Notes

Lord Garmadon was a despicable man, set on turning the world into his own image. So what could five amateur ninja and his own brother do about it?

Kai let out an exasperated sigh, throwing his hands down flat on the table. "This is serious!" He bit out, silencing the amused giggles and whispers of his teammates. "We can't just sit around waiting for a plan to pop up when he's out there hurting innocent people!" Kai threw his hands up in the air, glaring sharply at the three surrounding him. Jay's eyes lit up a wide grin brightening his face. "Oh, oh! I've got a plan." He announced, earning skeptical groans from his colleagues. "Just hear me out. What if one of us goes and distracts him, while the rest of us destroy the weapon?"

Cole immediately opened his mouth to disagree, but shut it after a moment. It was a fair idea, he supposed. If anyone was willing to face Garmadon himself. "And who do you plan on sending for the solo mission? Nya? Sensei Wu? It sounds like a good plan until you think about who's doing it." He eventually countered, leaning backwards a little in his seat.

“I can do it.”
Murmured a quiet voice. Asier stood leaning on the windowsill, faced away from the others. At the jarring silence he received from his friends, he slowly turned his head to flick a glance backwards. They were staring at him with a perplexed curiosity of sorts, as if wondering if he was brave or ridiculously stupid. Maybe both. Asier hesitantly pushed off the windowsill, stepping forward to explain himself. The normally cheerful ninja held an almost pensive look, his brows drawn together tightly. “I’m quick enough to evade attacks, and I’ll be able to keep him in one place.” He solemnly reminded them. As he spoke, he rested the palm of his hand on the hilt of his golden spear and raised his left hand towards his chest, willing a small sprout to grow from the center of his palm.

Kai was the first to frown at him, concern flashing through his eyes. “Alright, showoff, but how do we know you’d stay in one piece?” He quizzically asked, gesturing vaguely towards him. Asier cracked a smile, his tense look fading in an instant. He cleared his throat,
“We don’t. But, come on, I’m the soon-to-be ‘Master of Flora’, do you really think fate would let me die to Garmadon so quickly?”
That assumption caught the others silent yet again. The assumption that fate was on their side– that it was not neutral. Cole visibly grimaced as he shot a look at the floor, “...Asier, buddy, we can’t think that we’re destined to win. If we were, don’t you think we would've won by now? Or at least been…I dunno…Stronger?”

“Cole has a point.” Zane introduced himself into the conversation as if he’d been there the whole time. He had been, just without saying anything. A quiet observer. “That goes for any of us. We cannot get into the mindset that fate has our backs, if such a thing even exists.” Jay opened his mouth, about to share his personal opinion, when Sensei Wu’s entrance into the dining room silenced them all again. The wise old man’s gaze swept over them, “Cole and Zane are right. It is far too risky to send one of you alone. You work best as a team, not divided.” Jay grumbled in disappointment at his denied plan. Asier, however, wasn’t ready to give up so easily. “D’you really not trust me? Come on. This is the best plan anyone’s come up with in hours. Garmadon could activate that weapon any second now and turn all of Ninjago to stone! We have to do this.” Asier snapped, staring at Wu through darkened eyes. Nya stormed in behind Wu, the fire in her eyes matching Asier’s. “You can’t just rush into this!”

Wu nodded, walking forward to place a calm hand on Asier’s tensed shoulder. “My brother is far too strong for you to face alone, you must—”

“My brother died trying to get strong enough to defeat Garmadon! I refuse to sit in wait any longer. Your brother has taken almost everything from me, Wu. I won’t let him take any more.” Asier yanked his arm away from his Sensei, shoving past him towards the door. His mind was made. In the doorway, he paused, glancing back towards the others. “Ninja. I don’t have to go alone. Come with me. Not as teammates, but as my friends.” He blinked once, his frown faltering, before dashing outside.

Wu never would have thought that his bright eyed, flower loving student would follow in Morro’s footsteps. Chasing an impossible destiny. Brothers were alike one another, he supposed. Kai sighed and shifted uncomfortably in place, “We can’t let him go alone, Sensei.” He murmured, personally not liking the idea of going against his instruction. Wu said nothing at first, watching the doorway. Eventually he nodded, just a single nod. “Stick to Jay’s plan. Destroy the weapon. I…must meditate on this.” The ninja shared a hesitant look, but quickly pulled on their hoods and hurried away, headed straight for Garmadon’s weapon.

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“So you’ve come to face me alone, purple ninja?” Garmadon mocked through a grin. Asier simply rolled his eyes and tightened his fist around his spear. “It’s violet. Were you so busy conquering ninjago tha you forgot to learn your colors?” He hissed just before leaping headfirst into battle.

[Not too long into the fight, Asier noticed the ninja sneaking towards the weapon, so he began to lead Garmadon away from them, into dangerous and unstable terrain. It was taking longer than he thought to destroy the weapon, and it was at any moment that it could go off.]

Asier’s eyes narrowed. There surely wasn't much time left. He exhaled shakily, his eyes darting around the space for any means of escape. No, no, not escape. Just a way to stall. He hastily lifted his spear, angling its blade towards the evil being's throat. "Surrender, Garmadon!" He barked out through a clenched jaw.

"Fool." The man hissed, his voice seething with venom. “Do you really think I’d give up so easily?”

Asier shot back a laugh, a sharp, snarky, almost smug laugh. "You act as if you have the upper hand. You will be defeated by the Green Ninja, old man. The prophecy foretells it.”

"And who do you think will defeat you? Last I checked, the prophecy said nothing about a purple ninja.”

Asier stilled, his face growing pale. He gave away just a little too much with his faded smugness. He adjusted his grip on the handle of his weapon, swallowing to cure his dry throat. "No matter- no matter who falls in the process, the result is all the same. You will fail. Good will- we will prevail."

Lord Garmadon scoffed and crossed his arms, yawning dramatically. "I'd love to listen to you monologue about how great you are," He sarcastically gloated, "-but I've got a world to take over." Then without warning he shot forward, catching Asier off his guard long enough to slash him across the chest with his mystic sword. He then harshly drove the blade into the unstable ground below them, waiting until it began to crack and crumble. Garmadon smiled in satisfaction, then skillfully flipped away.

"No!" Asier shrieked, stumbling forward in an attempt to chase after him. The ground crumbled beneath him, slowing him down. A crack in the ground opened suddenly into a ravine, which he slid right into in his panicked frenzy. His hand shot up, the ends of his golden spear catching the walls of the ravine, saving him from the terrible drop. He coughed through the dust, wrapping his free arm around the gash in his chest. He only had moments to heave himself up out of the hole, and it was in those moments that he heard a heart dropping sound. The center of his spear, which he was holding onto for dear life, had begun to crack under the pressure. “No. No no no- don’t break. That’s impossible. You’re not supposed to break!” He hissed, staring in horror as the cracks grew and grew. He couldn’t save himself. “H-Help!” He called, voice filled with panic. A faraway voice broke through the swirling dust, sparking a flash of hope in his soul.

“Asier! We’re coming!”

The voice was so faint he could barely hear it, but he knew Jay’s voice like any other. He smiled and opened his mouth to call back, but was interrupted by the SNAP of his spear. Time seemed to move slower than it did. Asier felt his stomach flip, and the air surrounding him pushed up past him as he dropped, lower and lower. He tried to scream, but all of the air was sucked from his lungs and he was left with nothing. The light above him got dimmer and dimmer as he fell and fell. He felt himself stop falling all too abruptly, and his eyes ceased to work, flashing to darkness.


Asier didn't know how long he had been laying down, he was hardly conscious. He started to feel his limbs, one by one the feeling in them creeping back into his mind. That was when he noticed the surging pain in his back. At first he feared he broke his spine, but no, he wouldn't be as conscious as he was if his spine was broken. He tried to move his head, but the spike of pain that shot up his neck told him otherwise. His breath caught in his throat and he realized how hard it was to keep breathing. But he had to push on, to keep going. He slowly opened his eyes to try and take in his surroundings and he saw the faint glow of the sun high above him. It was nice, seeing that far away light. It made him feel almost hopeful in a way. He turned his mind back to movement and focused on his right hand. He wiggled the tips of his fingers, then turned his focus to his left hand and wiggled the tips of those fingers.

Okay, he could still move. He worked on moving his wrists, then his elbows, but moving his shoulders sent a surge of pain across his body. He bit down against his jaw, but he wouldn't let the pain stop him. He curled his hands into fists and pushed against the ground as hard as he could. He pushed his torso upwards, way too quickly, and the pain he felt was blinding. He dropped back onto the ground limply, his head hitting against the hard rock below him. He gasped, trying to breath and keep himself awake. Black dots spotted his blurry vision. Exhaustion from that one movement plagued his mind.

He was so tired.

Sleep pulled at him, oh, it would be so nice just to drift away into sleep. He blinked himself awake. He had to stay awake. He had to stay alive. He took in a deep breath, found some strength within him, and pushed himself up onto his arms. Oh, how it hurt. His back throbbed, coursing its pain throughout his body. His lungs strained for air, he tilted his head upwards, closer to the light, and breathed. He took in as much air as he could without hurting himself. He took one more deep breath and held it. He pushed himself up onto his hands, sitting up. He gasped again, the pain was almost unbearable. But he had to keep going. He had to stay alive. He turned his focus to his legs and started at his feet. He tried to wiggle his toes, but he couldn't. That was when he realized the pain coursing through his body stopped right below his shins. He couldn't feel his feet, much less move them. At his ankles was an odd feeling, a sort of numbness, except it wasn't numb, it was cold. The cold wasn't the kind of cold to make him shiver, no, it felt like it was burning. Like millions of tiny ice shards dug into his ankles, and he could feel it start to spread up his shin. It was moving slowly, slow enough so he could still fight against it. He tried to bend his knees a little, and thankfully he could still do that. He took another deep breath, and slowly got himself onto his knees. The position was uncomfortable, since he couldn't move his feet. It felt like they were frozen in place. He was starting to get used to the pain he felt every time he moved and it was starting to lessen.

He couldn't tell how long it took for him to stand the rest of the way up, he was scared he might fall again, but he was able to stand. He wobbled, slowly wavering back and forth as he breathed. That was when he started to feel the cold burning in his fingertips. He looked up towards the light and slowly reached his hand up towards it. He held his hand up, the light barely moving past his fingers. But he was able to see them, and what he saw chilled him to the bone. A gray, cracked substance was forming along his hand.

His memory flooded back to him, separating from the others, fighting Garmadon, getting hit with the sword, and falling into the pit. He knew what was happening to him. He had seen it happen before. He had watched people get hit, then slowly turn to stone.

No. No, no, no. Nononono.

He couldn't turn to stone. He was a good guy, a hero, they weren't supposed to die! He stared down at his hands, the stone freezing his fingers into place. He looked up towards the light again, starting to panic. He opened his dry mouth and tried to shout.

"H-Hey!"

His voice came out quiet and scratchy. He cleared his throat and licked his lips, trying to get moisture into his mouth.

"Help!"

He called out, but no one answered. No one could even hear him. He began to grow frantic and took a step back, completely forgetting about his frozen feet. He tripped over himself and that time, he fell backwards. He cried out with the pain that came, unable to hold his voice anymore. He gasped, sucking in a deep breath, inhaling dirt and dust on the ground. Then he coughed. That was an awful mistake. His chest seized, a coughing fit that made his chest burn with pain worse than his back. It hurt more and more until his lungs were begging for air, but he couldn't breathe, he kept coughing and hacking until blood sputtered from his mouth. It was too dark to see it, but he knew what it was.

He took a sharp inhale, it hurt to breathe but he didn't care. He turned onto his stomach slowly, down in the dark, breathing as much as he could. It was in that moment he knew that no one would come for him. That no one would find him in time. He felt the cold burn of his knees turning to stone and freezing where they were. He took in another sharp breath, and he felt hot tears fall from his eyes. As much as it hurt, he sobbed. He cried and cried, letting his tears mix with his blood on the ground.

He was dying alone in the dark, unable to move, hardly able to breathe. So the boy cried.

He craned his head upward so he could see the light above him again. He cried out, screaming, a wretched, pained sound that came from the depths of his heart. He found words, and he screamed them too.

"SOMEONE– HELP ME, PLEASE!"

Was the second thing he screamed.

"J-JAY! ZANE! KAI- COLE– ANYONE!"

He paused, coughing up dust.

“MORRO!”

He cried, screaming the names of the few people he hoped might hear his hopeless pleads. Even his brother, whom he knew couldn’t hear him. Asier didn't want to be a hero anymore. Not if it meant he had to die like that. He didn't care what happened to him after, he just wanted to live. He just wanted to be alive. He sobbed and reached his hand up towards the light, the stone then solidifying around his shoulder. His arm froze reaching up towards the sky. He felt the stone start to engulf his torso. It got harder and harder to breathe and to speak. His voice grew hoarse from screaming, but he still cried for help. For the last time, he pleaded,

"Someone, please."

"Please."

"I don't want to die."

His throat turned to stone, silencing his voice and ending his breaths. His face twisted into one of agony and anguish as his mouth froze in place. He stared up at that fading light above him, one last longing stare, before everything went dark, and his troubled mind fell blank.