until I typed out all those names?! You guys are AMAZING, thank you all SO much. If I missed anyone, I'm super sorry and let me know so I can shout you out later! I appreciate every single review I get but my regular reviewers in particular make my muse feel confident and happy and loved! :D Thank you all so much!)

(A/N: Quick update: I'll probably edit this chapter before the new one is written... you know when you make a really stupid error on a piece of art? Like, a GLARING error, but you don't realize it 'till after it's posted? I feel like I was terrible at characterizing Agamya's friends, and honestly anxiety is making me feel kind of sick over it. I'm not gonna take the chapter down or anything, but just... don't expect the next one until I've fixed this one. Sorry to be a downer.)