The Gold Ninja (A Lego Ninjago fanfic) //Permanent Hiatus//

Chapter 10

(Zane)

We all whipped around at the sound of the voice. It was so familiar, and I was sorry to say that I knew exactly who it belonged to.

Lord Garmadon stood atop a grand staircase, flanked by a Shade who seemed very high in ranks and a girl that I guessed was Ravenna. Garmadon looked different, though, even more monstrous than when he was consumed by the Evil Overlord. His eyes were an ultraviolet shade and strange, white markings covered his skin, which was like ink. Shadows swirled around him like a swarm of moths to a flame, and when he smiled maliciously, his mouth was lined with pointed teeth. 

"Garmadon," Misako hissed. "Give me back my daughter."

"As if I would want to go with you!" Spat the girl to Garmadon's right.

She was quite pretty, with black hair that curled around her face elegantly and hazel eyes that looked rather intimidating in the dim light of the lobby of the temple. She wore a deep purple gi, and I wondered where she could have gotten it from. A quick ID scan revealed to me that she was, indeed, Ravenna Garmadon.

However, at her harsh words Misako stepped back, hurt showing on her aged face. "Why would you choose him over me? I raised you for all of your life! You haven't seen Garmadon since you were a child!" 

"Raising me?" scoffed Ravenna. "Ha! If  by 'raising' me you mean throwing me into boarding schools for the entirety of my childhood and teen years and then never talking to me after I graduated college!" 

"But there was a reason for all of that! To keep you away from him!" Misako cried. Her voice cracked slightly, and I saw tears in her eyes. 

Through all of this, Lloyd just gaped up at the balcony; at his father, who was nothing less of a monster now, grinning like it was Christmas at the sight unfolding before him. He stared at his foreign sister that he had never known, who battled with their mother, the best he had ever known. He looked with awe upon the Shade who hovered on Garmadon's left, who remained as silent as the shadows from which he was made. A thousand emotions flashed across his face, which was young, but his eyes were so much older. Confusion, wonder, awe, skepticism, and anger were a chosen few that played on his features; a slideshow of Lloyd's inner workings. 

Being an android sure did give you a lot of observational skills, especially when you have a retina display ten times better than a human's vision. 

Lloyd jumped into the argument, which had been thrown back and forth while I noticed other things; smaller details.

"Mom, Ravenna, stop! I don't even know you but I know that this is not how you normally are! It can't be! Dad must have brainwashed you or something! He must've used that... that scepter he's holding!"

Garmadon was indeed holding a scepter, seemingly made out of obsidian that laced around a purple sphere on the top. 

"Watch your mouth, boy," snarled the Shade in a low voice that echoed across the room. 

The other ninja just watched the scene play out, at a loss for words like myself. Dawn's glow was fading, slowly, as her happiness did. She stepped closer to me, and for some reason, I felt my gears spin a little faster. Could I be malfunctioning?

I noticed something, though. It had gone eerily silent for a moment, and I tore my gaze away from Dawn and her golden hair to peer at everyone else. Misako; a tear slipping down her cheek. Jay and Kai, frozen in place. Brielle and Cole; close together with their hands intertwined, upset by the verbal violence. Lloyd; who stood with a look of raw fury engraved in his features, gritting his teeth and a fire in his eyes. Dawn; who's light had gone out and looked bewildered as the rest. The Shade glared at Lloyd,  and Ravenna turned to her father suddenly.

"Did he just call you Dad?"

(Ravenna)

The sight was too much. I had no idea who any of these people were, save for my mother, or why they all looked at me and father with such wonder and anger. Shouldn't we be the ones angry at them? They wanted to destroy me and father; the entire Shadow Race. Regardless, the boy in green had just called father his own. 

He was the only ninja who had his hood removed. He had a mess of blonde hair that spilled into green eyes like my mother's. Otherwise, he looked just like father in old photographs, before he had joined with the Shadows and seen the light. 

"Did he just call you Dad?" I wondered to father.

His smile fell as he turned to me and sighed, ignoring our audience. "Yes. He's your brother."

I gasped, and turned to look at the boy again. He couldn't have been more than eighteen. How could I not have known?

"Why didn't you tell me?" I called to mother. She was crying now; pathetic.

"I just wanted to keep you safe," she said softly, averting her eyes from my gaze. "Besides, he was really only born ten years ago, when you were seventeen. He was the last bit of good your father had in him. Before he turned dark, and then light again, and now back to the shadows. Before any of this mess."

"Go on," I urged.

"You know your father is powerful. He is the son of the first golden master. I kept you away from him and your brother because I wanted you to live a normal life, one without prophecies and ninja. When I had Lloyd, I knew that I couldn't do the same for him. I saw the light in him from day one, and he is the new Golden Master now; of all of the elements."

"Is this true?" I questioned.

Father only nodded, his face stoic. 

"Wait, how is he so old if he was only born ten years ago?" I wondered.

"It's a long story," father spoke up. "Kind of my fault."

I shook my head, trying to clear my brain. This was so much information. I focused on the clear things; I had a younger brother named Lloyd, and he sided with mother. They were trying to take me away. I could not let that happen. 

Composing myself, I cleared my throat. "Alright, well, brother or not, you can't take me away. I won't let you use me against father or the Shades. So either get out now, or never leave again."

General Nox smiled.

"We're not leaving without you," spoke the one in red for the the first time, "clearly Garmadon has brainwashed you, and we need to get you out!" 

Misako blinked and stood taller. "That's right, Ravenna. Come along, and no one gets hurt."

The rest of the ninja fell in, preparing, now, for battle. 

"Well, I suppose you've chosen to never leave again," General Nox chuckled.

Then he whistled a low, haunting tune that rang in my eardrums long after he had stopped. Not a moment later had the sound echoed throughout the temple, and swarms of Shades came through the hallways lining the temple lobby, soon surrounding the eight people on the ground floor. 

Nox's lips curled into a devious smile as he pulled out a shadow-sword from it's hilt on his hip. "Not the best choice."

The shadows closed in on the group below, and the last thing that was heard were their cries of battle. They, however, were soon engulfed in darkness, and the sounds were drowned out by the sounds of battle. Father, Nox, and I watched from the balcony, and I felt something strange in my heart when all the sounds ceased, and we were left in silence.