Another Ninjago AU in which the Ninja are normal kids, living normal lives.

Though Zane is not a robot, he's still that clean, well-mannered and genius guy that all parents and school teachers compare other kids to XD.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

The silver truck cruised through the evening traffic, noticeably standing out among the everyday sedans and SUV's due to the wild black flames lining the sides. It drove through the automated front gates and up the grand driveway which had beautifully trimmed out bushes running parallel to it. The car came to a stop in front of an exquisite hotel, the outer lamps of which had already been switched on for the night.

Above the main double-doors stood the luminescent words that read "The Horizon". Everything about it screamed fancy. It extended nearly ten stories high which proved that the top floor provided the best view of Ninjago City.

"Thanks for dropping me off, guys," Nya said, making sure her hair was perfectly tied up in a high ponytail. The passenger seat was occupied by Kai; Lloyd, Jay and Zane were in the back with Nya while Cole nestled in the driver's seat.

"No probs," Cole said, grinning back at the girl.

Nya unbuckled her seatbelt, seized her purse and pushed open the door of the vehicle. "What are you all gonna do tonight?" she asked, pausing with her legs halfway out.

Kai shrugged. "Since you were leaving for a girls' night, we decide to have a little guys' night out ourselves."

"Oh," Nya smiled, "Sounds cool. Have fun."

"You too," Jay called back, a nervous look on his face. He fussily kept tugging on his jacket sleeve as if to hide something on his hand. Nya had noticed this but had shrugged it off as a fidgety habit of his.

The girl fixed the others with an officious look. "Stay safe; don't do anything stupid, and if something goes wrong, call me immediately. Got it?"

"Got it!"

"Okie-doo!"

"Noted."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Affirmative."

With these responses received, Nya purposefully stepped off the truck and made her way towards the lobby of the hotel.

Once the boys were sure that Nya was no longer in sight, they all immediately turned towards each other. Jay seemed to be the centre of the attention as all eyes eventually landed on him.

"You ready, bud?" Kai asked, raising an eyebrow at the ginger.

"I- I'm not sure," Jay stuttered, finally letting go of his jacket sleeve.

Cole sighed, fingers tapping on the wheel. "Come on, Jay. You don't expect this to be real, do you?"

"I don't," the boy suddenly replied, "but after all I've read on the Internet, I have doubts about this ritual being fake."

"Okay," Lloyd spoke up. "I'll admit, the Internet can even make cooking seem like the end of the world but this is just a silly game made by a bunch of teenagers like us. What's so legit about that?"

Zane frowned at the blonde's words. "If we are aware of its low authenticity then why are we even playing?"

"Y'know, for fun," Lloyd answered casually.

Jay solemnly glanced down at the numbers he had written on his palm with a marker.

4 – 2 – 6 – 2 – 10 – 5

He looked up at his friends.

"Let's do this."

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

The group huddled around the first floor elevator of "The Horizon", talking in hushed tones. Not many people were around as there was a shindig in the great hall which was open to all hotel guests and outsiders.

Nya had no part in the celebration herself and she wouldn't even be here had it not been for her friend. Skylor's father was a successful business man who had been personally invited by the hotel manager on the account of an earlier contract between them. Skylor had to accompany him but she thought it wouldn't hurt to bring Nya along for a little girl time.

"Alright," Zane said, scrolling through his phone and searching for the information regarding the game. "The Elevator Game, if played correctly, is said to take you to an alternate dimension: The Otherworld."

The name, though not sounding so bad, still made Jay squirm. He could already point out a number of complications and flaws in what they, or more precisely, he was about to do.

"The code on your hand is a specific sequence of the buttons you will have to push once you've entered the elevator," Zane went on, gesturing at Jay's clenched fist.

"Starting from the first floor, you will have to push the button to the fourth floor. Remember, you're not to get out of the elevator at any of the floors. From the fourth floor, you'll have to descend back to the second, then sixth, then second again, then tenth and finally the fifth."

Before Jay could process this complicated step, Kai took over, staring straight into his eyes. "Upon reaching the fifth floor, a young woman will enter the elevator. Don't look at her. Don't speak to her. She's not what she seems. She may try to start a conversation with you but you have to ignore her at all costs."

Jay half expected Kai to laugh at the current expression on his face. But the brunet did nothing of the sort and continued. "If you talk to her or even acknowledge her in the slightest, then it is said that she'll grab you and take you somewhere dangerous."

Jay could feel his inners churning about. He tried not to have a mini panic attack there and then. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear more about the rules.

Lloyd stepped closer to him, taking the explanation over from Kai. "If you're successful in ignoring the woman, you have to press the button to the first floor. One of two things might happen. The elevator may go back to the first floor. When this happens, you have to exit, walk away and never look back. You'll be safe then. In the other case, the elevator will go up to the tenth floor, indicating that you've been allowed into the Otherworld."

"What do I do then?" Jay asked, voice shaking a little.

"Well," Cole began, "You get a choice. The Otherworld will look exactly like the real world except you'll be the only person there. The power will be out and your electronic devices won't work. If you wish to return without looking around then you simply have to press the first floor button again. When you reach there, then you have to run away like Lloyd said. If you do wish to explore the Otherworld then in order to get back, you'll have repeat the same button sequence starting from floor one."

Jay gulped. "Anything else?"

"Yes," Zane nodded. "You have to remember to ride the same elevator from which you arrived. In the Otherworld, you will feel disoriented so it will be a bit difficult to find the right elevator. In case you faint or lose consciousness, you will wake up at home. But be careful, it may be the Otherworld trying to fool you."

Kai bit his lip at the ginger's worried and seemingly terrified countenance. "If you do any of these steps wrong, you may as well be trapped there forever. The woman will be with you all along the elevator ride so remember to ignore her no matter what."

Jay eventually convinced himself that all of this sounded too ridiculous to the point where he was brave enough to step into the elevator. The others smiled at him comfortingly.

"Remember what we agreed on?" Kai smiled sheepishly. "If you do this, I'll call you "master" for a month and do all your chores."

Jay couldn't help but smile at that.

"Just follow the rules and you'll be fine," Lloyd reminded, squeezing Jay's shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't forget to have fun," Cole joked.

The elevator doors dinged and began closing. Zane quickly tried to get in a last detail. "If anyone enters while you are following the sequence, then you have to start all over again. Good luck!"

Jay took in the hopeful faces of his friends, surprised at finding himself wondering if he would ever see them again. He mentally rebuked his thoughts, trying to persuade himself that it was all just a silly game and nothing else.

Then the doors closed all the way.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Jay's heart raced, beating rapidly in the confines of his chest.

Sweat trickled down his forehead as his eyes stared at the floor number visible above the elevator doors. He had successfully made it through the floor sequence without having to start over again. Now, he was descending from the tenth floor to the fifth.

Thoughts of the woman kept nagging him and he was feeling overwhelmed. He tried to control his rapid breathing. His intuition told him to show no signs of fear to her as well for that might count in acknowledging her.

He inhaled sharply and stared dead ahead at the button panel as the elevator dinged and opened up on floor five. He stood stock still when he noticed someone standing there out of the corners of his eyes. It was a woman without a mistake.

"Jay?"

He froze.

No, no, no, no!

"What are you doing here? I thought you and the others left?"

It was Nya! That was impossible!

Jay said nothing. He simply burned holes in the panel ahead. Nya repeated the question as she walked into the lift. Even with his face turned away, Jay could sense Nya's forehead crease with concern.

"Jay, what's wrong?" Nya said, worry dripping from her tone. "Are you okay? Answer me."

Jay wanted to wash her distress away by telling her that he was fine, just stuck in a horrible situation. But then came the horrifying reality that Nya was the woman he had to protect himself from. She could harm him. Jay resisted the urge to vomit. He was feeling dizzy when he jammed in the first floor button. To his horror, the elevator began moving up.

He was being taken to the Otherworld!

"Jay, you're scaring me!"

He was scaring her? He was the one who was shaking with anxiety and apprehension at the mere sight of his girlfriend. Jay realized what was happening. He had began fearing Nya in a way he never thought he would. It rattled him to the bone. He wanted to get away from her.

Nya kept yelling at him, pleading him to tell her what was wrong. Jay's heart ached as he ignore the girl's cries. He squeezed his eyes shut when Nya's voice began trembling as if she would burst into tears at any moment. Jay was torn but Kai's words kept circling his mind.

"Don't look at her. Don't speak to her. She's not what she seems."

"What's the matter with you?!" Nya finally screamed, grabbing Jay's arm and shaking him violently.

Jay's senses went haywire. He panicked on the inside but still gave his girlfriend the cold shoulder. Through all this noise, the doors dinged once more, the sound now engrained in Jay's mind. The doors slid open and he saw the dark world on the other side.

Nya's shouts felt like spears through his brain. Like icy stalagmites cutting through his spinning conscience. He wasn't feeling good and yet he felt drawn to the hotel beyond the elevator's boundary. Without thinking, Jay yanked his arm out of the ravenette's grasp and bolted from the elevator, deep into the darkness.

He could still hear the girl's shouts behind him. Before he could turn around to see if she was following him or not, her voice became muffled. This confirmed Jay's hopes that the elevator door had slid shut and was taking Nya back. A few seconds later, he could hear nothing but his own heavy breathing.

The Otherworld was just like the tenth floor of the normal realm but as Cole had stated, the power was out. There was solid darkness even outside the passage windows. Jay pulled out his cellphone. A weak cry of surprise escaped his lips when he saw the battery percentage drop from seventy-five percent to zero in a blink. The device powered out and the screen went blank.

Without a single source of light to navigate through the dark with, Jay felt panic settle in. He reminded himself to stay calm and focus on finding the right elevator from the first floor in order to return home and give Nya a big hug.

Disorientation came sooner than he had anticipated though. Jay had only dashed down the staircase leading to floor nine when his vision became blurry and strength left his legs. He fell against the banister, trying to keep himself from falling. Nausea rose to his throat and he didn't hold it in.

Hand on his stomach, the ginger leaned over and threw up on the hall carpet, coughing and gagging simultaneously. After what seemed like a while, Jay wiped his mouth and tried to walk forward. He only managed to stagger and made it through a few steps before dropping onto all fours.

His breathing morphed into strangled gasps and he could feel the world spinning uncontrollably. Not long after that, he collapsed on his stomach, eyes fluttering close as energy left him.

He could faintly hear Nya's worried rambling echoing though the empty hotel and his friends' voices trying to placate her. Then everything died out and he lost consciousness.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Nya was usually a very strong person who could deal with any stress imaginable and still appear perfectly calm. But she was in tears right now which indicated that what she saw was not okay. She desperately held onto the front her brother's jacket, scolding and relating the events of that day at the same time.

"I met him in the elevator on the fifth floor," the ravenette sobbed. "He didn't look right. He was sweaty and pale as if life had been completely sucked out of him. I asked him if he was okay but he kept staring ahead, not saying a single word."

"And?" Kai mumbled, looking a little pale himself.

Nya sniffled. "We reached the tenth floor and he left me alone, running out of the elevator like I was going to kill him if he didn't. I tried to follow him but the doors closed. I pressed every button but nothing worked until I reached the ground floor."

Cole glanced back at the staircase uncertainly. "I think you may have messed up with the sequence. I'm sure Jay's on his way down right now to try again." There was a glimmer of relief in Cole's eyes which eased the other boys as well.

"What sequence?" Nya snarled, turning her scowl towards Cole. "What are you on about? I thought you all had gone out to the city. Then what are you doing here? And what have you done to Jay?"

Before any of them could reply, Lloyd lunged at Nya and grabbed her by her shoulders. "Wait, did you say you met Jay on the fifth floor?"

Nya nodded wordlessly. She noticed the others abruptly fall silent at this. Zane and Kai exchanged horrified glances and Cole ran a fidgety hand through his hair.

"And did you touch him?" Lloyd asked, unperturbed by the others' behavior.

Nya frowned. "I- I don't know . . . I mean, I did grab his arm and shake him when he didn't answer. Why?"

Lloyd's eyes widened as he slowly let go of the girl. He stepped back, raising a hand to his mouth. Kai had dropped down into one of the lobby chairs, looking equally disturbed.

"He should have called by now," he whispered as if in a trance. "I told him to let us know if he was starting over. He should have come back with Nya in the first place. But she– she was . . ."

Everyone turned to look at the girl who had started trembling once more.

"Nya, what have you done?"

. . .

"The Horizon" was searched from top to bottom countless times for a week. Missing posters were taped up everywhere. Police roamed the streets every night.

Jay Walker was nowhere to be found.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Creepy, mysterious and messed up ending?

Check!

I honestly don't know where I was going with this but I had recently read about the Elevator Game and its relation with the death of Lisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel in 2013.

I planned on making the Ninja do something like play a famous, internet-born game but with a creepy twist.

I'm sorry, I just love the mysteries of the unknown 😌.