"What?!"

Zero rubs his ear while the maids walked around the room, ignoring the commotion. The ninja were currently all in the royal palace, standing before Zero who was sitting on the emperor's throne. They had just come back from vacation to find out they were being summoned to the royal palace by the new emperor.

"You heard me right," Zero crosses his legs. "I'm the new emperor."

"Wha- When-" Lloyd shakes his head "How?!"

"If you must know," Zero sighs "technically my mother was Empress."

"The first Empress in fact," Wu adds.

The ninja shoots their master a look before turning back to Zero.

"So, yeah," Zero rests his head on his fist. "Woopie."

"But why now?" Cole asks. "Why are you now on the throne? Technically you should've taken over after she died. A-And-"

"Layla passed the throne onto the old royal family after Zero was conceived actually," Wu explains. "That's why she was 'well loved' by the people of Ninjago."

"Which is also why up until a year ago, we believed our mother was killed by the people of Ninjago," Zero adds. "Because we assumed, being well loved and being in the spotlight is what led to her death."

"That means..." Kai looks at the ninja "Aria's second in line for the throne."

The ninja looked up for a second in thought before shivering.

"Yeah- no," Zero shakes his head. "I'm an Oni, I'm most likely to outlive all of you with the exception of Lloyd and my sister. Unless I die, my sister will never get her hands on the throne."

"...what's wrong with Aria?" Lloyd looks at the ninja.

"Nothing!" They all answered unanimously.

"Anyway, nothing will really change." Zero tells them "Just wanted you all to be aware."

"Um, where is Aria anyway?" Jay asks. "We haven't exactly seen her lately, which is weird cause she lived at the Monastery."

"She's living at her old apartment again," Lloyd answers. "Since we went and delt with Aspheera and everything, um..." He looks back at Zero "Yeah actually that's really weird that we haven't seen her."

"Don't look at me," Zero says "I don't keep tabs on my sis- wait nobody's seen her?"

The ninja all shakes their heads.

"That is worrying," Zero mutters.

"I'll go check on her!" Lloyd runs out of the room.

Lloyd arrived at Aria's apartment and knocked on the door. After a bit of her not answering, he tried opening the door and it was unlocked. Worried, he opened the door and ran in, only to find her asleep in bed.

"Good grief," Lloyd covers his head. "Scared me to death."

"Scared who?"

Lloyd jumped and looked over to see Aria now sitting up in bed, looking at him.

"Me!" Lloyd shouts. "Where have you been?"

"At home," Aria replies as she threw the blankets off of her. "You went off on your quest remember, you missed this weird snake lady."

"No no, we were here." Lloyd covers his eyes, hiding a blush. "Can you put something on?"

"Nothing you haven't seen before," Aria replies as she looked down. "I'm wearing a nightgown."

"Can't you have some decency?" Lloyd mutters as he uncovers his eyes.

"Hm?" Aria tilts her head confused.

Lloyd looks around to see the table flipped over and her couch pillows everywhere. Her apartment was completely dark, with the curtains covering the windows so no light came into the room.

"What's up?" Lloyd turns back to her. "Why haven't you left the house? Your brother became Emperor you know?"

"I know," Aria yawns. "He's doing fine."

"That wasn't answering the questions," Lloyd says as he walks over to her bedside and picks up the small box filled with tea leaves. "What is this?"

"It's that stuff Mistake gave to me," Aria replies. "It really helps."

"Are you still hearing voices?" Lloyd asks as he puts the box back down.

"Mhm," Aria nods. "Lately it's been worse, I've been getting headaches."

Lloyd sat beside her and rubbed the top of her head "I'm sorry I haven't been around."

"It's okay," Aria replies as she laid her head on his shoulder. "It's just making me sleepy... I haven't been awake much... I just sleep all day." She closes her eyes "When I'm asleep, I can't hear them anymore."

Lloyd's eyes showed sadness as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"I'm sorry," Lloyd says in almost a whisper. "I don't know how to help you."

"It's fine," Aria replies "I'm not looking for some hero to save me." She looks over at him "I just need someone to tell me it'll be okay."

"...It'll be okay," Lloyd mutters, holding her close.

"See," Aria smiles slightly "I feel better already.

Do you really?

"I do," Aria closes her eyes.

"...I'll try to find a way to help you," Lloyd tells her. "Promise."

"For now," Aria yawns again. "I really wanna go back asleep."

"Okay," Lloyd lets go of her and stands up. "If you ever need me, you know I'm only one call away."

"I know," Aria chuckles. "Thanks for checking on me dear."

"Anytime," Lloyd smiles slightly.

Aria closes her eyes and drifts back to sleep as Lloyd walked towards the door. He stops and turns back to look at the destroyed room before closing the door. He leans back against the door in the hallway and sighs, not knowing what to do.

Aria opens her eyes to see herself in a void of darkness, she stepped forward and looked down to see herself standing in a puddle of darkness. She lifted her foot, and the dark matter dripped down her bare feet, back into the endless pool. She put her foot down and looks around, there was nothing.

The pool shifted and she turned around to see the matter form into a black dragon. She stared at the form before sighing, looking unamused by the situation. The dragon was made completely of dark matter, it's eyes and pupils were black as well, the dark matter dripped from its mouth as it stared at her.

"Just when I thought I could do something to escape," Aria mutters.

"You cannot escape madness," the dragon spoke.

"Oh great," Aria says sarcastically "you talk too."

"Would you wish me not to?" the dragon asks.

"I do," Aria replies, turning away from it.

"Then I won't," the dragon responds.

Aria waited a few minutes before turning back to the dragon.

"You're really not going to bother me?" Aria asks.

"You seem bothered just by my presence," the dragon responds.

"Everyone's presence bothers me," Aria tells it. "I like to be alone."

"Do you wish to be alone because that is what you believe you deserve?" the dragon questions "Or do you wish to be alone to escape the voices you hear?"

"...I don't like this game," Aria turns away and crosses her arms.

"Have you listened to the voices?" the dragon asks.

"Why would I?" Aria asks. "All they ever say is nonsense."

"Is it nonsense?" the dragon asks, "Or is it your inner thoughts?"

"Why would I want to kill everyone?" Aria turns to look at the dragon. "Do you believe that is what I want?"

"Do you?" The dragon asks.

"Listen here," Aria looks at it. "I want to keep the rest of my sanity, so you can just leave."

"What is sanity?" The dragon questions. "All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy."

"You're talking in puzzles," Aria mutters as she looks down at her feet. "And this darkness feels horrible."

"You have been abandoned, discarded by this world." The dragon says. "The only reasonable response is to take revenge. It is what you want, but you hold back."

"I wasn't even an idol because I liked being an idol!" Aria shouts as she turns to face it. "I was an idol so I could fool Ninjago! I don't need it anymore!"

"A part of you, enjoyed being in the spotlight," the dragon states. "All eyes were on you, and everyone believed your lies. You could never truly love anyone, you don't know what it is."

"Yes, I do!" Aria growls "I-I do now!"

"Do you?" The dragon puts its face close to her. "Or is it another lie? How many lies will you tell?"

"Shut up!" Aria's eyes glow purple, and she covers her eyes. "No!"

"Your lies," the dragon pulls his head away from her "will be your undoing."

Aria shoots up in bed with tears filling her eyes, she covered her eyes and began crying. She heard noise and looked over to see Lloyd standing by her side looking worried.

"W-Why are you here?" Aria asks.

"I was worried about you," Lloyd replies as he takes one of her hands and pulls it away from her face. "Aria, what's wrong?"

Aria suddenly hugs him and starts crying more. Lloyd rubbed her head and held her close.

"Hey, it's okay," Lloyd says softly "I'm here."

"I miss it," Aria sniffles.

"Miss what?" Lloyd asks.

"It does bother me alright!" Aria shouts suddenly as she cries. "I miss being an idol alright! I miss singing, preforming, all of it!"

"...oh Aria," Lloyd rubs her back.

"It bothers me," Aria says quietly. "I was lying."

"I know," Lloyd replies before kissing her forehead. "I know."