Chapter Text
"Everyone, hold on!" Wu shouted as he along with the four masters entered the portal, leaving the first realm to go save Ninjago.
However, where they ended up…was not Ninjago.
It was foggy, and dark.
The ninja all coughed and waved their hands back and forth in front of their faces upon entering the haze. It took a bit for their visions to clear enough to see.
"Hey.. where are we?" Cole asked.
"I don't know, but it sure is great." Jay sarcastically quipped, putting one of his hands in the air as if presenting something. "It's cold, I can't see, and I have a constant chill down my spine."
Kai looked down into the eerily tinted shadows, shuddering. "Wherever we are, can we leave? This place gives me the creeps."
Zane curiously analyzed their surroundings. "The realm.. of the departed." he said, offhandedly answering Kai's question. "Why are we here?"
The universe's response to his query was another portal opening, straight ahead.
Cole eyed the portal, doing a bad job of hiding his uncertainty. "Everything happens for a reason, I guess."
"Yeah, either that-" Jay stopped to switch his demeanor from faked light-heartedness to frantic. "-or we're gonna have another Morro situation on our hands!"
"We can't worry about that now. We must deal with the current problem first." Wu told the master of lightning.
"Excuse me if I'm out of place, Sensei," Jay forced out some laughs. "But I'm pretty sure this is the current problem."
Everybody ignored the lightning ninja as their dragons rushed towards the second portal.
Kai shut his eyes tight in anticipation. "Ohh, here we go again."
And just like that, they exited the realm. With no consequences. No consequences whatsoever.
- - -
A few moments earlier, in the Realm of the Departed:
"Dad, just sit down." the daughter insisted.
"I don't need rest!" the father retaliated, crossing his arms. "I can't feel shit!"
"Just because you don't need to doesn't mean you shouldn't." the daughter sighed, turning around to face a blonde woman who was meandering around a few yards away. "Tracey, help me out with him? He's having one of his episodes."
The woman in question groaned, tilting her head back in true tantrum fashion. "Why is it always me? Would it kill ya to ask Ice for once?"
"Would it kill you to stop calling him that?" the father remarked snarkily. "He's not the master of ice anymore."
"Marcusss… " Tracey whined.
"Lilly, remind your friend of our situation." the father, Marcus, told his daughter.
"No, Lilly! Tell your dad to stop raining on my parade!" Tracey argued.
"Dad, it's not a situation." the daughter, Lilly, stated, causing a smug looking Tracey to put her hands on her hips.
"And Tracey, it's not a parade either." she corrected herself, annoyed. It seemed like this was the 6th time they'd had this conversation this week. "It's just the natural circle of life. It was written in the clouds for us to die when we did. And if it makes you feel any better, at least Ray and Maya are still-"
Lilly stopped abruptly, realizing that her current companions' attentions were directed somewhere else.
"Is anyone even listening to me?" She crossed her arms in disdain.
"Dr-dragons!" Marcus squeaked, causing Lilly to look in confusion to where his eyes were pointed.
Sure enough, there were dragons. Heading into the realm from a bright yellow, swirling portal.
"Not just any dragons," Tracey noticed in an awed hush. "Elemental dragons."
Marcus's voice broke them out of their trance.
"I have to get on! I have to know what it feels like again!" he exclaimed, flying with record-breaking speed towards the dragons.
"No, dad, wait!" Lilly called after him, but he was too far away to hear.
Tracey wasted no time going after him. "Come back here, Marcus!"
Lilly sighed angrily. "For the first spinjitzu master…"
She took off, leaving the other past elementals in her wake.
As she got nearer, she saw her father gripping onto the tail of the earth dragon, Tracey trying to fight him off of it.
"No! I have to go! To hone the earth in my hands once again!" he was saying, desperation seeping through his voice.
Lilly floated up to him, grabbing hold of a jutted rock poking out of the dragon's tail. "You think I don't want to do that too?"
Her dad looked at his child, a craze in his eyes.
"Have the earth bend to my will again?" she continued, gesturing to the previous lightning master and smiling in spite of herself. "Don't you think Tracey would give anything to feel the electricity coursing through her veins one more time?"
The smile dropped from her face as she became serious. "But what do you think is gonna happen if you get back to Ninjago? Do you think the powers will just- return to you? Just like that?"
Marcus's face eased down and he avoided his daughter's eyes, seemingly understanding but not wanting to. Lilly couldn't help but notice the dragons getting closer to the portal.
"I would love to be alive again. The powers would be nice, sure. But what I'd really wish for is to be able to be with my family again. Kiss my yang. See my son. Who he grew up to be."
Her jaw set further. "And as much as I want that…As much as I need that…it's not meant for us."
Lilly's eyes softened. "We don't always get what we want, dad. Isn't that what you always told me?"
Marcus sighed, solemnly. "You're.. right. I'm sorry."
Tracey stepped in. "Uh, guys, sorry to ruin whatever is going on here, but the portal is kinda, sorta.. right there. Let's go back!" The former master of lightning pushed Marcus off his hold on the dragon, sending him spiraling away.
"Tracey, he wasn't resisting anymore!"
"Yeah, like I could hear your conversation with all the pressure in my ears!"
Lilly was about to roll her eyes, but steeled herself. "Let's just get back to the others before- Hey, do you feel a pull?"
They both screamed as they were sucked into the portal along with the dragons.