{Location: Destiny's Bounty over the Wailing Alps}(Willow's POV)

WOW! Aquila whispers in my mind as I let the morning wind blow against my face, How'd you survive without me.

I'm tougher than I look remember? Speaking of which, can you?

I'm sorry. While I was at the Spirit Coves I learned that this type of mind lock has to be undone through magic. Not mind power. I'm sorry that I spent so much time for this end result.

Oh, come on. They may never remember? After three years of this torture for this? I slowly smile as I hear quiet footsteps leading to me. I push the memory of similar footsteps walking to me three years ago in a similar fashion. "Trying to sneak up on me?" I twist around to see Lloyd with a frustrated face.

"How'd you know?" He sighs as the wind from the mountains blow against my back. "I'm a ninja for crying out loud."

"Because...oh yeah." I want to say, 'we've done this before,' when guilt pounds my chest. I hid his memories and suffered so much for it.

"Have we done this before Willow?" Lloyd inches closer as guilt racks my heart. "Did we have something?"

Still a sap. Aquila snickers in my mind as she pushes several sweet memories to the front lobe of my brain. Would you like me to share your memory with him?

"We did have something." I stick to the plan Willow. Act just like you did a few years ago, "I'm still not sure what it was." I chose to interlace as we get closer together. "But it was something special."

"How special?"

"It was pretty special Greenie." I trying to not kiss him. He doesn't know me. I should try and play this like a new relationship. I sigh, "But I took it from you."

"I don't think you took all of it." Lloyd forces my eyes to look in his sparkly green ones, "You do feel familiar." His lips inch to mine as I give up on my plan. "I know we met before. Maybe we can start there?"

"I suppose it's a start." I freeze as Aquila snickers. LEAVE ME ALONE YOU INSANE DRAGON!

"GO AHEAD!" Our moment is crushed as Morro screams from below deck, "I DARE YOU TO DO IT AGAIN!"

The ninja storm up the stairs and carry heavy tension with them as Morro floats through the floor. All 5 of them hold angry looks as Jay decides to run his hand through Morro's spirit.

"Bad move." I wince as Jay keeps passing through Morro.

Morro tints red, "THAT'S IT! COME BACK HERE YOU STUPID-" Morro starts chasing Jay around as the winds nearly pick me up.

"Whoa," Lloyd sighs heavily as his brothers and Morro almost kill each other...or in Morro's case, get dangerous weapons pass through harmlessly.

"Oh my gosh," Katara smirks as she walks around them. At this point, Lloyd even tries to physically split them up as my twin slides up next to me, "They do fight." I guess Nya let Katara wear her old fire dress. It doesn't look as good on her as it did Nya.

"KIT!" Nya screams with the same anger as the boys as Kit comes running upstairs and tries to hide behind me. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY HAIR?"

Nya comes up from below deck as her hair appears way too frizzy and looks like a black q-tip. Her face is red and the water in the pipes rattle and shake.

"It's not my fault that you don't keep proper hygiene." Kit sticks her tongue out as the boys start talking about attempted murder with a windmill.

"YOU LITTLE." Nye bites down harsher words as I feel defensive for my sister. "SO YOU TOOK MY FIRE DRESS!" Nya gets redder as she looks at Katara.

"Ok." Katara is cracking up from the sight as the ninja and Morro glare sharply at each other, "So this realm is protected by these people." She's laughing so hard she's crying as the boys charge up their elements. "Why was I scared of you all again?"

"Because Willy can kick your butt." Kit smiles as Katara's mood changes from playful to fiery anger.

"Yeah...if you count losing to me almost a hundred times winning." She sneers.

"Ok, you said all that was practice," I growl as I glare. Is this really the time for it.

"I lied."

"You always do." Kit retaliates and gets out from behind me. "Like when you nearly.."

"What?" Katara turns red as little flames lick under her shoes, "Almost burned them? Took the pearl? Or almost.."

"You have no idea how frustrating," Nya looks red as I try trapping the girls in their words. "It is to hear all about that and have NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!"

We start our argument as my fingers itch to my sword. In the corner of my eye, Sensei comes out and sighs.

"TOO BAD I CAN'T REMEMBER ANY OF IT," Nya screams as I feel my own anger and frustrations rising.

"YOU WANT TO FIGHT FIREBRAT?!" Morro is screaming as Cole and Zane have to hold Kai back from splashing him with snow in his hands. "BUT THEN AGAIN, YOU DIDN'T FARE SO WELL AGAINST ME LAST TIME."

"OH MY.." Kai stops as Jay is very insist on running his hand through Morro, "IT'S LIKE YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO THE CURSED REALM!"

"Then maybe you SHOULDN'T HAVE BROUGHT ME BACK!" Morro screams as I am this close to telling Katara to talk a long walk off a short pier.

Sensei bangs a gong as I jump from the sound, "That's enough." His tone isn't angry like ours, but it carries a heavy command to it as we shut up. "With a threat like the Phouka and Jezzie, we mustn't buttheads."

"So," Jay still looks red-faced as we all calm down a little, "We just supposed to trust each other?"

"He's right," I sigh. I've been so focused on getting back to them, I never thought about our already crazy trust issues, "Trust doesn't come from nowhere."

Sensei slides on a wise smile, like the time he had when the ninja had to carry me all day. "A very excellent point." I feel worried as the idea solidifies behind his elderly eyes. "So why build on a faulty foundation in the first place."

Lloyd folds his arms as his brothers and Morro takes on similar poses. "So you want us to build trust with Morro?"

"Where would you get an idea like that?" Sensei keeps smiling as Misako brings the Bounty to the mountain face. "I need you six to patrol this area."

"You want us," Cole growls as how most of today would end up being like this, "To patrol the Wailing Aples. The mountains infamous for it's powerful winds...with the spirit of the master of wind?"

"Oh darn.." I grin. Maybe I'll manage to slip my way out of this,"You boys have to go bond. How awful."

"They aren't the only ones with a need for remade trust." Sensei is still smiling as I kick myself, I shouldn't have opened my mouth. "You four will help repair the bay doors below."

"This feels like a punishment." Jay frowns as Kit sighs from the new task, "What'd we do?"

"I'm your Sensei," Sensei smirks he spinjitzus the boys off the ship. "Everything I do has a lesson hidden in it." Sensei gets back on board. "Neither group will be allowed back on deck until the differences are at least resolved."

Morro has the most done look on his face as the Bounty drifts away. "But that could take all day."

"Then the sooner you start, might mean the sooner you finish."

"This is going to be one of those days isn't it?" I sigh as Sensei does something similar with us. The next time I open my eyes, I'm below deck with tools in my hands. Kit, Nya, and Katara come in next as the old wooden door is locked from the outside. "Wonderful. Just what we need. To be trapped while doing a meaningless task."

"Oh," Nya's face turns sharp and cocky like Kai's, "So everything on this ship is just useless crap?"

"I didn't say that."

"Then what are you saying?" Nya yells as she gets in my face.

My fingers look for my sword in protection as I find the hilt missing along with my stick from my waist. "I'm saying that Jezzie takes priority over fixing nuts and gears."

"The Bounty isn't just a pile of screws for us to hang out on." Nya grips her tools as the wind howls under us. "It's a home. It's a sanctuary. And if you treat a place of respect with so much hate, how can I expect any kind of honesty from you?"

Quite.

Katara scoffs a little. Drawing Nya attention away from me. Nya puts her hands on her hips as I breath a quiet sigh of relief, "Is there something you'd like to contribute to this conversation? Or is playing board bad girl what you want to be right now."

Katara tilts her head around as Kit hides behind me, "Let me get this straight, you think I want to be a bad guy?"  Small flames start flickering around her hair.

I half roll my eyes, "Well, the firey attacks and stealing the pearl don't match typical good guy standards."

"Well, apparently my definition of being a bad guy is vastly different than your's."  Katara's face tints red as those flames get a bit bigger, "Apparently around here being evil qualifies the same as falling for the stupidest trick ever!"

"Trick?"  I make sure Kit is safely behind me, "I doubt whatever kind of trick it was could make you throw fireballs and try to kill me a few dozen times."

Kit grips my clothes as Katara literally looks like she could explode at any second, "Or take the pearl."

Katara balls her fists, smaller flames circler her, "How about you go work with a two-timing nut case that is ONLY there to keep you in line."  Katara's melts a little from rage into something of guilt, "Reminding you over and over and over of what you did wrong. Feeding you a steady diet of half-truths and lies. Mabey I wanted to stop. Mabey I wanted to stop hurting people. MABEY I DIDN'T WANT MY SISTER TO ACTUALLY LEAVE ME THERE ALONE!"

The room is dead quiet as Katara's flames die down and Nya puts some of them out.

I swallow as Katara turns around and almost hides behind a wooden beam. This circles back to me. Why and how does everything seem to circle back to me? Can't my past just stay in the past? I blink a few times as Kit lets me go. I slowly walk over and sit down on the opposite side of the beam. I feel wood on my back as Katara tries to quietly sob, "I didn't want to be alone either."  I really, really, really wish I was much better at feelings than a 3-year-old, "When did it start?"

Katara sniffs as light shifts around, "The night of the pledge."

I have to be one of the dumbest Fays ever to walk Ninjago.  "So when we were 13."

"Yeah."  Katara seems to curl up tighter as I actually try and do or say something emotional for once.

"And what did Jezzie have to do with it?"

"Screwing around in my head. Forcing mind-numbing tea in me. Making me believe that our Dad was right and you were wrong. Take your pick."  She gently rests her head on the wood, "You have no idea how lucky you are to have missed that."

Me, lucky? Yeah waiting 3 years for people as it turns I really missed. Totally lucky.  "I don't think luck had a lot to do with anything. I think we both have broken pieces in us."

Katara sighs a little as Kit and Nya just sit an watch, "At least you have a whole elite ninja force to help pick those up. Putting yourself together is harder alone."

I feel my eyes get some mysterious liquid for some reason, "You don't have to be alone anymore."  Now I wish I was facing her as I try and keep my emotions in check, "Neither of us do."

Nya raises an eyebrow, "When did you get so mushy?"  She's kidding as she smirks along with Kit.

"I just have a lot of layers."  I think I'm succeeding at this. I don't know. What must I fail at 90% of social interactions?

Katara snickers a little as she pulls out from her spot, "Did you just compare yourself to an onion?"

I think about what I said, "Yeah. I guess."

Katara tucks her self just to my right, "The fastest way to eat an onion is to cut it. I'm sorry. I really suck at being a sister."

I let her touch me as I let a gentle smirk on my face, "And I'm sorry for thinking you of all people just lost it and wanted revenge for whatever reason. I suck at being a sister."

Kit gives a slow clap, "You both suck at being sisters with each other. Ok. We get it. Can Nya and I finally be included in the conversation?"

I roll my eyes slightly, "Sure. But no questions about our past or how the heck Sensei's supposed to know when we're done."

Nya snickers with a small eye roll, "So do we just stare at each other until someone lets us out?"

Katara points to the set of tools down here with us, "Or we could just do the repairs. Or actually, use them for an escape."

Nya and Kit give her snickers and giggles as I gently smile. Aquila would be proud of me. My thumb glides over my locket. Where is Aquila? 

Kit skips up and grabs a box of nails, "So, how dos Rober-"

I shoot Kit a, 'pipe-down-now,' look, "Another layer for another time."

{Location: The wailing alps} (Lloyd's POV)

I have no idea that silence could be so deafening. We hike up the mountain as no one really says anything, our anger is obvious though. Kai has to bring up the rear as he leaves puddles of snow in his tracks.

Aquila follows us overhead and her mother like voice is the only rhythm to the tense quiet. So, what happened to that boy dragon? She flaps her wings as we reach the halfway mark on the trail. Did Ultra reiter or something?

"Ultra Dragon," I pace myself as the first human words are spoken over the entire trip, "Lives with my mom in the countryside. When he's not hunting."

"Besides," Kai, still eyeing Morro, rolls his eyes as we take a break, "We're Ninja. We are sorta busy and can't really take care of a dragon."

Maybe it's the wind, but I hear muttering from Morro as Zane somehow returned to his cheerful self. Maybe not having to deal with Aquila prevents frustration.

"What was that?" Cole deepens his frown as the snow shakes from the wind. "Did you say something?"

"Yeah." Morro's face twisted like he ate a lemon, "I said, that you could have fooled me."

"WHAT IS YOUR DEAL?!" Jay screams and lets off a few bolts in anger. "WE GET YOU OUT OF THE CURSED REALM AND ALL WE GET IS SIGHS AND UPSET LOOKS!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have brought me out." Morro frowns as I think I hear wing flaps coming to us. It's probably Aquila.

"Please calm down." Zane pulls his lips into a tight line, "Sensei wants us to trust each other but that will not be even plausible unless we stop yelling."

"So do mushy stuff?" Morro is apparently insisted on driving us batty, "Nope. Not going to happen." He turns invisible to prove his point.

"Oh come on." I reach out and search for him. "The master of wind can't talk about his feelings."

"If you're gonna keep hanging around us," Jay frowns as I get the feeling that we are being watched, "You're gonna have to come out of your shell."

"Nope." Morro's voice bounces around with almost no rhyme or reason, "You can't make me do anything."

"This is more frustrating than a Chinese finger trap." Kai lets off a little more heat as something else catches my attention. "Why can't you-"

"Shh," I order and look for anything out of the ordinary. I feel like the strangeness is coming from the cave and the tall peaks in between the cliffs. "Do you hear that?"

I hear a tiny, squeaky voice chanting in the cave as the wings flapping gets louder..and I realize there are more than one.

"Yeah." Cole pulls his hood on and draws his scythe. "It sounds like our favorite crazy lady is nearby."

"Talking about me losers?" Jezzie is directly behind me as makes me jump a foot in the air. "I see you're back."

"From the Cursed Realm?" Jay pulls out nunchucks and charges them, "Sorry Missy, we have a habit of defying the impossible."

"And throwing kinks in masterminds plans," I smirk as Jezzie reveals herself. She wears a black and white dress with heels that have daggers instead of normal heels. She doesn't even have a coat on as the snow trickles on to her.

Jezzie holds her hand up, the Phouka around us freeze. "Did you think I needed you to stay there?" She cackles as I get worried.

"What does that mean?" Kai draws his sword as I get more nervous. "Tell us your plan."

Jezzie apparently takes this as a more humorous topic, she's crying over at something we don't know, "I need to test something. And you fool left enough portal energy for her to cross over."

Morro reapers but looks like he's seen a ghost. "Her?"

"Oh yeah." Jezzie stands up and wears madness in her eyes. "She talks a lot about you."

"The Preeminent." Zane sounds nervous as a small gathering of snowflakes tickle me. "How?"

"Last time it took an entire realm crystal so get her here," I grit my teeth and look around for a huge ugly monster, "And that took time to open."

Then I feel it. The same evil presence in Stixs almost a year and a half ago. It starts at the base of my spine and crawls like a spider upward and leaves cold sweat in its wake. Another woman but with a much more greener appearance and a black dress dotted with green dots come from the cave, "Last time I wished for all me to pass through. Now, I only come to collect my prisoner." The Preeminent sounds like that screaming sound chick Morro hung around. High pitched and so very annoying.

"You...here?" Morro looks scared times twenty as the wind stands completely still. "No."

You must move. Aquila drills in my head as the Preeminent smiles at her physical body. She will hurt you.

"My magic can allow parts of important realm masters to cross over and give them a temporary physical form." Jezzie smiles as she chooses to get away from the coming fight. "So how about you all get to know each other as I go ahead and further my plan."

The Preeminent holds her hands up, some kind of knife attached to the underside of her wrists jumps out from a black and purple cuff. "As gratitude, I will allow you to get away."

"Need a plan." I whisper as Jezzie and the Phouka travel through a small portal to who knows where, "Water?"

"On it." Kai shoots fire up and at the icy snow bank, freshly made water trickles down as I sidestep. "Oh darn."

"Pitiful." The Preeminent smiles and charges at me, she a lot quicker than me and manages to cut into my arms. "So you're the prophesied Green Ninja. That one that will destroy the Overlord?" She tosses me to the ground as my brothers shoot her with their elements. "Pathetic. As all mortals are."

Jay lets out almost a hundred volts. "Is this pitiful?"

The Preeminent shakes her head as she walks closer to us. "Very." She slams to the ground and a wave of misery comes out. I'm not talking physically either, the wave somehow forces memories like my father's sacrifice or being betrayed by Pythor stings. "Humans are so easy to break."

Morro appears to be the only one unaffected as Aquila lands, I feel her mind power trying to wash out the pain with happy memories. Morro looks held by fear as the Preeminent chooses him as her next target. "No. I don't want it again."

"Stupid child." The Preeminent holds a cruel smile as she drags her hand knives over Morro's ghost. "You chose this? Really? Have pathetic emotions opposed to power? Why don't you just possess the Green Ninja again?" She talks like she rubbing salt in a wound as Aquila fixes my thinking process. "Oh wait...I took it from you."

"Do something-" I get up as I let energy flood into my hands. "Wait, what?"

"You didn't tell them?" The Preeminent smiles, showing off her jagged teeth as she takes pleasure in our confusion. "So much for trying again."

"What's she talking about?" Zane tries to fire ice with Kai's fire but the Preeminent chose to twist around and shoot a black beam at Aquila. "I do not understand."

"But you should." The Preeminent stops the black beam and the mind connection with Aquila is tainted as more fear and more misery races in my mind. But it isn't my misery. "You men live with a lie. One that claims that evil springs up like a weed in a garden. It doesn't."

I fall to my knees as my head pounds. I can hear The Preeminent talking but my eyes are seeing a different story. I watch as a freshly dead Morro is dragged into a room as voices of souls serving the Preeminent whisper. He's hooks to a table, a small faucet is over one end and drips down a green liquid, "Evil is like a recipe. You find the ingredients, put them together and put it in an oven. The first batch comes out burnt or underdone. But the mystery of finding the perfect way pulls you. You try again on a different order of ingredients. But that doesn't work." I watch in horror as Morro has to endure endless hours of teasing and brutal hits as well as the sting from the liquid. But this memory is on fast forward as multiple ghosts take a turns at hurting Morro. "You try again. And again. And again until you get it right." I watch as Morro is taken off and thrown on his face. "Then one day. You finally break them." I watch in helpless horror as that strange shading takes place around ghost Morro's eyes, "You learn the correct way and savor what you've made. The way evil grows, is through pain. It is through hate. It is through truly breaking a person."

Aquila forces the memory to stop as I blink in reality. The Preeminent now has Morro in her right hand, her fingers under his Adam's apple. "But I can't wait to perfect the art of grinding those broken pieces into dust."

"Just..leave...me..." Morro is choking after death as the Preeminent begins to blink back to the Cursed Realm. "Alone."

"I did. And you still found a way to defy me you, stupid child."

I get up slowly as she soaks her word in pure poison. She blinks faster as I realize Jezzie's magic is slowly going away. Sorry lady. You'll never have that pleasure. I look over to Zane, recalling that his metal skin is interlaced with deep stone. I nod and point to the two. He nods back and gets into position as The Preeminent is almost gone.

"So now, I will have to teach you for all of eternity." She licks her lips as the blinking fades to Morro, "And longer if we are lucky."

"What do we say to the god of death?" I blast her back, this gets her to turn to me and Zane jumps, tackling Morro in a tight grasp on the ground. "We say we won't die today."

"NO!" She screams as Kai shoots fire and Zane twists over and shoots ice. The elements collide and make water in the middle of her. She goes poof.

"So..." Jay gets up as Aquila winches in pain. "That happened."

The Preeminent took advantage of our mental connection. I didn't mean to do that to you. My apologies. Aquila manages to get up slowly.

"It wasn't your fault." Kai sounds like he did after he lost his arm. "That phrase can be very applicable today."

"He's-now where did you go?" I look for Morro only to see him gone as a faint trail leads into the earth below. "Come on. There's no getting out of talking about this."

Cole takes initiative and moves the earth so Morro is revealed in a tight ball at the bottom of a pit. Morro is taking steady breaths and rocking himself as he tries to escape and go deeper into the earth. But Cole just keeps digging after him. "You can't run forever."

Morro grunts and stops floating through the earth as we slid down next to him. He's very quiet now as I try and think of what to do. Morro was never made evil. It was forced on him. Like my dad. At least I had a choice when I was trying to be like my father. Morro was beaten into that.

"Why wouldn't you tell us that happened?" Kai tries to touch his shoulders while forgetting he's a ghost and passes through him. "It seems like a pretty important of a thing to leave out."

Morro has to hold his tears as they would only bring him to the Cursed Realm. "I thought you wouldn't believe me."

"You gave Sensei the Realm Crystal. You pointed us to where Cole was on the Day of the Departed." Zane probably didn't see what we did but understands the heaviness of this moment. "You also invited us into a relatively safe spot in the Cursed Realm. Fully knowing we had Nya with us. Trust isn't the reason you didn't tell us."

Morro takes a deep breath as the Alps wail outside. "I didn't think you could understand."

"Understand what?" Cole almost ignites his hands as I want to know the answers. "What could we possibly not understand about the Preeminent brainwashing you-"

"BECAUSE IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE!" The wind jet ascends around us, making small avalanches but not landing where we are. "It's not easy to explain either."

"Then give a shot." I stare, showing that he won't get away with a simple phrase.

"The Preeminent can bring emotions out." Morro seems to curl tighter as I try and think about what he could mean. "Emotions like Envy, Mirisy, hate. Anger. And leaves them in the forefront thoughts of her ghosts. Even when they're realms away."

"So you attacking us, you didn't want to." Jay tries to piece together his words carefully, "That was The Preeminent forcing those emotions on you?"

"In a way."

I don't know what to do with the information. I don't know how to handle someone with such sharp pieces. "I may not ever fully get it. But that doesn't mean I can't feel sympathy for you."

"We promise," Kai tries to gently hold his shoulder as he passes through instead, "We won't let The Preeminent ever get you."

"She'd have to go through all of us," Cole confirms and tries the same. "Before she could even think of taking a shot at you."

I believe that your objective is now met. Aquila happily hums in my head as the earth slowly brings up back up. Would you like me to bring you back to Sensei?

"Is Aquila speaking?" Zane questions as Aquila walks up behind us. "I can not hear her telepathic communication."

"She's offering us ride back home." Jay shocks Zane, probably to help his memory circuits understand what we just saw. "I think we've successfully made a new foundation."

"Let's go see if we beat the girls." I smile as we board Aquila. I can't wait to see the look on Willow's face.

~~~~~

Hey everyone. I just have a something big to ask of you guys. My life isn't just about writing. For a little more the 9 years, I've been in Karate. And I am about to take my black belt test. I'm definitely nervous for this so I ask for your prayers for me to pass. And if you don't believe in prayer, wish me lots and lots of luck on Nov. 18.

So how does this impact my update calendar? It won't. I'll still update on Fridays. I just figured I'd ask for all my wonderful readers' support.

Thank you for reading through my rant. ~W.R.