Prologue: A Dream of a Desert

The sun…

It felt like it was blistering hot even with his hat and mesh covering atop his head. It was all so bright too. He felt he had to squint to see what was ahead of him. Underneath his sandals there was sand and despite the odd situation of being alone in the middle of the desert, he felt a sense of calm.

The desert was a familiar one to him. It was one he knew well enough.

The Sea of Sand.

However, that calm left him when he heard something like stone opening up. His eyes darted and they landed on an entrance. It was one he was all too familiar with. The symbol of a serpent letting out a vile hiss with its fangs bared and its tongue curling out had split in half with the doors opening up.

At first there was darkness inside along with the feeling of nothing.

Then there were steps.

Rushing feet slapping against stone and a figure accompanying those noises.

There was a sense of familiarity about this person, but that feeling of something familiar was accompanied with an even larger, overwhelming feeling of panic, especially when the old man felt the sand blind him when the wind rushed right at him, practically shoving him to stumble aside for the person.

He recognized this power instantaneously despite how much he desperately wished he didn't.

His breathing quickened and he felt his heart pounding, hearing it drum rapidly in his ears. His eyes flicked all around and he found the figure far off in the distance before they disappeared from his sight.

A dark cloud rolled across the sun and the panic mixed with a feeling of dread.

He looked back to the split doors of the stone tomb, hearing rubble move and seeing something pull itself right out of it.

A growl rumbled and mixed with a hiss while he saw a snake's eye opening and staring right through him, presumably looking at the figure.

A claw gripped on the edge of the door way and the body pulled itself into view.

There was a low hiss accompanied with an inhale.

The chest rose and fell slowly while the serpent leaned forward.

It exhaled and finally, it spoke.

"Run, run, little one. You're only making this more fun. I'll find you and I will take back what's mine from you."

The serpent man lunged forward, launching himself right in his direction and making the old man feel what the figure may have felt. Terror washed over him and he wished he had his staff in hand but he couldn't find it. The snake came closer, his glare burning hotter than the sun above them, his maw opened up with his fangs bared and suddenly—

"Wu…" He heard a familiar voice call to him.

"Wu…" There it was again. Who was it?.. Who was it..?

"Wu!" They yelled.

"Brother wake—"

His eyes snapped open and he sat up almost instantly from leaning against a stone, sweeping his staff into his hand and swinging it across him. The staff was only caught by a dark hand.

"-up."

The old man looked up to see that it was none other than his older brother. He loosened his hold on the staff and the taller, four-armed man took his hand back and shook it, letting out a hiss through his teeth.

"Ow. Wu, what was the big idea? That hurt!" Garmadon felt his palm stinging from the staff's sudden impact to it. Damn that staff for being so sturdy despite its age.

The former brunet was going to snap at Wu for hitting him, but when he looked back to his younger brother, he could see his eyes clouded, staring off into the distance. His breathing sounded low but he could hear him almost stuttering to take in a breath.

Despite being on opposite sides and always forever hating that apparent favoritism that their father had towards Wu, he still felt concern for his younger yet still wrinklier brother.

"Brother?"

Wu looked back to the older one.

"Brother, where…" He swallowed a breath for a moment before asking, "Where are we?"

"You came to this realm to find me and we were going to the Mountain of Madness up until you needed to rest." Garmadon answered. "What in the Departed Realm did you even dream about for you to panic like that? It's very unlike you to act like that."

"I.." Wu faltered. "I don't know."

"Hmph," Garmadon huffed. "You don't know or you won't tell me?" He bared his teeth at him in a sneer.

Wu's head tilted downwards, covering his face with his hat. He didn't like what the other was insinuating. Truthfully, the dream was fading from his mind but he could still feel small bits of panic and dread that were left over from the dream. His heart still felt like it was racing, pounding against his chest and letting it drum rapidly in his ears. The staff in his grasp and the presence of his brother kept him grounded in the moment and he felt his heart slow down.

"Get up." He heard Garmadon grumble at him. "We still have a long way to go."

Wu gave a nod, taking a deep breath in and standing the staff upright before he hoisted himself up. The bearded man follow right beside the eldest, gently tapping his staff beside himself. His mind still felt like it was trying to make sense of what he had seen.

One question, however, remained in his mind.

'Was it a dream.. or a vision?'

He didn't know for certain. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to know the answer to that. He faltered behind Garmadon for a moment before he shook his head and caught back up to his side.

Whatever the answer was, he needed to remain focused in the moment. He intended to bring his brother home for help and he was going to go through with it.

He wasn't about to let this doubt over a dream slow him down for a moment. Not while his Ninjas' and nephew's, and by extension Ninjago's, fate remained in peril with the Serpentine and their quest for the Silver Fang Blades.

He dreaded what horror they'd release after they get those fang blades and he hoped that by the time he returned, the Ninja are still putting up a fight against them.

He hoped that he wouldn't be too late.

Author's Note: I guess this is the last thing you guys expected of me to do since I didn't feel so good about writing way back in July.

Honestly, this wasn't supposed to come out until it was complete, but I barely am managing to figure it all out. So when I didn't complete it, this was originally going to post this on Dec. 5, you know, National Ninja Day. Then, I realize there's still other Ninja media and this would've only got buried underneath everything else, so I decided to post this prologue out there during the holidays. It kinda made sense to me in the moment.

Anyways, yes this is a rewrite of Hidden Away. Or rather a revision of it. I'll make sure to cut out extra, unnecessary things to fit it all better and hopefully, this one sticks around better than the other fics did.