"It's been three hours and fifteen minutes."

Agamya had been announcing the time every five minutes, for some unknown reason, but none of us tried to stop her. Every five minutes we hoped would be the last, every five minutes we thought something might change. But we'd been here what felt like an eternity after the rift opened up and so far, all was peaceful in the Departed Realm.

The park was filled with nervous murmurs and faint attempts at light conversation to ease the mood. It wasn't quiet, but it felt like it was quiet. There was the sort of uneasy tension you feel when you walk into a hospital room, and everyone around you is waiting on either the best or the worst news of their life. A hospital was actually the perfect analogy for what was going on, because the doctors— the D.O.— weren't telling us anything. We didn't know what to make of the rift that had so suddenly appeared and then vanished. It was clear it had been targeted in the Cursed Sector on purpose— it was just too specific a location— but who or what had opened the thing was completely unknown. Worse yet, the villains who were locked up there were now probably all roaming Ninjago, looking for revenge. And that struck a chord with the majority of the ghosts surrounding us. We didn't live in Ninjago anymore, but our hearts were there. Our families were there.

Then there was Cole. One of Agamya's friends— Manda, if I remembered correctly— had returned from a failed escape attempt with the news that she'd overheard one of the D.O. saying Cole's molecular structure was only half the density it should've been, and that he still hadn't stirred at all. The most sense I could make out of the situation was that Cole was really only half here, which would explain his ghostly appearance and the fact that he didn't seem to be even slightly aware that he was lying in the middle of the Departed Realm. But how or why he could've ended up in such a state was nearly as worrisome as the initial thought that he was dead.

The air was heavy. The dragged-out tension of the whole situation was almost enough to make me feel sick. Families and groups of friends huddled together and exchanged meaningless, worried whispers, trying to make heads or tails of the whole situation. Some kept looking at the sky as if they feared the rift might reappear at any moment. At one point I spotted a group of small children whizzing by with fearful faces, and wondered if some of the static orphans had either snuck into or been forced into the park. I didn't point them out to Owen, for fear or worrying him even more than he was. The poor fellow looked absolutely terrified, and kept reaching behind his thick glasses to wipe away tears. Normally in such a situation I would have tried to distract him, but all my mind could think about when it tried to change the subject was Morro. I still didn't know what I thought about his running off— what I thought about him— and frankly, I didn't want to. I just wanted to warp back in time to what was only hours ago, when we were all happy and laughing and… well, it was startling to think about it, but when we were all a family.

"Owen, do you like science?"

I turned abruptly— that was not my question. Agamya sat criss-crossed on the grass, and had tapped Owen to get his attention. He sniffled, wiping his eyes, and looked at her almost as bewildered as I did.

"U-um… yea?" he replied warily.

She smiled a little— a half-smile, the kind that acknowledges that something is wrong— and continued. "Do you know the science behind how infants are aged up in the Departed Realm?"

He blinked, still trying to take in the situation. "Ummm… I know's we gots to eat some nasty tea leaves. That's all."

"Do you want to know how they work?" she asked, her tone still casual and kind. Owen's eyes grew wide and he nodded. As if having the entire speech committed to memory, Agamya then launched into a long scientific explanation of how Tomorrow's Tea worked— a subject I already knew well, but which seemed oddly specific for Agamya to know. As for why she was explaining it to Owen…

She's distracting him, I realized with a start. She's doing what I can't. I marveled at how calm she was staying. From what I could recall, that really hadn't ever been one of her strong suits in life, but… well, people changed, I supposed. I was so intrigued by the soothing tone of voice Agamya was using and the way Owen was slowly relaxing around her that I actually missed part (most) of their conversation.

"…So then that same chemical that works alongside the chlorophyll stimulates the brain into releasing more somatotropin, which is why it's so important to take the proper dosage of tea, regardless of what form you take it in."

Owen looked up at her with wide eyes, apparently temporarily distracted from his worries. I wasn't sure how much of what she'd just said actually made sense to him, but he seemed enthralled nonetheless.

"An' that's how I got big?"

Agamya smiled and nodded. "Mhm. Would you like to hear a secret?"

Owen nodded vigorously. At first I thought she was just going to continue talking about scientific procedures I already knew, but what she said next actually caught my attention.

"They're working on a way to reverse the process."

My head jolted up. "Wait, are you toying with him?" I asked, before realizing that was a very poor choice of question regardless of what the answer was.

"Of course not. The people that head the D.O.— the really big guys—" she winked at Owen— "are trying to create a chemical that will basically work in the reverse as Tomorrow's Tea, which will subsequently make an already-older body younger."

I whistled as I took that in. My eyes quickly darted to Garmadon to see if he was listening, but he was still a few paces off, staring up into the sky.

"Well… ahem… that's quite the feat they're trying to pull off. I'll be quite pleased if they manage to actually achieve a youth serum, but I highly doubt they'll get anywhere close to what people have been trying to create for thousands of years," I pointed out.

"Yes, well, they're not quite there yet. There are a lot of bumps," Agamya admitted. "The closest they've come so far is creating a chemical compound that slows down and even reverses the aging process of the brain, but the whole idea is to reverse the body while keeping the brain untouched, so it's not really helpful. Right now they're just gathering data about what it does."

"Hm. That sounds rather interesting, actually. It would be entertaining to see, at least," I said. Agamya smiled slightly, as if she'd expected, or perhaps hoped for, that answer.

"Believe it or not, you already have."

I raised my eyebrows, and Owen did the same.

"What she ta'king about?" he whispered to me (as if I knew the answer.)

"I mean," she said, taking the question, "that those scarves you saw my friends wearing are very special scarves. They're embedded with the chemical compound I just talked about, so all of their cognitive functions have been reversed into roughly the state of very young adults."

"So THAT'S why they were all acting like high school students at a party!" I exclaimed, startling a group nearby with the sudden loud voice. Then I added, "Wait, how come your friends are the ones this serum is being tested on? Surely the scientists working at such high levels have preferred test subjects."

Agamya smiled. "Well, yes. They are the preferred test subjects. They liked the idea of feeling young again, even if it wasn't physically, so I convinced the other scientists—"

"Other scientists? Wait, are you saying you're working on this project?!"

Agamya grinned, Owen gasped, and for a moment it seemed as if the mood might lighten up again. Then Garmadon turned around, his face pale with shock.

"Um, Sanjay?"

We all turned to look as he pointed towards the sky. A tiny version of the previously huge rift suddenly opened noiselessly in the sky, letting through a single figure before closing back up. But there was no mistaking who it was, even from across the Realm.

My eyes widened and the whole group seemed to hold its breath, just before Garmadon suddenly broke out in a sprint towards the edge of the park.

"G-Garmadon, wait!" I cried, struggling to my feet and joining Agamya and Owen in running after him. Several D.O. members shouted at once, causing a stir of commotion behind us as people realized we were (apparently) trying to break out.

"HEY! STAY WITHIN THE PARK!" a harsh D.O. yelled over his co-workers, but as he ran up to Garmadon the old sensei leaped over him with a grace that was totally unfair for someone his age and kept running.

"You three! Stop!" another cried as Agamya, Owen, and I fumbled after him, but in the midst of the confusion and mix of voices we were able to lose track of him by darting around a group of younger, less-experienced looking officials. We actually broke the line of uniform-clad ghosts and I almost had a heart attack as a jet of water suddenly shot past us, but it was quickly followed by what sounded like an angry reprimand, so we kept running. We were out of the park now, and running as fast as we could through the Departed Realm. I hadn't run in years, and as I possessed neither Owen's youth nor Agamya's freakishly graceful and flexible nature (I was starting to have suspicions concerning her supposedly unfinished work on the anti-aging serum), every muscle in my body was screaming out in pain. But who knew if the D.O. were following us, so we ran on, feet pounding on pavement and then grass and then gravel, houses whizzing by us as we thrust ourselves forward. Past a row of houses, then another, through a small shopping area, then back to houses again. We still had a long way to run. The Cursed Sector was all the way on the far edge of the Departed Realm, where the worst criminals were held in reenforced chains of vengestone and surrounded by pools of—

"How are we going to cross the water when we get there?" I suddenly cried to Garmadon, who was several paces in front of the rest of us. My heart was pounding, begging me to slow down, but I denied it.

"We won't have to," Garmadon called back without turning his head. I was about to question what he meant by that, but as we turned a corner I didn't have to anymore. A boy was turning onto the other end of the street, zooming effortlessly through the air with a constant output of wind like a jet stream propelling him forward. He was as startled to see us as I was to see him, and sloppily stopped his currents of air, tumbling to the ground and almost tripping over his own feet. Both oncoming parties failed to slow down in time,and he crashed into Garmadon, who quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and stabilized him out forcefully, looking him in the eye with a glare that probably would have killed the teen if he weren't already dead.

"WHERE. DID. YOU. GO?!" he yelled, not letting go of Morro's shoulders. Morro blinked, as if surprised by the reaction.

Then he turned his head and the corners of his mouth turned upward in a confused but cocky smirk.

Relief flooded over me before he even spoke a word. I knew that look. It was the look he wore whenever he won a game, or made a joke, or successfully got on Garmadon's nerves. It wasn't a cruel smile: although admittedly it looked suspicious to those who didn't know him, it was nothing but a playful grin. Wherever Morro had gone and whatever he had done, there was an explanation.

"Uhh… Ninjago?" he replied, reaching up and removing Garmadon's hands from his shoulders. Garmadon was so fixated on his gaze that he didn't even seem to notice.

"Doing what?!" he exclaimed.

Morro's grin widened, flashing his teeth. "Saving your son. And Cole. And all the other ninja. And sort of the whole world by extension."

"Cole?" I asked, but before Morro could respond he was suddenly tackled by a tiny streak of black.

"M-M-Mo'o!" Owen sobbed, clutching his legs and burying his face in them. Morro blinked, startled, but then smiled and kneeled down, pulling the child into a hug.

"Hey, Owen," he said in a casual voice. "Sorry if I took longer than expected. I told you I had to go to the Cursed Sector, didn't I?"

"Y-yes, b-but—!" he exclaimed. Garmadon looked down at the two with an expression betraying the fact that he had no idea what to make of the situation.

I walked over to the awkward group reunion, resisting the urge to turn it into a group hug (although I would've loved to see Garmadon's expression if I dragged him into one, I didn't have quite that level of confidence), and coughed to get their attention.

"Well then," I said, trying to make it sound as though I hadn't just spent over three hours doing nothing but worrying about Morro, "it seems you have quite a bit of explaining to do."

"I ain't gotta explain nothin'," he said with a massive grin, purposefully throwing away his grammar. "I'm not a criminal anymore, so now it's the other criminals who gotta explain."

"Othe' c'iminals?" Owen asked, wiping his eyes behind his glasses.

"Yeah. They'll be along in a minute," Morro said, sounding extremely proud of himself. "The D.O. were smart enough to go over to the Cursed Sector, right? Because they're about to have their hands full with angry ghosts falling from the sky."

"You mean… all the other criminals will be returning? But how? Why are they not back yet?" Garmadon asked. Morro shrugged.

"Well, they didn't want to die, so they're still struggling against transmission. I don't know all the science-y stuff like doc here, but I do know they can't hold out forever; sooner or later their spirits will be back where—"

"Oh, you're all such idiots!"

Garmadon, Morro, Owen, and I all spun around in unison, surprised at Agamya's outburst. If she wasn't experimenting on herself, her friends had definitely rubbed off on her.

"Uhh…" was all I could manage to say, before she huffed and crossed her arms, creating an almost comical look against her old appearance.

"You three," she said pointedly, "spend several consecutive hours worrying over the state of someone who's obviously like family to you, and then when he returns you go right to asking him about what happened? Honestly!" She threw her hands up in the air. "At least the kid had a good sense enough to give him a hug! You two are a mess."

Garmadon and I blinked, unsure of how to respond. He'd never been chastised by Agamya before and it had been so long for me that I'd forgotten what it felt like.

"You're hopeless," she sighed as she walked over, and then promptly pushed Garmadon and I against Morro, who had to stand up to catch us in a hug. Neither of us knew what to say, but thankfully, Morro broke the silence.

"Yeah, she's right, guys," he said teasingly, "you should be thanking me for saving Ninjago right now. And maybe praising my awesomeness." He squeezed us both and then pulled back to ruffle Owen's hair since he couldn't reach the height of the hug standing up.

I opened my mouth to reply to that, but surprisingly, Garmadon beat me to it.

"…you're right. Thank you," he said. Morro stumbled back in alarm and almost tripped.

"I don't know what happened on the other side of that rift," the sensei continued with a sigh, "but if the others aren't back yet, it means they're fighting to stay alive, or at least stay in Ninjago. But you… aren't."

Morro smiled in a way that— if I didn't know him— I would describe as shy. "Well, yeah. I had people to come back to." He glanced at me and I felt a flutter of pride in my gut.

"I'm… glad to hear that. But seriously," Garmadon said, starting to regain composure, "you do have some explaining to do."

"You bet you do."

I blinked. The voice was female, and it wasn't Agamya's. Slowly, I turned around to see a line of Departed Officials huffing and clumsily falling into formation as they caught their breath. I wondered how the police force could possibly be in as bad of shape as us— a couple of old folks and a child— but then I remembered that they scarcely got any exercise, as the Departed Realm was normally very peaceful.

"You there." The lead official, an intimidating woman with a frightening stare almost equal to Garmadon's, pointed at Morro. "You're coming back to headquarters with us. You have a lot of explaining to do."

Morro nodded at me, seeing my concerned expression. In a joking tone, he replied, "Of course. I'll be happy to tell you all about my fantastical adventures in the land of—"

"You won't be talking to me," the woman snapped. "You can tell your 'fantastical adventures' to the head of the Departed Realm."

Morro froze. His grin slowly faded.

"Yeah, that's right," the woman sneered, "and I'm sure he'll be very interested to hear your reasons for escaping into Ninjago… again."

I glanced at the rest of our group, fear once again welling up in my chest. Owen was nervously clinging to Morro's legs, and Garmadon was glaring at the Departed Official as much as she was glaring at Morro. Agamya gave me a worried sideways glance, as if to ask me exactly what was happening.

When we didn't move for several seconds, a few Departed Officials reached for their holsters. We tensed, and Morro quickly put his hands up.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," he said. "But they come with me." He looked me in the eye and nodded.

"Fine. They can wait for you outside headquarters," the lead woman replied, and snapped her fingers. Morro hesitantly followed her as the other D.O. put their hands back down to their sides, starting to surround us like a pack of wolves to ensure that we didn't run off on our way to headquarters. Not that we had much reason to. Owen looked like he might want to flee, but thankfully none of the D.O. were the same ones from before, at least not that I could see— perhaps they mistook him for a relative of Morro's instead of a runaway static orphan. It suddenly occurred to me that Owen very well could've been related to Morro, but I didn't have much time to consider the thought. The lead official stopped on a dime, almost causing Morro to bump into her. She spun around cooly and said, "Oh yes, and I've forgotten one thing. There is some good news."

I held my breath with a mix of confusion and hope. All of DOTD— all of this week, really— had been a rollercoaster of emotions that my routine-oriented self was not used to. I didn't know what I should expect.

"Homes numbered 201 through 350 have been completed in Sector D, and the work schedules for newcomers as of two months ago or later have been completed. Needless to say, both of these conditions apply to you." She motioned to Morro and Garmadon. "After this meeting, you'll be given your official papers for your schedules and escorted to your new residences." Then she swiftly turned back around and raised her right arm in some kind of salute. The other D.O. responded by starting to march again, forcing us along with them. They didn't seem perturbed by this news, but my head started to reel as I realized the implications of what the woman in charge had just said.

After tonight, Morro and Garmadon were leaving.

(A/N: "The End" of DOTD… but not quite the end of SDLPC! Next chapter WILL be the REAL last one [SORRY NOT SORRY FOR ALL THE CLIFFHANGERS XD]! I'm also going to do a short FAQ/thank you as a separate chapter, so if you have any questions about the series, the meta, my OCs, choices in plot, or anything else, leave them in your review and I'll answer them there! I've seriously enjoyed working on this fic, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it. Again, thank you SO much for your feedback and reviews! You guys are INCREDIBLE!)

(P.S. I'm rereading every single review I've ever gotten as well as my author's notes over the chapters [as you do], and way back in chapter 3 I mentioned that I didn't know how long the story was going to continue— "Maybe one chapter. Maybe 20." And… IT'S GONNA BE 33 CHAPTERS LONG. THE ANSWER WAS 30. 30 CHAPTERS. I'M SO SHOOK)