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Chapter Text

Sirius hated his life.

Okay, that was probably a little bit dramatic, but still.

He had been working all day, and his back was starting to give out, not to mention the fact that he had been sitting in front of a sweltering-hot furnace for the last 6 hours.

He would get it right this time.

‘To forge the perfect sword you must…..’ he mumbled under his breath, remembering that one YouTube video he watched on it (meaning he was a complete expert) ‘You need the right type of metal..’ He poured some hot, molten lava in the mould ‘With the right amount of heat, you cool it off then………. VOLIA’

It was not worthy of a volia.

Someone snorted from the doorway.

‘Wow, I thought I was a bad blacksmith. Are you sure you can even call that a sword?’

As much as he wanted to disagree with his little shit of a brother, he was right. Somehow half of it had disintegrated, the other half was burnt, and it was bent in all different funky directions.

Regulus, his brother, had just appeared in the doorway. Just shy of his 15th birthday, Regulus was short for his age, with curly black hair that definitely needed a trim. He had stormy gray eyes, which were currently warm with amusement. He also sported a small scar running through his eyebrow, from when he ran into a glass door as a child.

Sirius sighed and chucked the so-called sword into a pile in the corner, with the other rejects. Maybe he would try again later.

‘Come one dipshit’ Sirius declared. ‘Let's go get some lunch, shall we?’

Regulus nodded and silently padded towards the kitchen. Sirius swore that he was way too quiet, like a cat, slinking along, not making a sound. It was unnatural. He needed to get him a bell or something, to make a sound when he moved around. Maybe he could put it in a beanie because he's always wearing those. Maybe a good birthday present?

They made it to the kitchen, and Sirius opened the pantry, while Regulus plonked onto one of their chairs, and picked a book. He turned back to the pantry, and, well, shit.

It was empty. Surprise. Surprise. He could let Reggie know, of course, so he rooted around until he about half a packet of pasta, and he knew for a fact that they had butter and grated cheese in the fridge. Poor people mac and cheese it is.

He put the pasta on the stove and was tinkering with the cheese when Regulus finally spoke.
‘Why don't you just stick to making knives? He said, not even looking up from his book. ‘I mean you suck at making any big weapons apart from the occasional mace’

Sirius sighed. When he and Regulus ran away at the ripe old age of ten and Twelve years old, they first got as far away from their parents as they possibly could, and they decided to open a weapons store. Their cousin, Andromeda had taught them how to make knives when they were younger, as they knew what their parents were like - as a precaution. They also owned a blacksmith shop, but after they were cut off for coming out as non-binary, Sirius and Regulus weren't able to track them down at all, so they started their own shop. Regulus didn't technically do anything, as he was hopeless at it, so he took a job as a bookkeeper for a local school. As much as Reggie hates people, he loves kids.

Their weapons store did quite well, and there were always customers, but after the cost of the materials, rent, water, and electricity bills were done, they had just enough to scrape by, and that was before regulus was accepted to the engineering school down the road.

The whole reason Reggie had the bookkeeping job in the first place was to pay for his school, but the primary school he worked at went through major budget cuts, so he was let go. And now, 90 percent of the funds they had left after bills were going to Reggie's schooling. Regulus was smart. Like the kind that wins awards - he needed this school, and if he caught wind of how made they were actually off right now, he would feel guilty and drop out. Sirius could not let that happen.

So he started trying to make swords, as they were apparently the new ‘trend’ in weapons, and would sell for quite a bit, hopefully saving them from going into debt.

So in short, they were really fucking poor, but Regulus couldn't know otherwise he would get all guilty. Regulus had potential. He could get somewhere in life, and Sirius needed to help him get there.

So Sirius just shrugged.

‘Wanted to try something new'

Sirius had just sat down, and pushed a bowl over to Regulus, when a bell rang, signaling someone had entered their shop in their converted garage.

Customers. Thank god. If he could turn his ‘super selling skillz’ on, (or what Reginald called ‘Shamelessly flirting) he made just make enough to get Reggie a good birthday gift.

So Sirius strode through the door, connecting to their garage, with a brilliant smile on his face, ready to stealthily manipulate some poor person into paying so much more than what that originally came in to spend. Once upon a time, he might have felt guilty about what he was doing, but he needed to get food on the table, and roof over their heads, and he needed to do it somehow.

So you could imagine his disappointment when he caught sight of the newcomer. It was a woman, clad in blue, who looked to be around seventy-ish. Usually, Sirius would be happy, rich old ladies were usually the most gullible, but something told him he was not getting away with scamming this one.

She was tall and thin, with a severe look on her face, with long grey-white hair pulled up into what looked like an extruciationally tight bun. She was beautiful (for a seventy-year-old) yet austere-looking and slightly intimidating. She was leaning on a cane for support, but that didn’t make her look any less terrifying.

She turned around to face them once she heard them enter. It was then Sirius realized she had something in her hands - a samurai helmet Sirius had made ages ago, and that he honestly kind of forgot about.

She held it up to her eye level and hummed in disapproval

‘The metal is loud and heavy,’ She announced, now staring intently at Sirius. ‘Useless when it comes to stealth. Tools for a samurai, and yet, I see none for a ninja?’

Sirius kind of just blinked at her. Their store was literally called ‘The Samurai Star’. What did she expect?

‘Ninja, huh?’ Reggie had appeared in the doorway for the second time today. ‘Sorry to burst your bubble ma’am, you are a long way away from any so-called ninja’

Sirius glared at Regulus. ‘Forgive him, ma’am, he is still working on his people skills,’

‘No’ She said simply, smiling slightly. ‘Forgive me, I thought I would find something special here

Sirius suddenly had an idea

‘Well if you're looking for special, I can offer a completely unique knife se-’ Sirius turned around, and the lady was gone.

Chapter Text

Sirius huffed and stormed back into the house.

‘Well done dipshit you just lost us a sal-’

Regulus wasn’t there. And no, he wasn’t in a different room, they only had one room for everything. (Ignaicia was not known for its particularly good or cheap real estate.)

Everything suddenly turned cold and dark - on glance out the window told Sirius that a massive storm cloud had rolled over Ignacia.

Shit.

Regulus had a fear of water, and if he was outside he needed to get inside. Now.

It had started a few months before they had run away. Walburga, their former mother had locked them outside all night as a punishment, in a backyard with no shelter.

Of course, that night had to be one one of the worst storms they had seen. Insane downpour on them all night, so much so that it had began to flood, the water up to their knees before Walbitch decided to finally let them in, at 8 o’clock in the morning, before promptly screaming at them for getting the carpets wet.

Regulus hasn’t been able to be near water since - he didnt even shower, he just washed his hair in the sink and wiped himself down with a cloth.

So, you could understand Sirius’s worry as he raced outside, desperately trying to see his brother.

He finally spotted him, sitting under a tree across the road, book in hand. Okay, so he had just gone out to read his book, and that was okay. But why wasn’t he moving inside now? Surely the storm clouds would be freaking him out slightly. But he seemed like he was in a trance, not even looking at his book, but staring, mouth agape at something. Sirius followed his line of sight, before -

Holy shit what the fuck is that

Standing there, in the middle of the fucking street, was a whole-ass, real, shit-you-not skeleton, that looked as if it had just been dug out of the ground.

What the fuck.

It wasn’t stationary either, not just standing there like a Halloween decoration, but actually walking and talking.

It wasn’t harmless either, not really harming anyone, but it was running around terrorizing the poor people. Sirius had to help them, and then get Regulus inside. The skeleton was separating them from each other, standing right in the middle.

That meant it had to go before Regulus could get inside.

This is the part where Sirius should have run back inside and grabbed some weapons.
This is the part where Sirius should have taken a second to think of a plan.
This is definitely not the part where Sirius should have run straight at the zombie/skeleton/undead thing, without a single thought in his mind.

Honestly, fighting the skeleton was kind of a blur. Sirius couldn't have told you what happened if he wanted to, nothing made sense in his mind. So, it was a big shock when he regained consciousness, and there, in his hands was the head of a skeleton and a pile of bone at his feet.

He looked up, and suddenly regulus was there, moving way too silently for his own good.

Regulus patted his shoulder, and Regulus wasn’t really big on physical touch, so Sirius accepted it, when he felt a sharp pain in his forearm, hissed and dropped the skull. It had fucking bit him. The skeleton wasn’t fucking dead. It the pieces just kind of slithered back together on the ground, and then boom, the skeleton was once more.

It started advancing, and Regulus smashed the book into its newly conjoined head, the skull going flying, bones collapsing once more.

Sirius grabbed Regulus’s arm and started to pull him back towards the house before more of the skeleton appeared. How was this far, by the looks of it there were at least twenty skeletons, that had apparently appeared out of nowhere, slowly advancing on them. They were at least living the rest of the neighborhood alone, only focusing on them, which Sirius supposed was a plus.

‘What the actual hell is going on? I did not plan on spending my afternoon fighting the fucking undead.’ Regulus didn’t even seem mad. Just mildly annoyed something had made him stop reading.

‘Neither did I Reggie.’ Sirius patted his brother's head and looked back at the advancing skeletons. Maybe if they-

Sirius’s train of thought was cut off when he saw something in the corner of his eye.

What the hell is that

What looked like a small, golden tornado was speeding towards them. Sirius pulled Reggie behind him, who promptly shrugged off his hand. The tornado narrowly missed them, however, and barreled straight into the line of skeletons, sending them flying.

The tornado died down, and Holy shit there was something inside of it? What the hell

Sirius's astonishment only grew when the stranger-tornado thing came to a stop, revealing…

no fucking way

The lady from the store. The one that Regulus had told to bugger off. She had just completely destroyed a whole line of skeletons.

Who is she?

‘McGonagall, your Spinjitzu is getting rusty’ A newly formed skeleton was speaking to the women, in their horrible raspy voice.

‘Pleasure, as always samukai,’ the women tornado-fied again, completely wiping out the skeleton, and turned to them.

‘What are you doing standing there?’ she snapped, reminding Siruis of his old teachers. ‘Get inside!’

They both obliged, sprinting the short distance inside, regulus dropping his book on the street. He could get it later.

If Sirius had realized that Regulus had tripped, their lives would be completely different.
If Sirius had turned around and helped him up, they would of both made it out of whatever that day was.

Of course, that's not what happened.

Sirius had made it to the door and turned to see Regulus sprawled on the pavement. Fucking tosser had tripped. Before Sirius could do anything, or even process what happened, a skeleton came up behind him, with the book he had, and smacked it across the back of his skull, knocking him unconscious. Sirius raced to his side, but it was too late, he was being dragged to what appeared to be a massive truck made entirely out of bones.

Where the fuck was magic tornado lady when you fucking need her. Sirius could see her fighting, what looked like hoards of skeletons.

Why didn’t she stop and immediately come over to help them? Why couldn’t she see that Reggie was the most important thing in the world?

Sirius charged towards the truck, true panic and terror ripping through his chest.

It was too late, the truck was speeding away, and Sirius could just faintly see black hair trailing in the wind.

Chapter Text

Sirius was going after them. He needed to. He needed to get his brother back, who had, for some reason been kidnapped by hordes of skeleton things.

Sirius didn’t have a car. He was waaaaay too broke for that, so he ran back to the house to find his bike, where he was stopped at the door, by the random tornado lady.

‘Sirius’ She said softly

‘How the fuck do you know my nam- you know what, never mind. What the hell were you doing? You could of tornadoed my brother out of their reaches, but no, you weren’t fucking there.’ Sirius was yelling now. You did nothing! You were fighting the skeletons, which would reform anyway instead of saving my brother!’

She was blocking the entryway, and Sirius tried to step around her, but she didn’t let him in.

‘Your brother’ She started, and Sirius stopped trying to barge past her, listening. ‘He has been taken to a place a mortal cannot reach.’ Sirius was about to interrupt, what did she mean mortals? She continued speaking, not taking note of Sirius’s confusion. ‘The skeleton there, he has Samukai, king of the underworld. And if he is taking orders from Grindelwald, then I fear things are much worse than I thought.’

‘Grindlewald?! Underworld?! What's going on?! What do we have that's so important to them?! And why would they take my brother?!’ Sirius didnt believe the fairy tales he was being told, but, on the small chance it may be true, Sirius listened. And if he used a little bit of critical thinking skills, he realized in dismay that the bone trucks that stole regulus were definitely long gone.

She finally gestured for Sirius to follow her inside, and to sit at the table. She then whipped out a teapot, two mugs, and a tin of biscuits out of literally nowhere. She pushed the tin of biscuits over to Sirius, while she poured two cups of steaming hot tea, and passed Sirius his respective cup.

She took a deep breath ‘I believe I owe you an explanation.’ Sirius nodded, and she began her story. ‘Long before time had a name, Ninjago was created by the First Spinjitzu Master, by using the Four Weapons of Spinjitzu: The Scythe of Quakes, the Nunchucks of Lightning, the Shurikens of Ice, and the Sword of Fire. Weapons are so powerful, that no one can handle all of their power at once. When he passed away, his two children swore to protect them, but the oldest was consumed by darkness and wanted to possess them. A Battle Between siblings broke out, and the oldest was struck down and banished to the Underworld. Peace returned, and the younger sister hid the weapons, but knowing her older brother's relentless ambition for power, she placed a guardian to protect them. And for fear of his own demise, a map, hidden in the dust jacket of a book, for an honest man to hide. That honest man was your father. The older brother is Grindlewald. I am the younger sister. And I need to find those weapons before he does.’

‘Okay…… slow down’ Sirius held his hands up. ‘Number one, my father was not an honest man. He pushed me down the stairs once because I was three minutes late. Number two, if they want the map, why would they kidnap my brother? Number three, you are the younger sister?! So you came here for the map?! Plus, where is the map? The only thing we took when we ran away was our clothes, some money, and this old book, so I could entertain regulus when we were travel- oh fuck. The map was in the dust jacket, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, you are correct, the map was inside the book Regulus had. The one he was reading under the tree, and the one you took when you ran away. And, No, I did not come here for the map, I came for something greater: you. Since my brother cannot enter this realm, it's obvious he has struck a deal with Samukai. If he were to collect all four weapons, even I would not be able to stop him again. But you, you have the fire inside. I will train you to harness it. Use it. Become a Spinjitzu Master.’

‘Look, I'm flattered you think I'm all that, but I gotta save my brother! I'm not getting involved in your sibling rivalry, even if you think I can somehow control fire!’

Siruis stood up, and started to stomp away from this crazy lady, but his foot met something, and the next thing he knew, he was tasting concrete. It was a miracle he didn’t knock any teeth out.

The women sighed.

‘You are not even ready to face my pinky toe. If you want to get your brother back, you must control the fire that burns inside. Only when you become a Spinjitzu Master, will you be able to face Grindlewald, and save your brother.’

Sirius stood back up, inspecting the new scrape he had of his elbow from the fall. Maybe her words had some truth to it. Maybe. It couldn’t hurt to go with her, and their was no way he would be able to catch up to the skeletons now.

‘Fine’ he signed, sitting back down. ‘Where do we start?’

Chapter Text

Sirius was really fucking tired. It had been at least twenty-four hours since Reggie disappeared, and Sirius only realized an hour after they left he had failed to pack anything and had literally nothing on him apart from his clothes and one dagger. Fuck.

Travling was a big fucking pain in Sirius’s option. The lady (Sirius learned her name was McGonagall) wouldn't tell him where they were going, so Sirius was just blindly following her. He was able to pry out of her that he was going somewhere to learn how to fight, to be a ninja.

The idea of being a ninja was so foreign to Sirius. His entire life he thought if anything, he could be a samurai, not a ninja. Ninjas were gentle, quiet, cool, calm, and collected, while samurai didn't. Ninja fixed and mended things, restoring peace, and Sirius wasn’t sure if his hands could do anything but destroy. Sure he made the knives, but that barely counted. He had made thousands of knives and was taught how before he was even sent to school.

We wandered for what seemed like forever, down the sides of roads, dirt trails, and through deserts, before we reached what looked like thousands of stairs. And Sirius wasn’t even exaggerating. Stairs that stretched far into the sky as if they were reaching for the clouds.

It was about 3’clock in the afternoon when they started the climb, making it just before sunset. Sirius was puffing, dying inside. He really needed to exercise more, while McGonagall looked unbothered like it was ten stairs she had climbed, as opposed to thousands.

The second they reached the top, Sirius collapsed on the ground. Really, where had his fitness gone? He took a few moments before he realized where they were.

Holy Fucking Shitballs

It was an absolutely beautiful monastery, No words could even describe it, the sunset bathes#d the whole thing in a soft, golden glow, making it completely picture perfect. It was one of the most stunning things Sirius had ever seen. But then he remembered why he was here.

‘Why are we at a monastery?’ Sirius asked incredulously. ‘You expect me to fight in a place of peace?!’

McGonagall signed.

‘Not fight. Train. In order to become a true ninja, first you must be able to see what others do not.’

‘But there is nothing h- Holy shitballs how did you do that?’

Suddenly, in what seemed to have magically appeared, was a whole train course. It was so cool. When Sirius and Regulus were children, when they got locked outside, they would make obstacle courses for each other. This one made theirs look like shit on a stick.

It was a moving course, with so many things to do, one with these colums moving up and down, axes swinging side to side, a rope he had to climb and so much more. It was really fucking cool.

‘Wow’ breathed Sirius as he looked around. ‘Is that going to teach me how to do that cool move? You know, the one where you spin ar-'’

Sirius stopped speaking when he caught sight of McGonagall again, who looked unimpressed.
‘Finish the training course before I finish my tea’

‘Wait what-’ Sirius started to move towards the first moving column before he heard a loud slurp and McGonagal's voice.

‘Failed. Try again tomorrow. Then we will see if you are ready.’

Sirius didn’t even know where she had gotten the teapot from, and she had somehow drunk an entire cup before he made it passed the first obstacle.

****

Sirius stared at the roof. It had been a long day, of well, nothing. He had tried again, as McGonagall had said, this time prepared. She had wiped out the teapot, and he started dodging the colums with ease, and he had just made it to the start of the rope climb, when a (thankfully blunt) massive axe swung out of nowhere, and sent him flying. He winced as he felt the bruise blossoming across his chest. He would do better tomorrow.

He didn’t do better the next day. Or the next. Or the day after that. And he was really starting to get sick of it.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like staying at the monastery, he quite liked it actually. The fridge was fully stocked, so he could make dinner, and he got a room to himself (it had four beds, which confused him a little. Four beds all to himself?). It was the fact that he was only here to save Regulus. To train to become a ninja, so he could go save Regulus, and Mcgonanagall's stupid training course wasn’t helping at all, but he was desperate to win. Desperate to make it through. So it could finally go out, and get his brother back.

So, five days after he had arrived at the monastery, Sirius had a plan. He strode over to where the weapons were, which he had previously ignored. After all, why would you need the help of a sword, a crossbow, or a spear to get across the course?

If you are wondering, no, he was not planning on killing Mcgonagall to get it over and done with. Then he could never get his brother back.

He went to the start line and carefully watched as McGonagall pulled out her teapot, and began to pour the tea. Sirus gripped the throwing star he had chosen. He took his aim and bingo. He knocked the cup straight out of her hand, and he took off running at the course.

He had finished it, puffing, before Mcgonagall was even able to retrieve the cup. He dug around in his pocket and waited for her to turn around.

‘Biscuit?’ he asked, offering a tin he had found at the bottom of the pantry for this exact moment.

And for the first time, since they arrived at the monastery, McGonagall smiled.

*****

Sirius didn’t have a fucking clue what was going on. On second, he was brushing his teeth, and getting ready for bed, when he spotted something in the corner of his eye. Three pairs of eyes peering at him. He didn’t didn’t get to investigate much more, because the next thing he knew he was tackled, his head hitting the sink giving him a bitch of a headache.

Black spots danced across his vision, but he was able to twist out from underneath the person that was pining him to the ground, not before getting a good look at them. They had dark amber eyes, speckled with gold. They were wearing what looked like a black ninja gi, with their faces covered. They looked confused, but why? Surely you would think before tackling an innocent person for no apparent reason.

‘What the actual fuck are you doing?!’ Sirius gasped at the strangers, who kind of just looked at him in shock before all three of them turned and sprinted out of the room.

‘What the f-’ Sirius took off running after them.

**

What the hell was this dude doing in their room? They leave for one week on a mission, and suddenly there is this random person brushing his teeth in their bathroom.

Remus was really fucking confused, so, of course, his first instinct was to tackle the guy to the ground, but froze when he actually looked at his face

Holy shit why was he so pretty

Remus pull yourself together this is not a good time for a gay panic
His freezing resulted in the dude slipping out of his grip. He began to say something, but Remus quickly shot a look at James, and they, along with Peter sprinted out of the room.

Remus wasn’t sure where he was leading his friends, probably to find Sensi McGonagall. She should be around somewhere, after running around the monastery a bit, they ended up in the training area.

Remus turned to see both James and Peter out of breath, but where was the new guy-

Remus found him. Or at least the new guy found Remus because something had jumped on him, pushing him to the ground. He tried to twist out of his grip, but it was no luck because James and Peter had decided to jump on top of them, creating a dog pile, that Remus really didn’t want to be under. He was starting to lose his breath before-

‘Students! What is the meaning of this!’

Well, they had found McGonagall.

Remus, along with James and Peter scrambled to their feet, and stood, back straight facing their sensi, while the new dude just sat on the floor, looking kind of dazed, but he began to speak.

‘Wait a minute, they're your students too?’ McGonagall nodded, and the dude looked even more confused. ‘This was my final test, wasn't I-’

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! You never said anything about a fourth. It's always three. Three Blind Mice. Three Musketeers. Three—’ Peter had begun to speak, but James interrupted him

‘Uh, what he's trying to say, Sensei, is that three of us have trained together. We're solid.’

‘Didn’t look so solid to me’ snorted the new guy, finally standing up and stretching his back.

McGonagall sighed. ‘Each of you has been chosen. Each is in tune with elemental properties. But first, ninja, Go!’

McGonagall started to do spinjitzu, and Remus watched mesmerized. He has seen her do it hundreds of times, but it’s so fascinating.

Remus had been so busy watching the golden tornado, that he didn’t even feel the weight in his hand, and the fact that she had somehow magically changed his ninja Gi. It was still black, but it felt different. More comfortable, better materials, and had gold detailing and embroidery on it.

‘Wow,’ The new guy breathed.

‘Whoa! Look what color I am!’

I turned to see James had donned a bright blue gi, and he looked elated. Of course. Blue was his favorite color.

‘Sirius, The Red Ninja. Master of Fire It burns bright in you. ’ Mcgonagall had begun to speak and nodded towards the new guy.

He was wearing a bright red gi, with gold embroidery shaped like flames.

‘James, master of lightning - the blue ninja’

‘Hey! That's not all I’m a master of! I do a little inventing. A dabble in model building. A touch of cooking. A little poetry.’

Remus signed. ‘Humble as always James, more like the mouth of lightning’

He flipped him off when McGonagall turned away.

‘And Remus, you are the black ninja, Master of the Earth,’

Remus took a moment to process it. He knew that elemental powers existed, obviously, but the fact that he had one, that he could control that element was so baffling to him.

‘And finally, Peter, the Master of ice - the white ninja.’

Peter looked stunned and began to whisper something to James.

‘Pay attention!’ McGonagall snapped. You four are the chosen ones who will protect the Four Weapons of Spinjitzu from Grindelwald.’

‘But what about my sibling? What about Regulus!’ Sirius burst out

James gasped ‘We are saving someone!? Are they hot!?’

Remus groaned. ‘James…’

‘What? I just wanna know what we're getting ourselves into. Do they like blue!?’

‘Back off!’ The new guy snapped at James, who held up his hands, surrendering.

McGonagall looked so sick of everything and sighed again. ‘When we find the weapons, we will find your brother. We will leave tomorrow at dawn, so I suggest everyone goes to bed! Now!

They quickly ran back inside, not wanting to make McGonagall any more annoyed.

Remus quickly changed, and walked back into their room, when Sirius stopped him.
‘Ehh, Im sorry, this is weird, but I didn’t pack any clothes. And McGonagall kind of magic-ed away what I was wearing, soo….’

The tips of Remus’s ears grew warm, and he really hoped his hair hid it.

Now that they weren’t, you know, fighting each other, Remus could actually look at him properly. Sirius was pretty short, almost shorter than Pete, who was saying something, and he had to crane his neck to even speak to Remus. He had shoulder-length black curly hair that had been messed up in their fight but still looked super soft. Not to mention the fact that he was so fucking pretty.

He realized he had been staring, and his ears went even more red, so he quickly turned away, to dig through his cupboard.

‘Sure’ Remus replied. ‘I should have something, just lemme-’

He handed some fresh clothes to Sirius, who mumbled thanks and wandered off to the bathroom to get changed.

He returned a few minutes later. And…

Holy Shit Remus pull yourself together

His hair was damp from the shower, making him look even more -

Nope. He was so perfect Remus couldn’t even explain it.

He was wearing the smallest tracksuit of remus he could possibly find, paired with one of his shirts, but they were still massive on him.

Sirius climbed into bed, which happened to also be the one right across from him.

‘Hope you like David Bowie’ Remus smiled and pointed at the shirt he had given him.

‘David Bowie is literally the best thing to ever happen to music, of course I know him’ Sirius rolled his eyes.

‘I know right?! Both James and Pete hate him! But I don’t think they get a say. Peter refuses to listen to any music that isn’t Taylor Swift, and James just religiously listens to Abba.’

Sirius faked gasped, looking horribly offended. ‘I don’t know if I can associate with them’

‘Oi!' James looked over from his chess game with Peter. ‘Abba is the only music worth listening to, it is so perfect, and don’t even get me started on Mama M-’

James only Shut up because Remus threw a pillow at him.

Chapter Text

Okay, Sirius admits that he could have just asked James for his clothes, seeing as they would fit better, as they were closer in size, but it was either James’s clothes or this really cute boy.

So obviously he chose the latter.

Sirius had been cursed the second they made it back to the room that they apparently shared, and Remus had finally taken his mask off.

He was even more gorgeous than Sirius could have imagined. He was literally perfect in every way, shape, and form like he had been chiseled out of marble by the gods.

He had tanned skin, with a smattering of freckles across his nose, and a few scars crisscrossing his face.

He was doomed.

Sirius was not an early riser.

Sure, he got up at 7:30ish on the days when the shop was open, but that was. He would not get up earlier than that.

So, as you imagine, he was not pleased when he woke up at 4:30 in the morning by James, who was prancing around the room belting ‘Money, Money, Money’ At the top of his lungs.

He groaned and sent his pillow flying at his head, but James just dodged and continued with his song and dance.

He finally got up, after James had changed the song to ‘Voulez Vous’ and Remus came over to him, and yanked the pillow from under his head.

‘Rise and shine sweetheart’ Remus smirked, and Siruis's face was on fire.

Grumbling, he made his way to the bathroom to get changed.

He returned thirty minutes later, dressed in his red gi like the rest of the boys were.

‘Bloody hell what took you so long?’ James looked up when Sirius re-entered the room, playing yet another game of chess with Peter.

He shrugged. ‘My hair doesn’t look this good naturally’

Remus glanced over from where he was curled up reading. ‘I don’t know why you bother playing with Pete, James, He's just gonna beat you.’

James faked being offended. ‘How dare you one of these days I will beat Pete and -’

He couldn’t finish, however, as Peter had looked up from the board and grinned at him ‘Checkmate’

‘Bloody hell Peter how, is it possible, that you and I have played chess for over three months, and you have beaten me every single time.’

It was Peter's turn to shrug. ‘I just took the most logical moves’

James patted Peter's head as he stood up and stretched.

Remus motioned for Sirius to come closer, so he did.

‘Once,’ He whispered into his ear, his warm breath tickling Siruis's neck. ‘I watched as James ate Peters's knight, rook, and three of his pawns. Like actually eat the pieces to win, and yet, Peter still beat him.’

Sirius stifled a laugh, as at that exact moment there was a sharp tap on our bedroom door.

‘Ninja! Be at the bottom of the stairs in half an hour. We are to depart to the caves of despair’

His mouth hung open. Half an hour? Last time it had taken him almost three and a half hours to make it to the top, how the hell was he getting anywhere?

James looked over at Sirius and laughed. ‘Relax, we have a quicker way down.’

‘James your way down almost got me killed last time, it is illogical to try it again’

‘Oh Peter’ James said, shaking his head sadly. ‘That's the fun of it’

Ten minutes later, Sirius stood at the top of the stairs, sack in hand. They had spent the last ten minutes gathering things we might need for their quest to the caves, with the entertainment of Peter and James bickering about whether James’s way down the stairs was going to get them killed or not. Peter eventually caved, and now here they are, at the top of thousands of stairs, with a potato sack.

James had volunteered to go first, 'to show them how it's done' apparently. He hopped into his sack, which came up to his chest.

Sirius snorted ‘Trying something new?’ He said, barely keeping from bursting into laughter at the ridiculous site.

‘How dare you?’ James faked being stabbed in the heart. ‘Sack fashion has been around forever!’
Peter looked confused at the scene. ‘Wait.. what? I have no memory of… Sack fashion existing?’

Remus sighed and patted Peter's head. ‘Sacasim Pete’

‘Anyway!’ James announced, directing the attention back to him. ‘Now we see as James the marvelous does the impossible!’

He hoped to the side and promptly face-planted in the grass beside the stairs. He recovered fairly quickly, however, his ego not being bruised, even after Remus, Sirius, and Peter had pissed themselves laughing at him, James's smile still as wide.

They watched as James sat at the top of the mountain, and pushed himself down the massive hill.

The thing about the mountain the monastery was on, it wasn’t really a mountain, but a really massive hill, smooth grass, with the exception of a few trees, so all James really had to do was steer a little, and he was fine.

They heard an excited Whoop, signaling James had made it to the bottom, so Peter stepped forward next. He got into the Sack slightly less gracefully than James, but hey, he didn’t faceplant. He sat down and pushed himself off the hill. James's faint cheering in the distance was a pretty good signal that everything was okay, and Peter had made it, so Remus nominated himself next, leaving Sirius last.

He got into the sack, and zoomed down the mountain, and he could hear James’s celebration, so It was time for Sirius to go. Not gonna lie, that sack ride was one of the most fun things Sirius had ever done in his entire life at that point in time. That was until he ran right into a tree a few meters from the bottom.

Peter came to his rescue, whipping some antiseptic and a bandage out of literally nowhere, and patched him up pretty quickly. He stood up, dazed, with the support of Remus.

‘How the hell did you do that?!’ Remus asked, sounding amused.

‘Oi, It's not my fault that tree ran into me’

‘Yeah, well, generally when you see something you can run into, you steer out of the way, not run headlong into it!’

‘It's not my fault nobody taught me how to steer!’

‘Yeah, well-’ Sirius punched Remus in the arm because he had caught sight of McGonagall, who did not look pleased.

‘Does someone want to explain to me, why, in the name of the First Spinjitzu Master, you just used potato sacks to get down the mountains?'

James looked up. ‘That's the thing Sensi, I really don’t wanna.’

McGonagall just pinched the bridge of her nose.

Chapter Text

James’s pov

James groaned. They had been walking for literal hours, which would have been fine if they didn’t have to haul a really heavy trailer behind them the entire time. He wasn't sure he had to be punishment meant for the potato sack incident, or she had just planned on making them pull a massive carriage along, with McGonagall inside obviously.

‘Where did McGonagall find you guys?’ Sirius, the new guy finally broke the silence that they had been walking in for the past hour.

Remus spoke up first. ‘Strangely enough, rock climbing. It was quite a shock when I finally reached the top of a mountain I had spent hours scaling, to find a little old lady drinking tea. You?’

Sirius sighed. ‘Saved my ass from literal skeletons, let my brother be kidnapped, then held me captive in my own home, what about you James?’

He remembered it like it was yesterday.

He had been sent into the city by his parents, about four months ago to retrieve some things, but he wasn’t going to waste a whole day in the city, so he had bought his ’Invention’. Now that James thought about it, he could pick out seven different things wrong with that contraption, and now, suddenly he was so looking forward to getting back to the monastery, digging it out of wherever he had stuffed it, and adding some improvements.

This ‘Invention’ was a pair of gliders, practically two massive wings, attached to his back with a motor to make him fly. So what better opportunity to go into a city and jump from a skyscraper to test if this flying machine worked?

Spoiler alert: It didn’t he crashed straight through a massive billboard, reading Florean Fortescue’s ice cream parlor! Try it today!

The winds created some drag as he went down, he was thankfully able to steer just enough to land on the roof on another humongous building. He had sat up, coughing, only to be scared half to death, by a random old lady standing over him.

James smiled to himself, ‘I was testing my invention, which was completely flawless and completely wasn’t my fault when it went crashing onto a roof of a skyscraper (note the sarcasm) Anyway, I finally opened my eyes after impact, and McGonagall is just standing there, looming over me. It actually scared me shitless.’

Everyone laughed, except Peter, who looked inquisitively over at James. ‘Expression Pete, It means when someone is really scared.’

Peter nodded, looking thankful, and I smiled. Peter was really smart, he just didn’t get sayings, expressions, or social cues sometimes, but he's been getting better at it, and seems to keep a mental list of expressions in his head at all times.

‘What about you Pete?’ Sirius was speaking now. ‘Where did Master Wu find you?’

Peter shrugged. ‘She scared me - shitless?’ James nodded, indicating that he used it correctly, and he shot a toothy grin in Jame's direction. ‘I was seeing how long I could hold my breath, in my town's pond, when I opened my eyes underwater, There was Sensi, sitting right beside me.’

An easy conversation started between the boys, talking about the randomest stuff, mainly to keep their minds off of the fact that the trailer felt as if it was going to rip their arms off. A joke James' mother used to tell him, and he had told the ninja literally the day after they met popped into his head. What better way to invite Siruis into their little group, than his favorite joke?

‘Hey Sirius.’ James said, turning to face him as best he could, his face splitting into a maniacal grin.

‘Hm?’ Sirius turned to face him.

‘Do you wanna hear a joke?’

‘Sur-’ Siruis was cut off by a bunch of screaming.

‘QUICK SOMEONE TACKLE HIM’

‘James I swear to the first spinjitzu master if you tell that joke I will deck right here, right now.’

James batted them off, still smiling widely. They knew the joke. They knew it well. He told it to every person they ever met when he got the chance. ‘What did the first Spinjitzu master's say after he lost a game of chess?’

‘What’

‘Nothing. He’s dead. He can’t say anything,’

Remus kept his promise, but just swatted him over the head, groaning. ‘James you have now told that joke one too many times. Consider this a warning’

Sirius, however, had burst out laughing and was clutching at his sides. ‘W-wait I have one!’ I was surprised how he was even getting words out, seeing as he was dying of laughter. ‘What shoes do ninjas wear?’

Remus sighed and clamped a hand over Sirius's mouth. ‘I swear if you say sneakers I will litera- Are you licking me?!’

Remus ripped his hand away from Sirius’s mouth, and wiped it on his gi, looking disgusted. Sirius himself looked quite proud.

‘Hey James what do you call a b-’

Remus groaned, and James just smiled.

They walked for about another 20 minutes before McGonagall called out for them to stop. James and Sirius had just spent the entire time exchanging bad jokes, much to Remus’s and Peter's displeasure.

They had stopped at the end of some trees, into what seemed to be a deserted mine. A massive mountain stood before them, with watch towers, and old abandoned mining equipment scattered all over. If James looked closer, however, he could see that it was not deserted, which was definitely not any better. Scattered across the dirt area leading to the mountain, were at least 50 skeletons, who seemed to be searching through massive piles of dirt and rock. Well, this is just just great.

He had never actually seen them before, but they had been described to him by McGonagall, and let's just say, he really didn’t want to be around them. They were literally the risen dead, some of the fresher ones with flesh still attached.

Mcgonagall descended from the carriage and cleared her throat to direct their attention back to her.

‘The caves of despair’ She said gesturing towards the mountain. Samukai and the other skeleton must be close to unearthing the scythe, as it is the first stop on the map. So this be a quick and silent operation. And remember, do not wield the scythe, or-’

‘Yeah, Yeah, yeah It's too much for us mortals. Alright, guys. Let's chop-socky this lemonade stand! Remus, you got a plan?’ James intercepted her speech.

‘You did not just say that.’ Remus looked incredulously over to James.

‘Well, I did, now let's hear the plan.’

‘What does that even mean?’

****

It was relatively easy to sneak around the skeletons. While they may have been outnumbered, the skeletons were definitely not the sharpest tools in the shed, which opened up so many opportunities, to slip through and get the entrance without an issue. James quickly dug through his pockets, fishing out the small flashlight he had packed,

Just as they were about to enter the maze, James spotted something in the corner of his eye. Bingo. In one of the watch towers, sat Samukai, and in his hands, clear as day, was the map.

James quickly nudged the rest of the ninja, and together they scurried over, thankfully not getting caught. They climbed up the rickety old tower, just peering over the edge, while Sirius and Remus climbed on the roof, he could just see their heads, watching Samukai intently.

Samukai poured over the map, before smirking to himself and descending the stairs, so Peter and James quickly pulled themselves over, while Sirius and Remus stayed on the roof.

James approached the map, trying to read it, and saw where they were. Something however looked a little off. Almost like-

The map was upside down. The skeleton had been reading it upside down the entire time and was looking at the completely wrong side of the caves.

They stood a chance now, they could make it. The could beat the skeleton their.

James quickly ripped the map of the table and stuffed it into his pocket, before waiting for the ninja to follow him. They crept silently back down the tower, and back towards the entrance of the cave. They crept through the tunnels, which were very dimly lit, thanks to some flickering lanterns.

About ten minutes later, after getting lost three times, they had reached a dead end, a small cavern with a bolder, which according to the map, the scythe should be behind. James quickly relayed the information to the ninja in whispers and turned expectedly at Remus.

‘So I’m the only person who bothers working out, and now I have to do your dirty work?’

James rolled his eyes. ‘It's your scythe we are after, now chop chop muscle boy’

Remus quickly pushed the boulder aside, revealing what looked like a solid gold scythe. It was absolutely beautiful and had intricate detailing around the handle. It seemed to shine, a gentle light emitting from it, and Remus rushed to it to pick it up. He looked mesmerized and was flipping the scythe around in his hands to get a better look.

We couldn’t stay there for long, in case the skeletons somehow found out where they were, so James turned around and promptly tripped on a rock.

‘Fuck,’

‘James! Shush they are gonna hear us!’
‘Relax Pete it's fine, They are at the complete opposite end of the cav-’

He promptly shut up the second he looked up to see what looked like an entire army of skeletons rounding the corner.

Chapter Text

To say that Peter was panicking would be an understatement. There was a whole army of skeletons advancing on them, which they were just kind of staring at. James grinned, and pulled out his favorite weapon - Nunchucks.

Peter never understood his obsession with the weapon, maybe it was the versatility, maybe the fact that it seemed to match James' excitable personality in a way Peter couldn’t explain.

He scanned the skeletons quickly, trying to find the best way to take them out, while drawing his own weapons - Shurikans. Peter loved Shurikans, they just were the best weapon in his opinion. They could be hidden easily, and with Peters's unusually perfect accuracy, they were deadly. Throwing daggers was okay, but just nowhere near as satisfying as watching the throwing stars slice through the air.

He quickly found a weakness. On the front left-handed side of their advance, the skeletons were older and seemed more fragile - easier to destroy. Sensi had told them that they needed to find a way to either get the bones further away from each other, or destroy them completely, so they can’t reform.

He lunged for them and started to attack, going through the motions of what Sensi had taught them. Over and over again, until his body became weightless. He could see what was going on clearing, but it was strange, every time a Skeleton tried to come towards him, they would immediately be flung backward. Almost if he was-

Someone beside him gasped. ‘Peter!’ The voice said excitably, and as Peter ceased spinning. ‘You were doing spinjitzu!? He turned to see James staring in awe, while also battling off a skeleton. ‘How did you do it?’

Peter stared at his hands, maybe spinjitzu changed them somehow?

‘I am not sure.’ Peter replied to James while throwing a shurikan towards an advancing Skeleton. ‘I just went through the motions that were taught to me by Sensi, and I let muscle memory take over, and suddenly I am spinning’

‘Woaah’ James still looked in awe, and peter turned back to the Undead, seeing if he could do spinjitzu again. He started moving and, he was weightless, soaring through the ranks of skeletons. Peter stopped yet again, to see a bright blue tornado twirling across the skeleton, sending bones flying, which ceased and revealed James looking nothing short of amazed.

‘I did it!’ He looked so happy, and Peter couldn’t help but to smile to himself, when another tornado, this time dirt brown, came to a stop beside them.

Remus looked beside himself and received a high five from James when a bright fiery-red tornado ceased to an end to the other side of James.

‘What? No high five for me?’ Sirius pouted, faking being heartbroken.

James smirked and opened his mouth to respond before the skeletons appeared out of nowhere. They were really starting to get on Peter's nerves, and he could sense that his friends were about to tornado-fy, so he quickly started shaking his head, to draw the attention back to him.

‘We cannot use spinjitzu right now, there are simply too many of them’

Remus started to speak ‘Okay, what do you suggest we d- holy fucking shitballs what the fuck is that’

Remus’s mouth hung open, so Peter quickly followed his line of vision, when his heart stopped. Standing there, was a massive, ferocious-looking, absolutely terrifying dragon, which did not seem to be happy. Quite the opposite, actually, Peter thought as steam blew from its nostrils.

‘Peter?’ James said, his voice unnaturally calm. ‘Do you remember Sensi telling us about a guardian of the weapon a few weeks back?’

‘Yes, I do recall that’

‘I think we found it.’

The remaining, standing skeletons fled for their lives (Were they even alive? Did they have a life to flee for?), and Ninja was left facing the dragon, who seemed to size up to them. Not that it needed to, it was already bigger than an airplane.

And before they knew it, they were being blasted with fire, which everyone quickly dodged behind a massive rock.

‘Remus!’ Sirius said quickly, looking up. ‘Remus give me the Scythe’

‘Why?’ Remus asked suspiciously.

‘No reason’ Sirius batted his eyelashes.

‘No.’ Remus smiled, and James signed.

‘Too bad.’ Suddenly Sirius had somehow finessed the Sythce into his hands and was sprinting towards the massive, fire-breathing monster.

‘SIRIUS’

‘SIRIUS STOP SENSI TOLD US NOT TO USE IT’

Sirius didn’t take any notes to James and Remus yelling, and James jumped to his feet to presumably go get him, but Remus held him back.

Peter watched from the safety of the rock, as SIruis lunged, digging it right into the ground, sending a massive wave of rocks and dirt towards the beast, knocking it out.

Sirius turned around, grinned at us, took a bow, took a step, and then promptly collapsed onto the ground.

They all rushed towards him, James reaching him first to check for injuries. Despite just eating dirt, Sirius turned as best he could off the ground to face them grinning though his smile looked more like a grimace.

‘What the fuck did you do that for?!”

Remus had reached them and did not look happy.

‘To save our asses, hate to break it to you, but hiding behind that rock was doing nothing. We would have died’

Remus was fuming, but Peter quickly broke up the brewing fight. ‘I am sorry to interrupt, as the argument, as it was quite entertaining, but Sirius, you need to lie still if you want me to treat your ankle.

Peter had figured out it was his ankle just the way he was lying. Just the way he had fallen down. He wasn’t sure how, but he had always had a knack for that certain thing, and it definitely came in handy when he was always going on dangerous ninja missions.

‘James, you didn’t happen to pack any bandages, did you?’

‘Right here, Pete.’

James threw a roll of bandages to Peter, who quickly got to work, removing Sirius’s shoes, and wrapping his ankle, glancing nervously over at the fallen dragon. It didn’t seem to be dead, just knocked out, and it was making him more nervous by the second.

He was done in a few minutes and helped Sirius stand. Sirius gingerly tested his right leg and quickly found that he couldn’t put any weight on it.

‘What am I supposed to do?’ Sirius whined.

Peter shot a look at Remus.

‘Hell no, I am not carrying that idiot out, he is the reason he got hurt I’m no-’

Thirty minutes later, they reached the end of the cave, Remus giving Sirius a piggyback ride the entire way. Remus had refused to let Sirius get anywhere near his scythe again, instead entrusting it to James, who carried it gently over his shoulder.

They climbed their way back up to where McGonagall was standing, in the tree line, and the second they reached her, Remus unceremoniously dumped Siruis on the soft grass, retrieving his scythe from James.

McGonagall looked at them, completely unimpressed.

‘What.’ She said through gritted teeth. ‘Was the one thing I told you not to do before you entered the mountains.

Peter bowed his head when James stepped forward. ‘It was me, Sensi, I was the one who used the Sythce, to save us from the dra-’

‘Oh come on James, we both know you didn’t use the Scythe. You are too loyal and self-sacrificing for your own good.’ Mcgonagall Shook her head, smiling slightly.

She shot a look at Sirius, who just rolled his eyes, from his position on the ground.

‘I needed to! There was no way out, and plus, it just saved us time. We are after my brother, remember, and every minute we waste is making it more likely that he’s - That he’s dead.’

McGonagall shot a comforting look in Sirius’s direction. ‘I can assure you, your brother is alive, and we will find him.’

***

The events of acquiring the Shurikens of Ice were not something that Peter wanted to remember for a long time.

Nothing necessarily bad happened, it was just an exciting day, that Peter would rather forget. The shurikains of ice, however, that was something he would not forget. They shared the same elegant beauty of the scythe of quakes, so pretty, and yet, so, so dangerous. The feeling that he had when he held them in his hands for the first, time, it felt as if something that had been missing his whole life had been returned. Like a pit inside him was filled, which was quite strange, as Peter was sure that he had a pit inside him, he would have been notified by a doctor, or at least felt the effects himself.

Next were the nunchucks of lightning, which they had to explore this freaky floating temple to find, which came with the unpleasant experience of dealing with the dragon of lightning.

They finally came to a stop to rest for the day, in a forest right outside of the temple of fire. Mcgonagall had firmly told them that rest was needed before we even thought of going anywhere near the fire temple, to retrieve the swords of fire.
Peter watched as the sun went over the forest line feeling a sense of calm he hadn’t experienced in a while. Sure they still had to retrieve the Swords of Fire, but they were getting closer to getting rid of Grindelwald for good.

Chapter Text

Sirius was conflicted about what to do. For the most part, he desperately wanted to find Regulus, and go back to their little shop, live their quiet life, and forget whatever happened here.

But one teeny, tiny, minuscule, incy wincy, part of him wanted to stay. 

He looked around from the rock he had perched on. They had created a fire, which their dinner was currently cooking on. Peter was cooking, and it smelt like literal heaven on earth, James and Remus were supposedly sparring, but James threw a terrible punch, so Remus was doing more laughing than actually fighting. Sirius smiled to himself. It was such a calming place to be, and now the thought of leaving was insane to him. The boys, the way he felt welcomed into their little group, even though it had only been less than three days. 

James and his easy-going smile, Peter's fun facts, and Remus’s quick wit. 

Remus.

He is a really good friend. 

Friend. 

Just friends. 

Peter called out to them a few minutes later, and handed them each a plate, with a small feast piled on top. He had made roasted pork, with roasted veggies, and it was the best thing Sirius had ever put in his mouth. It was so mouth-watering, He was tempted to jump James once he had finished, purely to steal his food. 

The group sat around the flickering fire, as the sun disappeared into the horizon, setting a warm golden glow onto their surroundings. He was sitting next to remus their knees bumping every so often. 

‘The most powerful move,’ Mcgonagall said, breaking the comfortable silence ‘Can be achieved when the four elements of creation are combined. The elements of fire, earths, Ice, and lightning.’

‘What happens when they are combined,’ James asked, leaning forwards, a look of curiosity displayed across his features, looking up from his tea, which he was clutching to his chest for warmth. 

‘The tornado of creation, the power to create out of nothing.’

Night came very quickly, and they bundled up in their sleeping bags, in a little circle. Mcgonagall had disappeared inside her carriage for the night, so it was just them staring up at the starry night sky. They all fell into a conversation about nothing in particular. Sirius felt warm inside. He was getting his brother back, he was surrounded by people he had begun to care for more than anything, and it really was a beautiful night. So siruis gently closed his eyes and fell into the most peaceful sleep he has had in years. 

****

Something awoke Sirius so abruptly, he shot up, completely awake. He wasn’t sure why though, so he had begun to lower himself back into the security of his blankets when the screaming started. 

Long, drawn-out screams reverberated around the trees and into Sirius’s skull. Screams he wished he didn't recognize. 

His brother needed him. 

Sirius bolted out of his sleeping bag and to his feet, glancing wildly around the woods. He couldn’t place exactly where it had come from, so he started to stumble wildly through the undergrowth when the screaming started again. 

He ran and ran and ran, running until his throat was closing up and he could no longer breathe. He tripped and stumbled, tearing his clothes on low-hanging branches, pure terror clenching at his heart. The screaming just kept going, Sirius thought his heart was about to break in two, listening to Regulus scream and cry and beg for Sirius. 

The trees started to clear, and Sirius spotted a soft glow given off ahead, like the glow of a fireplace, or a flickering of a candle.

A thing of legends came into view, and if Sirius wasn't so panicked, he might have been able to admire it. Regulus had always been the one for myths and folklore, the very book the map was hidden in was the history of Ninjago, one of Regulus's favorites, so he had regularly info dumped to Sirius, so he could recognize it from the description alone.  

It looked as if it had been built right into the heart of a volcano, Sirius could feel heat radiating from the place, hitting him the the face. It was completely magnificent, beautiful intricately carved columns supported the winding structure, which looked to be made of almost pure obsidian. He was barely able to spare a glance at it, as he sprinted straight into the large, forbidding looking-doors. 

It was a massive, cave-like structure, covered in rocks and those pointy-rock things that Sirius couldn’t remember the name of for the life of him. 

Sirius frantically scanned the room, to the source of the screaming, spotting something that made Sirius's heart drop to the floor. 

Regulus. His poor, baby brother was suspended by painfully tight-looking chains, hanging, and swinging about halfway down to the cave floor, suspended above what looked like a literal pit of lava. 

Regulus was a mess, so much so that Sirius could barely recognize him. Bloody gashes ripped across his body, his leg was on an angle that was not supposed to be possible. His eyes were swollen shut, and he was bruised and bloody all over.

He was crying, screaming, yelling, and begging incoherent words, and all Sirius could do was stand and watch, desperately trying to form a plan to get him down. 

Regulus stopped screaming.

‘Sirius’ He heard him croak out, before Regulus went limp. 

Sirius heart shattered into pieces. 

Sirius couldn’t even bring himself to say anything. He just had to watch as his baby brother was what looked like the brink of death. 

He spotted what looked like some sort of mechanism that held him up there, and began sprinting towards it, his feet catching on the cracks covering the ground, tears clouding his vision, a wet choke escaping from his throat. 

He could cry later, he needed to get his brother back. 

He reached the mechanism, which looked like a few wheels and a lever before he felt something clench around him and throw him across the room like a ragdoll. He hit the cave wall, and spat out some blood, clutching what felt like a broken rib. 

The most unsettling thing about, you know, being pegged at a cave wall, is he didn't feel anything grab him. At least not really. It felt more like a cold wind, but, solid?

He wasn’t able to spend much more time pondering because again, picked up and dropped. This time he swore he heard cracking, following a sharp pain shot up his chest. 

He lifted his head up. Shakingly getting to his feet, he saw something. A shadow. A shadow of the man he feared with his entire being. 

‘Grindelwald’ Sirius sneered. On their travels, McGonagall had described her brother in great detail. He was a tall man, which in itself might not have been a great indicator, but he wore a helmet, which had a bone stuck on the front, and two horn-looking things out the side, which was identifier enough. 

A cackle reverberated around the cave, rattling Sirius’s bones, and sending a shiver down his back. 

‘Well, it's nice to finally meet you, Ninja,’

His voice was cold and lifeless, which somehow freaked Sirius even more out. 

‘You can’t hurt me!’ Sirius yelled after him, gripping at his sides to stop the pain in his ribs. ‘You are only a shadow! Banished to the underworld!’

‘Oh yeah?’ Sirius could hear the grin in his voice, and he saw Grindlewarld's arm moving, and he was, once again thrown across the room, the taste of metactic blood filling his mouth. 

He seemed to have knocked down some sort of pedestal while he rolled, and a golden thing clattered down beside him. 

The sword of fire. 

He quickly pulled it into his hands to examine it. It was warm, and comforting, like an embrace. It was beautiful, emitting a soft glow, and the intricacies seemed to be mocking Sirius' horrible sword-making skills. 

He didn’t have much time to examine it, however, as, you know, an evil shadow guy was attacking him. He gripped the hand tight and stalked over to the shadow of evil guy. 

The shadow didn’t seem scared, it even let out another bone-chilling cackle, and, pulled out literally nowhere, a massive, spiky, and not definitely kid-friendly sword, and charged. 

Sirius shakily raised his sword and waited. Sure, he had been knocked around by the guy before, but maybe it was some weird dark lord influence on the real world? Like sent weird gusts of wind from the underworld? That might be able to hurt him, but surely a shadow can’t? For the first spinjitzu master's sake, he was a shadow on a wall. 

The shadow reached him and brought a sword down, and Sirius reflectively raised his above his head and-

Holy shit

He felt it. He felt a sword come down and heard a heavy thwack of swords hitting each other. And there was nobody there. Sure there was the shadow on the wall, but there was no physical person in front of him to be wielding a sword. He was fighting an invisible enemy. 

Sirius buckled under the weight of the sword, so he leaped backward, pulled his weapon out, and lunged at where Grindelwald's shadow appeared to be relative to him and glanced at the wall. 

It should have disemboweled him. Grindlewald should have a sword sticking out of his stomach and should be writhing on the floor in pain but he wasn’t. 

He just laughed, the bone-chilling cackle Sirius has come to despise. 

‘You can’t hurt me, Boy!’ Grindlewald's voice was almost sing-song-like. ‘I’m a mere shadow! I however can do this!’

Grindelwald's shadow lunged, and it a moment's notice, Sirius flung himself backward, feeling the tip of a sword graze his pajama shirt ever so slightly. 

‘That's not fair!’ Sirius yelled, trying desperately to ignore the pain and worry eating away at his chest. 

Grindlewald sneered ‘Oh, dear boy, I said nothing about fair.’

He flicked his wrist, and- 

Holy shit

One by one, new shadow figures stepped out from behind Grindlewald. 

All of them, were perfect silhouette replicas of Siruis, all with a sword in hand just like his own.

With no warning, they charged. 

For a millisecond, Sirius stood there, terrified, before he remembered somethings he felt infinitely stupid for forgetting. 

He could do spijitzu. 

How the hell did he forget that he could do the most ancient and powerful form of fighting known to man? 

Remembering this pretty vital information, Sirius began to go through the motions that McGonagall had taught me, and pretty soon it felt like she was flying, the room rushing by, the colors blurring past. 

Sirius, however, could not keep spinning forever, and when he ceased, the army still charged at him all the same. 

He returned to the ready position but watched the shadows come. There was nothing Sirius could do. They were physically unbeatable. 

Sirius accepted his fate. He would be skewered, nothing he could do to save his little brother who was about to be dropped into a pit overflowing in molten rock. 

He could almost hear the archeologists when they dug up his bones in a hundred years. 

‘Hey look at this dude. Died by becoming the worlds-worst shish kebab.’

Sirius closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. Waiting for the pain to come. Waiting for the infinite torture of exiting this world. Waiting for the journey to the afterlife, where Regulus would join him shortly after, Sirius had not been able to save him. 

That did not come. After ten seconds of silence, Sirius opened his eyes tentatively, to see a familiar toothy grin come into view. 

‘What the hell were you thinking, giving us a fright like that!’ James smiled warmly, placing a comforting hand on Sirius' shoulder. 

‘What- how?’ Sirius looked over his shoulder, and his friends were facing off against Grindelwald - the shadow clones gone. 

‘Missed me?’ A familiar voice said, the sounds of Sirius’s friends fighting fading into the background. 

‘Regulus?!’ Sirius quickly pushed past James, and pulled his perfectly okay brother into a bone-crushing hug, ignoring the pain in his ribs. 

Regulus pulled back, but he kept a death grip on him, sussing out any remaining injuries. 

McGonagall appeared at Regulus’s side. 

‘What-?’ Sirius desperately started gesturing at Regulus, who was in perfect condition. 

‘Complements of my friend, Poppy Pomfrey - it's for your rib.’ Mcgonagall said, tossing Sirius a paper bag, before striding straight into the battle, staff at the ready. 

He ripped open the flimsy package to reveal… a chocolate chip biscuit?

‘It has healing properties’ Regulus said firmly, running a hand through his hair. ‘Eat it.’

Sirius shoved it into his mouth, and true to its word, within ten seconds the pain in his ribs was completely gone. 

He pulled Regulus into another tight hug, ignoring his protests, before looking sternly down at him, like he had done so many times before. 

‘Stay here, where you safe. I need to go help them.’

‘What?! No! Just because I don’t have fancy powers like you do, doesn’t mean I can’t help myself!’

‘Regulus. Please.’ He pleaded with him, and Regulus sighed, which Sirius took as a yes.

Sirius nodded once more before running back into the fray. 

Chapter Text

hey guys

I want to start this of by saying that this fic WILL be finished. I love the marauders and ninjago with my entire soul, so I WILL be coming back to this fic. Life is just super tough right now, the curse of an Ao3 writer lol. I am also have a super completcated relationship with my gender, so the name at the end of my chapters might change a few times before I figure out who I am.

See you all In a bit,

Jay <3