After I got home last night, I saw myself all over the news. Well, the Wind Ninja was all over the news I should say. It was mostly articles about the new member of the ninja team, followed by a clip of me being interviewed. It was strange seeing myself all over the internet and all over TV. I just really hope nobody catches onto the fact that I'm The Wind Ninja.

Even though being The Wind Ninja has given me a huge boost in my confidence and self esteem, I feel kind of... sad to be the regular me. It's like the better I feel to be Wind, the worse I feel to be (Y/N). Why can't I just be The Wind Ninja all of the time? My life would be so much easier, because from what I've seen so far, everyone on social media seems to like The Wind Ninja. It'd be great if everyone felt the same about me when I'm not in costume.

I sit in my bed and think for a while. That's not good for me, to be honest. Thinking too much is what leads to me feeling like shit.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The weekend passed as it normally did. Nothing of too great significance happened. I mostly just slept. And my Monday morning went as usual as well. Wake up, throw on a new shirt, go to school. Simple.

I actually got to school a bit early. Maybe 15 minutes before I usually do? So I got there before Lloyd. That 15 minutes was pretty quiet without him. By the time he did arrive, though, he sat in the back of the room beside me instead of me going to the front of the class to sit by him.

"Hey, (Y/N)," he says as he sits down next to me.

"Hey, Lloyd. I saw the attack that happened on Friday all over the news. Are you okay?" I ask, pretending like I wasn't there fighting alongside him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We actually have a new ninja on the team now. The Wind Ninja," he tells me.

"Oh really? What's he like?" I ask, still pretending as though I know nothing.

"I like him. And everyone else seems to like him. He seems like a nice guy," Lloyd smiles.

"That's cool," I say.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty worried. Whenever my dad does a smaller attack like that, it's always followed up by a bigger one. And The Wind Ninja doesn't have a mech yet. I don't know how he'll be able to fight in a bigger attack without a mech," he explains.

I've never actually thought about that. I don't have a mech yet...

"I'm probably not supposed to show anybody this kind of stuff," Lloyd starts, "but I'm actually working on a blueprint for The Wind Ninja's new mech!"

Lloyd opens up a small notepad that has some designs and notes scribbled on it. It's the designs for a wind mech. It's a large jet with what looks like cannons or guns on both sides. It's clearly just an idea and not the final product, but it looks pretty good so far.

"Wow, Lloyd. That looks great!" I exclaim. "Do you make the mechs, too?"

"Uh, yeah, actually! I do. Well, the others help out, too, but I do most of the work," he smiles shyly.

"That's cool!" I exclaim as I further examine the blueprints.

A few other students walk into the room, but I pay no mind to them. I just hand the blueprints back to Lloyd so no one else can see what we were looking at.

I find myself staring at Lloyd for an uncomfortable amount of time. When I realize I'm doing it, I look away nervously.

I need to tell him how I feel eventually. He has the right to know, even if he doesn't like me back...

Should I tell him today?

I don't even know anymore...

I guess I should take my chance now. It's not like he'll think any differently of me tomorrow than he does today....

"Hey, Lloyd..."

"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you something?" I feel my heart start to beat a little faster. I notice that almost everyone is in the classroom now. I hope nobody else hears what I'm about to say.

"Sure! You can tell me anything," he smiles. I just pause and look at his adorable face once more before I finally tell him.

"Well, I-"

I tried to tell him, but I was cut off by the sound of sirens. There's another attack happening.

The teacher rushes into the room and yells at all of us to duck and cover. Lloyd and I both get under our desks.

"I knew this would happen..." he snarls. "You know I have to go now. Stay here and stay safe, okay?"

I just look at him and nod. I don't say a single word.

"Okay... I-I gotta go!" Lloyd rushes out of the room without a single person even paying attention to him. I guess that's one of the perks of being him. Nobody really cares enough to wonder where he's going.

I have to get out there and help. I'm a ninja, too! I wait until I'm sure Lloyd is far away from this classroom before I even consider leaving so he doesn't see me. After a while, I crawl across the floor to the door to bring no attention to myself. I reach up to the door handle while I'm still on the floor and slowly open the door and head out. I stand up and run to my locker where I keep my suit and weapon.

As quick as I can, I frantically enter the combination, pull off my hoodie and put my suit on over top of the shirt and pants I was already wearing and then grab my nunchucks from out of my bag. I rush out of the school building. Surprisingly, no generals had made it into the school building yet.

When I make it outside, I see the rest of the ninja struggling to get by a group of generals in order to get to the mechs.

We really need a more convenient way to get to the mechs from school...

I quickly run up to the group and begin to assist them in fighting off the generals.

"Wind? What took you so long?!" Earth exclaims.

"Sorry, I was... in a bit of a holdup..." I reply as I try to fight off as many generals as possible.

"There's too many of them!" Lloyd yells.

We begin to fall back, but we realize there are more generals coming from behind us. We're surrounded.

"What do we do?" Fire yells.

"Keep fighting!" Lloyd yells back.

"We can't, there's too many!" I exclaim.

"Wind, look out!"

"Huh?" I whip around and see one of the generals raise their weapon and as it comes down on me, everything goes black...

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"Uughh..." I groan as my eyes slowly open, revealing my surroundings. I'm laying on a cold, metal floor on my side. It looks like I'm in... a cage? And my head hurts like Hell...

I quickly sit up to see Fire, Water, Lightning, and Lloyd in the cage as well. None of them are awake and I don't see Ice or Earth anywhere. I need to wake up the others.

I crawl over to Lloyd and shake him. "Green... Green wake up..." I try to wake him without being too loud. I'm assuming the generals captured us and I don't want them to know any of us are awake yet.

"Come on, Green... Wake up..." I continue to shake him. I see his eyes slowly open and he looks me in the eyes.

"What the... Where are we?" He asks as he sits up and takes in his surroundings.

"I don't know... But we need to wake up the others," I say as I point to the rest of the group.

"Where's Earth and Ice?" He asks.

"Dunno..."

"Guys?" Lloyd and I both look over to the direction of the new voice. It was Fire, who had just woken up.

"Fire! It's good to see you're awake," Lloyd says.

"Are we in a cage? What's going on?" Fire asks.

"We're still trying to figure that out... we need to wake everyone up," I say.

Fire turns to Water and begins shaking her and trying to wake her up. "Water... Wake up!"

Her eyes jolt open and she sharply sits up. "What the Hell?" She yells.

"Sshhh! We don't want any unwanted attention..." I try to quiet her down.

Lightning must have been awoken by the sounds of Water's yelling. "Uuhhhhgg," he groans as he sits up.

"Uh-oh... we're gonna die aren't we?" Lightning asks.

"What? No. You just woke up and you already thing you're on the verge of death?" Lloyd asks.

"Lighting always thinks he's gonna die," Fire adds.

"It's true. I fear death at all points in time," he agrees.

"We're not gonna die!" Lloyd shouts.

I hear the sound of footsteps behind me. I turn around and look through the bars to see two generals approach the cage.

"Well, look who woke up?" The one laughs. She has short black hair and a nametag that reads "Olivia." The other general didn't have a nametag, but rather a gold star that has a number 1 on it.

"Wait a minute, why do they still have their masks on? Garmadon told you to unmask them while they were still asleep!" Olivia's voice booms through the room.

"I was afraid they would wake up while I unmasked them..." the general #1 cowers at her loud voice.

"Sometimes I wonder why you're his general #1!" She screams.

"What do you want from us?" Lloyd finally cuts in.

"We don't want anything from you. We're just doing what we were told to do," the general #1 speaks.

"...And that is?" Lloyd continues.

"To kill you."

"I was right! We're totally gonna die!" Lightning cries out.

"No, we're not!"

"Yes, you are," Olivia smirks.

Fire then charges as the bars on the cage and begins hitting, shaking, and pulling them. Trying everything to break through.

"You can try to bust out all you want. These bars aren't going anywhere. They're made of vengestone!" Olivia cackles.

"Vengestone?" I question.

"Only one of the strongest materials on the planet. It's impossible to break," Water spoke.

"How do you know this?" Fire asks.

"My brain holds a lot of useless information," Water confirms.

"How are you gonna kill us?" Lightning finally asks.

"They're not gonna kill us!" Lloyd yells.

"Right now, you're inside of Garmadon's lair! But we're going to take you up to the very top and drop you into the volcano!" Olivia giggles.

"This isn't good..." Lloyd finally admits.

"That's what I've been saying! We're gonna die!" Lightning screams once again.

Lloyd doesn't say anything this time. He just hangs his head and closes his eyes, almost accepting the fate we've been given.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

One of the small flying mechs that is piloted by one of Garmadon's generals hooked a chain onto the cage and flew us up to the top of the volcano. The chain was then attached to a metal beam that went from one side of the volcano to the other. It was rigged to drop the cage a little more each minute, guaranteeing us a slow, painful death. This seems like the type of way to go out that you would only see in cartoons.

After the cage was hooked up to the beam, the cage lowered about 5 feet every minute. It would take almost an hour for us to reach the boiling magma at the bottom.

We start out at the very top of the volcano, awaiting our eventual demise.

"I can't believe this is happening..." Lloyd says.

"I can!" Lightning cries as hot tears pour down his face.

"Hey, don't cry! Well think of something!" Lloyd tries to comfort him.

"Like what!?" Lighting yells.

"I dunno! I'm still thinking!" Lloyd gets up and paces around the cage, desperate for an idea to pop into his head.

I can see the anger, sadness, and remorse in his eyes.

"Green..." I try to get him to calm down.

"Wait..." he continues pacing.

"Green," I try again.

"Give me a minute," he paces some more.

"Green!" I scream.

Lloyd stops in his tracks and clenches his fists. He drops to his knees and covers his face with his hands. "God damn it..." he says into his own hands. "FUCK. I CAN'T THINK OF A WAY OUT OF THIS!" He yells as his hands drop to his side's and looks up in the air.

I scoot over to him. "I don't think there is a way out if this..."

Clank! The sound of the cage dropping a little bit fills the air and the cage shakes.

Lloyd looks to me. "You just want me to accept the fact that we're never getting out of here?" Lloyd's eyes fill with sadness as tears fall down the side of his cheek.

"What else can we do?"

"We have to do something! You guys can't die like this," Lloyd yells.

"Okay, then, what's your plan, huh? We don't have anything! We can't get out of here," I say.

"No!" Lloyd shouts.

"Yes! There's nothing we can do!"

"SHUT UP! I'LL FIND A WAY TO GET YOU OUT OF HERE!" Lloyd screams.

"Calm down... please..." I beg.

Lloyd sighs as more tears fall down his face. "I'm so sorry... this is my fault..."

"How is this your fault?" I ask.

"Master Wu trusted me to be the leader of this group and I've failed you guys. You're going to die because of me," he cries.

"It's not your fault. It could have happened with any of us in charge..." I say.

"..."

"For what it's worth... I think I've lived a good life. Being a ninja with you guys was the only thing keeping me going," Fire suddenly says.

"Same with me. I don't know what I would have done without you guys," Water adds. "I'd rather live a short life to the fullest than a long, boring life."

"I'm not worried about my own death, I'm worried about yours," Lloyd says. "I know nobody would care if I was gone, but you guys actually have people that care about you outside of being a ninja. I don't," Lloyd says.

"Shut up, yes you do," I say.

"You don't know that. None of you know who I really am," Lloyd bows his head in shame.

"You know what? I think we all deserve to know who everyone is. We should take off our masks," Fire says.

"But master Wu said-"

"Who cares what master Wu said? We're all gonna die anyway. We can afford to break this one little rule," Fire says as he rips off his mask, revealing an all too familiar face.

Everyone gasps at the sudden action.

"Kai?" Lloyd's voice is filled with shock.

"I had no idea!" I add.

"It feels good to let you all know who I really am... Who's next?" Kai smiles.

Water then removes her mask. Again, revealing a face that I know I've seen before. Not that I was very fond of her.

"Nya? No way!" Lighting shouts. Nya just smiles.

I don't give any reaction. I'm not too excited to know that she's a ninja. Mainly because of the way she talks to Lloyd.

"We already knew about each other's identities," Nya says as she looks to Kai.

"Yeah, it didn't take us long to figure each other out since we're brother and sister," Kai smiles.

"Lightning... You wanna go next?" Nya asks.

"Uhh... I guess..." Lightning was a bit more nervous than the others. He slowly brings up his hands to his mask and takes a tight grip on the fabric. He looks around at the four of us before slowly taking it off.

"Jay! I had no idea, buddy!" I smile. Out of all people, I never would have expected Jay to be a ninja.

"Hehe... Yeah... It's me..." he looks over to Kai and Nya. Nya gives him a soft smile. Jay likes Nya. Everyone at school knows this because it's so obvious, but he's never actually told anybody. It's cute to see that Jay and Nya have been working alongside each other this whole time without even knowing.

Clank! The sound fills our ears once again as the cage drops some more, bringing us out of that happy mood we were in a few seconds ago.

"Green... You wanna go next?" I ask with a soft smile.

"No... no, you guys wouldn't like what you see," Lloyd shakes his head as he backs up a little bit.

"Are you sure? I think I'll like the real you," I try to comfort him.

"I... I don't think I can..." Lloyd says.

"Sure you can! You're The Green Ninja! I'm sure we'll love whoever's behind that mask," Kai says.

"No, none of you guys can know..." he says again.

I softly scoot over to him and place one of my hands in his. We look each other in the eyes. His pupils are dialated and his skin has gone pale. He's breathing so hard. It's like he's sent himself into a panic attack.

"Listen... It's okay... It's okay..." I smile.

His breathing calms a little bit, but he's still in a panic.

"What if I told you I already know who you are behind the mask?" I ask.

"That's impossible... only one person knows..." he says.

I bring one of my hands to my mask as the other hand stays within Lloyd's grasp. I slowly remove my mask and smile at him.

"(Y/N)?" Lloyd asks. The others just give a look of shock. Apparently I'm the most shocking one out of all of us so far, because they remain speechless.

"Please take the mask off," I ask one last time.

Lloyd says nothing. He just brings one of his hands up to his mask and grips it tight. He hesitates to take it off.

"You can do it," I say.

He finally does it. He rips off the mask, revealing his face and his perfect blond hair.

"LLOYD?" everyone shouts in unison.

Lloyd takes a look around at the others.

"Please don't be mad... I know you all probably hate me..." Lloyd starts.

"I'm so sorry! I can't believe how much of an asshole I was to you, Lloyd... I didn't even know... ugh... I feel like an idiot..." Nya says as she brings her hands to her face.

"It's okay," Lloyd says.

To be honest. I don't think it's okay, but if Lloyd forgives her, then I will, too.

Clank! The cage drops a little more again.

"(Y/N)..." Lloyd turns to look at me and takes both of my hands in his.

"Yes?"

"Since we're gonna die, I need to do something right now," he says with a look of determination in his eyes.

"And what is tha-"

Lloyd quickly brings his face to mine and presses his lips against my own.

He kissed me.

He actually kissed me.

Lloyd pulls away and everyone looks at us and smiles. I'm left speechless.

"I'm sorry... I just had to... You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," he giggles.

I still sit there without a word.

"(Y/N)... I'm sorry..." Lloyd tried to apologize.

I ignore his apology and give him another kiss.

"I-... I wasn't expecting that," he laughs nervously.

"Lloyd, I've liked you almost since the day we became friends," I say as I throw my arms around his body and bring him in for a hug.

"You... You did?" Lloyd asks in shock.

"Of course I did, you big idiot. I don't know how you didn't see that," I joke.

Lloyd just laughs and finally wraps his arm around me to return the hug. We hold each other in a warm embrace for what seems like forever. It's like I never want to let him go.

Clank! The cage drops again. The drop shakes the cage and makes Lloyd and I disconnect from the hug.

"It's getting hotter... we're probably going to die from the heat before we even reach the lava," Lloyd says.

"We're not even a quarter of the way down yet," I say.