Zane POV

"Okay, now what?" Jay asks me. We have just successfully snuck into the fortress through the open hallway windows at the top of it.  It was a bit of a challenge, but Jay and I managed to climb the fortress and slip in through the window.  Haru had inspected it in his owl form prior and we found out that there are warriors posted against the walls on each side every 30 yards. We now sit lingering in the shadows of the hallway where we got in through the window. I see some warriors pacing back and forth down the hallway every few minutes.

"We should follow them." I say. "We are bound to find something about this place eventually."  The three of us silently move through the shadows of the hallways.  We move down the hallway and we round several corners until we reach a large spiral staircase with multiple openings leading into hallways that looks to be going down hundreds of feet.  I look to the others to see them looking at me.  I shrug and start to descend the staircase.  The others follow close behind me. 

After climbing sown several flights, we hear talking from one of the open hallways and we duck into the shadows.  The talking doesn't seem to be coming from stone warriors, but people.  Emerging from the hallway are two men who start to descend the staircase, away from us.  They continue to speak in hushed voices as they walk.

"Haru, they're speaking Dark Islander, right?" I whisper to him.

"Yeah, they are." He says back.

"What are they saying?" Jay asks him.  Haru stays silent and listens to the conversation.  It's growing fainter and fainter the further they walk down, but Haru can make out just enough to tell us, "They're talking about seeing the Overlord!"

"What?  What else did they say?" I ask him.  Recently, Katelyn helped to download the Dark Islander language into my data base so I can understand what they are saying, but I haven't used it much and the language confuses me at points, so right now, I'm leaving the translation to Haru.

"They kept talking about 'the plan' and how they think it is a 'wast of time' and that he should have 'killed them when he had the chance'."

"Who's they?  And what plan?" Jay asks him.

"I don't know.  What I do know, is that they're going to go see the Overlord right now!  We should follow them before we loose them." He proposes.  I nod.

"Well, let's get going then."  We descend the staircase once more in an effort to catch up to the two men.  We keep our distance as they turn into a hallway and walk all the way down to a set of large and heavy doors.  Two warriors stand attended at the doors. 

When the two men present themselves, the warriors slowly open the doors and they walk in.  Before they can close the doors, we slip in undetected and duck behind some banners.  The room is a large oval-shaped room with deep purple walls and a large and tall throne at the end with tall metal torches cupping an orange and purple flame on either side of the throne.  Hanging all around the room are banners with many pictures on them, almost like they're telling a story.  A black and golden rug runs from the door all the way to the foot of the throne. 

Sitting on the throne, at the edge of several steps leading down to the floor, is a figure who seems to be made out of pure black and purple shadows.  He wears golden armor from head to toe.  The armor covering one of his hands is in the shape of a golden claw, similar to that of a dragon's.  He taps his golden clawed fingers on the throne impatiently, his face showing resentment and an unimpressed gaze.  The Overlord...

"Why have you disturbed me?" He says in a terribly raspy and deep voice to the two men.  His voice sends a shiver down my spine.  The men quickly drop into a kneel/bowing position a few feet from the foot of the throne.

"My Lord," the first one says.  "Your plan is currently going underway.  They have left the village and they are now making their way back to their village."

"Good..." he says.  "And what about the boy?  Has he figured anything out yet?"

"No, my Lord.  He is unaware of his destiny.  And he is injured, he and his friend."

The Overlord stops tapping his fingers.  "His... friend?  He is traveling with a companion?"

"Yes, my Lord."  The Overlord sits up straight.

"Why... was I not made aware of this?"  The man looks up at him, fear in his eyes.

"W-What do you mean, my Lord?  I made sure to have the stone warriors tell you he was traveling with his friend."

"You... DARE defy me?!" He raises his voice.  The man freezes up and the second one keeps his head down, also frozen.  "You!" He says firmly, pointing at the second man.  He raises his head to look at him so quickly I thought he'd snap his neck.  "Did you know about this?" He asks.  He shakes his head frantically.

"N-n-no, m-my Lord.  I-I d-didn't." He stutters our of fear.

"Hm," he says.  "Do you know which one it is?"

The two men exchange a glance.  "No, my Lord." The first one says.

He sits in silence for a moment.  "Well, one of you failed to bring this news to my attention.  Therefore, one of you must be punished." He says.  The two freeze.  "Well, which one of you will it be?"  He overlooks the two, deciding who he should punish.  "You," he says as he points to the first one.  He freezes.  "You knew about this, yet you didn't bring it to my attention.  You are the one who will be punished.

The first one has a look of pure terror in his eyes.  The color completely drains from his face as the Overlord snaps his fingers and the two warriors who were standing guard at the door come in and grab the man by his arms.  They drag him out of the room while the man shouts out cries of mercy but the Overlord only watches, not a single look of remorse in his eyes.  "Don't worry, I'm sure you will be of good use to me the next time you are assigned to a mission."

I can see Haru tense out of the corner of my eye.  He balls up his fist up and tenses his shoulders, staring intensely at the sene in front of him, several emotions swirling around in his gaze.  I rest my hand on his shoulder and look him in the eyes.  He relaxes his hands and shoulders and we turn back to the scene before us.

"Now then," the Overlord says mischievously.  "I'll ask you again, why was I not informed about his 'companion'?" He asks the second. man firmly.

He begins to visible tremble.  "I-" he chokes out.  "I don't know."  The Overlord stares in silence at him.

"Well, if you come across any more news, inform me immediately.  And do not fail to inform me on anything.  After all, it would be quite rude of us if Garmadon's children were to receive their little birthday gift even later than we plan."  I almost gasp out loud.  Garmadon's... children?  But, he's never had children before!  Unless...

"You are dismissed." He says to the man with a wave of his hand.

"T-thank you, m-my Lord." He says as he very stiffly stands up and walks out of the room.  I signal for Jay and Haru to follow his lead and we, somehow, escape the room unnoticed.  Once we've located an isolated spot, Haru whispers to us, "Let's get out of here.  I think I've had enough adventure to last me three days."

"Okay, but how do we get out of here?  This place is like a maze!  I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm great at mazes, but I haven't slept for a long time and my brain has turned to mush." Jay says.

"Oh, I thought your brain was always mush." Haru teases him.

"Shut up, furry." (I have nothing against furries, I can just totally see Jay teasing Haru like this).

"Guys, this isn't the time for arguing!" I tell them.  "I've scanned the layout of this place and I've found the fastest and most unguarded rout for our escape.  Let's go."  I lead the way through the twisting hallways all the way to another open window that isn't as high as the one we climbed through.  We check our surroundings and when the coast is clear, we climb out the window and make our way to the bottom.  Miraculously, we aren't spotted and we stalk through the abandoned village and back to the vehicles we rode in earlier. We hide behind some bushes.

"What do we do now?" Haru asks. "How are we planning on getting home?"

"Maybe we can just catch a ride again." Jay says.

"That won't do." I tell him. "There is only a 7% chance, if they even are planning on heading out, that they will be going towards the village. They could be going anywhere on this island."

Jay looks around. "We could steal one."

"What? No!" Haru tells him. "This is a stealth mission. If we were to take one of their vehicles, they'd know we were here."

"Haru's right. We need another plan." I say. "We may have to walk back." I say after looking around and finding no other alternative.

"Well, I guess we're walking home boys." Jay says as he stands up. "Now, anyone know how to get back?" Jay and I look at Haru.

"Uh, me?" He asks us. "I mean, I know my own territory, but not the whole island!"

"Come on Haru, I know you can do it. You said Splenda taught you the best navigation skills on the whole island." I say to him.

"I... I guess... but-"

"You'll be fine Haru!  Just go with your gut!"  Jay says. Haru looks around a little. 

"Well, we better get going, because the warriors are coming back!" I say. We turn in the direction he's facing to see a troop of warriors heading straight for us. They don't seem to have noticed us yet. "Okay, start leading the way." I say to Haru.

He nods and looks around. After a moment, he turns to us confidently. "Follow me." We make our way down the mountain and into the forest below. We are taking a risk by traveling at night, but we have to do what we must. After all, we need to get answers about a certain someone's "children".

Kai POV

"You're seriously considering going back?" I ask my blonde haired companion. The rising sun sits low in the sky with a painted background of pinks, oranges, and yellows. The leaves of the trees rustle slightly in the wind. Before us lays a clear land of grassy hills and patches of flowers that stretch on for miles.

"For the hundredth time, Kai, yes. I am going back. Why is that so hard to understand?"

"I just think it's a dumb idea. I mean, we're already, what, 3 days out, and you want us to go back? And what if you're theory is wrong? I mean, what could Willow and Chase have been hiding?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but-"

"You see! You don't even know! Lloyd, seriously think about what you're saying. You think that there's something 'not right' in the village, so you'll be willing to waste even more time away from your sister and family?"

"What do you have against it?" Anger fills his voice. "What is your problem with me going back? You can go on ahead, get back to the bounty, and I'll be back home before you know it! What's so wrong with that?"

I can feel a blaze start to built up in me.  The warmth turns into a burning sensation in my chest.  A quiet and frustrated growl rumbles in my throat. Why is he so stubborn!  He's such a brat!  "I'm not going back! Lloyd, I want to see my sister again! Don't you want to see yours?"

"Of course I want to see her! But I feel like this has something to do with my dream, this is important to me!  Plus, I never asked you to come with me!  I told you I was going.  I never said you had to go with me."

"Ugh!  You're being so selfish!" Sparks of fire develop into flames from my closed fists.  The flames dance up my forearms and up to my elbows.  Lloyd sees this and he crouches close to the ground.  An animal like growl escapes his throat through gritted teeth, showing off a row of bleached white teeth.  His nails retract into sharp claws that he stabs into the earth.

"Why do you have such a problem with it?  What is it you aren't telling me?" He asks

The dancing flames turn into explosions of peril.  I extend my arms out and open my hands to be holding orbs of flame.  "You're being stupid!  What if you get hurt or worse!  I can't always be there to protect you!  You can't fly, you don't have full control over your powers, and you are way too important to have anything bad happen to you!" I scream.

He turns into his draginkin form and he fully stretches his wings out in anger.  If I didn't know better, it almost looked like one of those animal instincts animals do to make themselves look bigger when in a stand off.  "Do you think I can't look after myself?!  I've been training to fight even the toughest foes since I was 6!  Who do you take me for?" He stops and his angry face turns to realization.  "Is this because you pity me?  Because I'm younger than you, you think I can't handle myself?  That's what you think, isn't it?"

The flames surrounding me die down and I lower my arms.  "What?  Why would I say that?"

"Do you think I'm stupid Kai?  I've been watching you from day 1!  You are always looking at me and you are always by my side during battles!  You don't treat Nya or even Katie like this, yet you treat me like this!  And I want to know why."  His gold and green tail sways back and forth like a cat's while he waits for me to answer him.  He's waiting for me to answer, but how am I suppose to explain that he's the key to stopping the Overlord without overwhelming him?  I'm always by his side so nothing bad can happen to him because if we lose him, we lose Ninjago!

"Well, Kai?" He asks impatiently.  Come on Kai, think!  Think of something to say!  You... don't want anything bad to happen to him?  No, that wouldn't be enough.  You... enjoy his company?  No!  That wouldn't work either.  Come on, there has to be something-

"Okay, fine.  Have it your way." He says as he turns back into his human form.  "I'm going to start heading towards the village.  I'll take a couple of rations, I don't need that many though.  I can always hunt.  I'll leave the bag with you." He scoops a couple packages of food from the backpack into the pockets of his pants.  "You can start heading to the bounty.  All you need to do is go south and you'll be able to make your way from there."  He starts walking back towards the forest.  "Good luck, Kai." He enters the forest.

Panic fills me and I am left standing there, trying to unscramble my brain from all kinds of thoughts and emotions.  I see Lloyd walking deeper and deeper into the forest.  We can't go our separate ways, not yet!  "Lloyd!  Wait!" I yell for him.  He stops and turns to me. Here goes nothing... "Have you ever heard the legend about the green ninja?"

~~~time skip~~~

"So... what you're saying, is that I'm actually a person called the green ninja, destined to defeat the Overlord with the help of my protectors and allies?" Lloyd repeats to me.  I nod.  The sun is now fully risen and the sky is no longer painted with the colors of sunrise.  The slight breeze from the open fields causes the boy's long hair to sway along with it like a weeping willow's branches swaying over a pond.  His eyes show no visible emotion and his expression gives the same result.

"Master Wu, Sensei Garmadon, and Splenda asked us to keep it a secret because we didn't want to overwhelm you or the rests of the Silent Soarers.  Discovering you had powers and that you had to fight the Overlord was overwhelming enough, we didn't want to reinforce that by saying you are the key to making that happen."

"I'm guessing you and the other ninja are my protectors, and my friends must be the allies."

"Yep, that's just about everything."

"So... what does this mean?" He asks me as he look up at me and into my eyes, still displacing no visible emotion.  "Is this what my dream meant?"

"I... I don't really know what your dream meant.  What I do know, is that this is why they were calling you green ninja.  And that voice, it must have been the Overlord."

We sit in silence for a few moments.  Lloyd looks at the ground.  I allow the silence to go on to give him some time to register everything I've told him.  "Okay," he says softly.  "I get why you were trying to protect me so much now, but still I think it's important I go back to that village.  And before you go off on me again, just hear me out.  I know it sounds crazy, but I can't stop getting the feeling like something's wrong!  And there's this... force, a force that's pulling me back there.  I can't explain it, but I just know that I have to do this."

We lock eyes with each other.  His longing stare stings my eyes.  I almost want to look away, but I don't.  I'm drawn to his gaze.  I can't blink, and I can't move.  I can't look away, and I don't want to.  I want to look into his eyes forever.  "Okay greenie." I say to him, still glued to his gaze.  "Once again, you've won me over.  When do we leave?"

"Kai, are you sure?"  He asks me.  I nod.

"Yeah, I'm sure.  You'd better get packing before I change my mind.  I tend to do that sometimes."  Lloyd smiles and gets up.  He begins to put everything away and I make sure the fire is fully put out.  He hands me my walking stick and we start our journey back the way we came.  I don't know if we will find anything, or if Lloyd's hunch is correct, but where he goes, I go.  I am one of his protectors, and I swear I will do whatever I must to ensure that he is unharmed and safe.  Even if it means I get hurt in the process.