Written by: miamidnightt

The Queen was seething with hatred in her eyes— these Ninja were foiling her plans for her and her daughter of conquering Ninjago once and for all. She had grown tired of their pitiful antics, dark magic immediately coming to her fingertips and guiding it's way towards the three in front of her.

"Watch out!" Jay shouted, throwing himself at his girlfriend and watching Red dive away from the Queen's powers.

This made her grow more frustrated— wanting to destroy the heroes who stood in her way and that is exactly what she planned to do. Throwing her hands out once more, darkness wrapped at both Jay and Nya's feet, leaving only Red to deal with his turned mother himself.

"I think it's best if we leave this fight to ourselves, don't you think?" She cooed, stepping a bit closer to him and smirking, "Because we both know those two are incapable of defeating me, even if they tried."

Jay hissed, struggling against the bounds made of dark magic, "Hey...! Let us go!"

"Oh, and did you forget that I have that same power, mother!" Red spat, holding up a hand and the dark vines disappeared, which allowed Nya and Jay to be dropped to the floor.

The two easily were back on their feet— Nya grabbing her weapon from off the floor, that had dropped when the dark ropes had entangled both her and Jay. With a glare in her brown eyes, she ran straight for the Queen, who was taken by surprise and just barely managed to dodge the attack sent to her. Forming a knife with her dark magic, the Queen returned the favor and stabbed the dark-haired girl in the side, hearing a groan escape the girl as she fell to the floor with a loud thud!

"Oh my god!" Jay widened his eyes, his feet moving on their own and taking his girlfriend in his arms, cradling her close to his chest, "H-How dare you...!"

The woman only laughed at the pathetic tears streaming down his face— But it was Red who took the chance and attacked his mother himself. The knife in his hand gleamed with dark magic energy, grazing the Queen at the shoulder and she hissed loudly.

"How does it feel to feel the same pain?" Red said, his voice holding nothing but venom in each of his words, "you monster."

That was enough to anger the Queen further, but that was his attentive from the beginning and he smirked proudly at her. Once his mother saw the look, she was far too late and a strong power burn at every part of her body. She was aching in pain— She fell to the ground, her arms and legs going numb immediately and that was enough for her son to approach her with the knife still in his grip.

He sighed, "I am sorry... Goodbye, mother."

And with those final words, he stabbed the Queen straight in the heart and watched her body slowly start to go pale and numb. It wasn't long before her eyes fell to the back of her head, leaving Red to remove himself off her.

But those weren't the last and final moments from his mother.

A bright light emitted from the Queen's chest, the dark woman disintegrating into nothing and allowing a much different woman to emerge— She looked similar to the other, but she was far from having that dark aura to her.

Red stared in shock, his mouth open slightly and he approached the woman without any hesitation, "M-Mother...? Is that actually you?"

"Yes, my dear Red," She nodded, engulfing the boy in her arms but a frown remained on her face, "I am truly sorry for all the pain and torment I have put you and your friends through. It was never my intention to harm you." She wiped the blood off a wound found on his cheek, the touch allowing it to heal within seconds, "Unfortunately, those shadows took it upon themselves to bring me back all those years ago after I had died.

"My mind was trapped and I was unable to control my actions and what I was saying— And now, the same thing has happened to my baby girl. I cannot even begin to forgive the things that I have done to both you and your sister."

Red shook his head in disagreement, "No, mom, don't blame yourself for what happened to you. None of that was your fault to begin with, the shadows are the only ones to blame for all this... But, is it possible to bring Scarlett back and save her from death?"

She shook her head, frowning further with tears in her eyes, "I am afraid that there is no other way than the Purple Ninja killing her herself. It's the only way to free Scarlett from those shadows— Once that happens, all the shadows will no longer exist in this world and Ninjago will be at peace. But you have to accept the fact that all good things come with sacrifice."

"I know," He sighed, letting his shoulders fall and he nodded, "I guess we have no other choice in the matter. I just hope that the Purple Ninja is willing to do this?"

"Don't worry," His mother rested a hand on his shoulder, "She'll realize the truth soon enough. You just have to show her that she has no other choice. It was written in the prophecy from the beginning."

Red nodded.

"Now, I believe my time is up," She told him, holding up an arm and watching it start to fade away into nothing, "Now, son, save your sister from that horrible fate she put herself into. I can't stand to see her like that any longer."

He smiled, giving another small nod, "I will, mother... and goodbye."

And like that, the former Queen had disappeared into nothing, all that was standing between him was the remains of the battle and Jay holding an unconscious Nya behind him. Taking his leave, he trudged out of the room and the Blue Ninja was quick to follow.

He knew it was time to end things once and for all. But he needed to regroup back with the other Ninja.

* * *

The fight with Scarlett was growing rather gruesome— Everytime the Ninja were close, she would find a way to alter the fight in her favor. She continued to watch the redhead, breathing heavily with many cuts scattered across her body. She hadn't bothered to heal herself, despite her boyfriend telling her numerous times to do so, because she was too focused on the fight at hand.

She was completely determined to bring her friend back to them.

But a scream from the dark-haired female brought everyone back to reality and watch her with widened eyes, "N-No, how could this happen!" She gritted her teeth, hands balled into tight fists and a glare entered her purple eyes, "How dare you take my mother away from me!"

"What?" Mia questioned, leaning forward to whisper to the Green Ninja, "I think it's safe to assume that Red was able to defeat his mother."

"Yeah, maybe because we let both Nya and Jay help him out."

However, the redhead was unable to take her turn to speak— Scarlett growling and jumping into the shadows, leaving an army of shadows behind her for the Ninja to deal with instead. But Mia wasn't having any of it, turning invisible on the shadows and racing after her turned friend and watching as the sky was growing darker by the second.

Finally, she realized it was Scarlett's doing and without having any other option at the moment, she used her light to shoot up into the sky. A light began to open up in the sky, but it was quickly consumed by more darkness and that made the Purple Ninja use up more of her power, exhausting herself while her eyes began to change to purple— looking the same as Scarlett's eyes.

When the Ninja had finally defeated all the shadows, finding where Mia had run off to and seeing her struggling to bring light back into the sky. But Zane had widened his eyes in fear, speaking, "Someone has to stop her! If she continues that any further, then—!"

The redhead shook her head, as if trying to clear her mind of certain thoughts until she spoke, knowing that the Ninja were behind her, watching, "Get out of my way, Ninja! The shadows shall destroy every last one of you!"

"That is exactly why— the dark magic roaming in the sky is corrupting her mind and in less than a minute, it will change her to be completely against us."

Lloyd didn't need to be told twice, as he ran straight at her and tackled her to the ground. The power left her hands and the sky still remained dark. But the good thing, her eyes had returned back to their normal hazel color, allowing a sigh of relief to escape the Green Ninja.

He then grabbed her by the shoulders, holding a stern look in his eyes, "M, what the hell were you thinking back there? You almost went all evil on us and thank god I was able to save you just in time."

"W-What?" Mia asked, tilting her head in confusion.

The blond didn't answer her, sending her a smile and wrapping her in a tight embrace, glad to know that she was alright after that incident, "Just don't do something like that again, Red, okay?"

Of course, the moment didn't last long— Red came running out with Jay, who was holding an unconscious Nya in his arms. Kai jumped out of his skin, rushing over to his sister and nagging at the Lightning Ninja for not being able to protect her properly. Jay only waved him off, sitting down away from the others and hoping Nya to wake up soon.

"Red," Cole took this chance to break the empty silence that had come over everyone, watching the Purple Ninja walk away, offering to heal Nya up instead, "I assume you were able to defeat your mother?"

"That's correct," He nodded, sighing and rubbing his wrists awkwardly as he spoke to the group of them, "Unfortunately, I have nothing but bad news to share."

Ellie hummed, "What do you mean by that, Red?"

"I mean exactly what I mean," He explained, sucking in a deep breath, knowing that his next words would be anything from enjoyable. They were most likely to break down in tears, "My mother... after she died, her true self showed up and explained the truth about the shadows. I found there to be no other way— the only way to save Scarlett is if Mia kills her herself and frees my sister from those shadows."

Mia was taken by surprise, able to hear his words after healing up the Sister of Fire, "What... what did you just say?"

"You have to kill Scarlett to end all this, Mia." He frowned, looking down and not having any other words to say. He knew the girl was already torn by the fact she had to kill her one true friend, "I'm sorry it had to come to this."

The redhead shook her head in denial, "N-No...! I won't believe what you have to say to me! You're just making this stuff up!"

"Do I look like I'm joking around with you, Mia?" He asked her, a serious look coming over his eyes at once, "I'm dead serious about all this— Look, I don't want her to die either but it's either this or letting Ninjago fall to ruins. Are you sure you want the latter to happen?"

But Mia had drowned out his words, each of them sounding like she was underwater and hearing his muffled voice from above the water. Hot tears began to sting at her eyes, making her cover both hands over her eyes and rush off, turning invisible on them and out of sight. She knew now wasn't the time to be acting like this— But she felt so torn and twisted with all that was happening to her.

She sat in the back of an alley in the city, away from all the shadows prowling around, "I... I won't do that to her. She's my friend. Even if she's evil, I'll never hurt her— Much less kill her. I... won't..."

That was enough for her to break into tears.

* * *

Scarlett laughed, many shadows stood and bowed to her as she entered the room— The girl was pleased with herself, even though her mother was gone, she had more power than any of those Ninja.

"I'm sure Brooklyn is out there bawling her eyes out," She laughed, twirling a knife in her hand and grinning wickedly, "I want her found and brought to me. She's the one person who can put an end to our reign— Not like she's gonna accept the fact that she has to kill me."

Walking and sitting on the table in the Bridge, she chuckled darkly and threw the dagger at the nearby wall, watching as the shadows left the room and she had her thoughts to herself. Although, one thought lingering in the back of her mind coming to her—

I can't hurt Mia! Please, just don't hurt Mia!

"Shut up..." Scarlett mumbled to the voice in her head, shaking her head and walking off, out of the Bridge.

The final battle to end it all was approaching.