"Tobi got his first girlfriend today," I say.

Tobi hits me playfully. "Hey! What about that girl in third grade?"

"That doesn't count."

"Sure it does."

"Anyway. She's super sweet, and I think she'll actually stay with him for more than a day. Maybe a month," I say.

"Can you stop? I actually really like this girl," Tobi says, glaring at me.

"Sorry," I say, smiling a bit.

"Her name is Akari. She's smart, pretty, really pretty. She laughs a lot too. I think you'd be super proud of me," Tobi says. I smile.

"Ellie's going to try to become a nurse," he adds.

"I don't think we'll be able to afford nursing school though," I say quietly.

"We can find a way," Tobi says, reassuring me.

"I hope you're proud of us, mom," Tobi whispers.

I bend down to put the orange lillies on the grave then stand back up by Tobi.

"Let's give Dad some space," Percy says. I nod and my father gets up from the bench. He slowly makes his way to the grave, his steps weak and slow.

"I'm worried for Dad," I whisper to Percy.

"Me too. Everyday he gets weaker and weaker," he whispers back.

"What if one day we're the only ones left?"

One week later

I groan, opening my eyes to the sound of the alarm ringing. It was Wednesday, meaning we had sunrise exercise on the deck at five in the morning. Damn, it was early. I groggily get out of bed and get dressed, then meet the rest of the guys upstairs on the deck.

"I hate sunrise exercise," Jay mumbles.

"What was that, Jay?" Sensei Wu asks. Jay appears flustered and looks away.

About an hour later, sunrise exercise was finally completed. Since my gi is long sleeved, I was slightly sweaty, the shower already calling my name. But first I wanted to admire the sunrise.

The boys had already disappeared, probably off to eat breakfast or play video games. Instead, I stood on the balcony, watching as the sun began to peak over the horizon.

Lloyd walks up to me, joining me. "The sky is beautiful," he says.

I nod. "My brother and I used to always watch the sunset, it's just as pretty as the sunrise." Lloyd nods, his gaze transfixed on the sky.

"Hey, Lloyd?" I ask.

"Hmm?"

"How come you don't ever talk about your mother?"

"I don't remember my mother," Lloyd says. "She left me when I was young."

"Where did you live then?"

"I spent my whole life at Darkly's Boarding School," Lloyd says sadly.

I frown. "It must've been lonely."

Lloyd looks down at his hands. "It was."

I stare at him for a few seconds, like really look at him. He was still examining his hands, his mop of blonde hair sweeping in front of his green eyes. He wore at contemplative expression, and I couldn't help but think how similar we are.

"Hey! Something has happened at the museum," Nya says, running towards us. "They've asked for you guys."

"What happened?" I ask, taking one final glance towards Lloyd as the others joined us, masks on.

"You're going to have to see it to believe it. Hurry!" She says.

We run to the museum. There was a man pacing outside, waiting for us to arrive.

"Thank god you're here. Come quick, this way!" He says, leading us down the hall.

"The Stone Warrior exhibit opens tonight, but we have a slight problem," he says.

"What kind of problem?" Zane asks.

"The toxic venom from the Great Devourer has seeped into the sewer system, affecting the exhibits."

"Ew," Jay says, glancing at the venom on the floor. I grimace from the smell and walk past it.

The curator opens two large doors, leading to the new exhibit.

Small stone statues of warriors were jumping around, they're eyes glowing green.

"The venom somehow brought our merchandise to life! I didn't know who else to call, good luck!" He says and quickly leaves the room, shutting the doors behind him.

"I think we can handle some toys," Jay says.

I pick one up and throw it against the wall. It shatters as it makes contact.

I feel one jump onto my back and pinch me.

"Hey!" I shout, trying to shake it off. I run into Zane doing so.

He grabs it off my back and throws it on the ground.

"Thanks," I say.

"My pleasure," he responds. But three more jump onto each of us.

We back up to the door with everyone else.

"Okay, playtime is over!" Kai says.

"Ninjago!" The four shout.

Their Spinjitzu destroys the statues alright, but everything else too.

"Oops?" Zane says.

Sensei, Lloyd, and I stand at the door, looking at the mess.

But they missed one of the statues and it bursts out the door.

Sensei runs after it, leaving the rest of us behind.

Cole, Kai, Zane, and Jay run after him leaving Lloyd and I alone in the room.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Lloyd mutters. I smile.

"What'd you mean? This keeps getting better and better," I joke.

He laughs dryly and we walk out, meeting with the rest of the ninja and Wu.

"Uh, yes. This is Lloyd's mother, Misako," I hear Wu say from a distance.

I glance at Lloyd as a look of hurt and confusion flashes across his features.

"My mother?" He says.

"Lloyd!" His mother says, smiling. "You're so much bigger than I remember," she says.

Lloyd's face hardens. "Yeah, well, it's been a long time," he says, taking a step away from her.

"I didn't want us to meet like this. There's a reason I've been away," she says, a hint of regret flashing across her features.

"I don't wanna hear it," he snaps, turning around and walking away.

"Lloyd, wait!" She says. I watch him leave and I turn towards the others. Wu nods at me and I go follow Lloyd out of the room.

Lloyd grumbles and kicks the floor in anger.

"Hey," I say. He looks at me and his face softens for a moment, but his anger quickly takes over.

"I've wanted to see her my whole life, so I can tell her exactly what's on my mind, and now I can and I'd don't even know what to say," he says, sitting down at the edge of the extremely deep hole.

I smile softly and sit down next to him, trying to be helpful. "What would you say?"

"She left me! I grew up with no parents, just my knowing consent that my father was an evil overlord. That's not much of a family," he says, throwing a small chip of concrete down the hole. It never touched the bottom.

"She did say she had a reason," I say.

"You're taking her side?" He asks, annoyed.

"No! Of course not. I'm just saying that maybe you should hear her out first," I say.

He sighs. "Maybe you're right. But that doesn't change the fact that she left me," He says.

"I'd watch your step, that hole doesn't have a bottom, son," his mother says, entering the door. I get up to leave to give them space, but Lloyd pulls me back down.

"Uh, son? You've been gone my whole life! You have no right to call me that," Lloyd spits.

"Want to know what I've been doing? Long before Wu even knew you'd be the Green Ninja, I knew it would be you! And I knew you'd have to eventually fight your father. I dropped you off at the boarding school so I could learn everything I could about the prophecy, in hope of one day I could prevent the battle between good and evil."

She walks to the other side of the sink hole, and stares at us kindly.

"All this time, son, I've been trying to save you and your father," she says. Lloyd looks at her, most of the anger from before now dissolved.

"Long before time had a name, the first Spinjitzu Masters-"

"Yeah, yeah," Lloyd says, cutting her off. "We've heard this story millions of times."

The rest of the guys and Wu enter the room and stand behind Lloyd and I.

"You've only heard half of it," Lloyd's mother says.

"In order for there to be light, there must be shadow. And in that shadow lies darkness, darkness darker than anything ever imaginable. There lies the evil spirit. The Overlord."

"Did you know about this, Sensei?" Zane asks.

"I-I'd hope if I were to never talk of it, his name would never come up again," Sensei says, stuttering. I secretly roll my eyes at his cowardice.

"Both sides were equal in power, the battle could've gone on for eternity. Until the Overlord created indestructible warriors known as The Stone Army. The Spinjitzu Master knew he couldn't win. To keep the balance between good and evil, the First Spinjitzu Master divided Ninjago into two, the island of darkness gone and forgotten. Lucky for us, there had been no trace of the evil Overlord, for he remained trapped on the island. That is, until now."

"So that's why the battle has yet to be decided, it was never finished!" Kai says.

"As long as the balance is even, the legend states that the Overlord remains on the island. But I always worried your father's ambitions would leave to a shift in the balance. He must be stopped," she says, glancing at Lloyd again.

"We have each felt the power of the First Spinjitzu Master. But now that power has been passed to the Green Ninja, which is why only Lloyd can defeat the ultimate evil," Wu says. I look at Lloyd, smiling and trying to give him confidence.

"Leaving you was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But the world depended on it, and I had no other choice," she says.

Lloyd looks at me then to his mother and nods.

"Have you discovered a way to prevent me from facing my father?" Lloyd asks, hope laced in his voice.

His mother shakes his head. "I'm sorry, not yet. But I still have hope."

Suddenly, a massive samurai looking figure breaks the door, bursting into the room. He was huge. Maybe about the size of Nya's samurai suit!

"Woah there! Will somebody please tell me, what the hell is that?" Jay exclaims.

"Is that..?" I begin, nervous to say the rest.

"The Stone Warrior," Lloyd's mother says, finishing my sentence.

"The Devourer's venom must've awaken him!" Zane exclaims.

"Oh, great! Kai?" Cole says, looking to Kai.

"Uh, me?" Kai says, looking at each of us. "Okay, take this!" he says, and runs towards the warrior with his sword.

He jumps towards the warrior, but it's massive sword shatters Kai's as soon as they make contact.

"I did not expect that," Kai mutters, strewn across the floor.

The warrior picks up Kai from his foot like he was a feather. Kai waves his arms and shouts, trying to loosen the stone man's grip.

"The Overlord made his army from an indestructible material. Your weapons will do nothing," Misako says.

"You could've mentioned that earlier!" Kai shouts, still hanging upside down. The warrior throws Kai and he lands onto pots, breaking them. Kai groans.

"Lloyd, use your powers!" Wu says.

Lloyd focuses and a ball of green energy forms in his hand. He holds it out and a beam shoots out of it, hitting the warrior.

"Nice!" Cole exclaims.

But to our surprise, the warrior gets back up.

"How are we supposed to destroy this thing?" Jay says.

"El, your weapon!" Zane says.

"I don't think it'll help!" I say, getting out my daggers.

I throw one of them at the warrior. It flies through the air, spinning as it does so. The dagger sticks in a weak spot in its armor, and a gust of wind pushes the warrior back a few inches. But as before, it gets back up.

"Uh, guys?" I say.

"Run!" Jay yells.

All of us run out the door, the warrior following in pursuit. We run as fast as we can, but the Stone Warrior was quick.

"The guy is wearing sneakers or something!Pick up the pace!" Lloyd exclaims.

We continue running, looking for a place to hide as we do so.

"Oh man, he's pretty fast for a big guy!" Kai shouts.

We run into a big room and close the doors behind us. The indestructible warrior breaks a hole through one of of the doors, making it clear he could get through at any time.

We slowly back up away from the hole. I could see my dagger wedged between its armor plates.

"My dagger!" I say.

"El, no!" Cole says, pulling me back. I shake him off.

"I have to! It's the only thing I have left from my mother!"

I run towards the side of the door and jump, pushing myself onto the warrior.

"Be careful!" Kai shouts.

I jump and flip onto it's helmet. It tries to shake me off, and I grab onto it's stone armor tightly.

I jump and grab the hilt of the dagger and fall, crashing to the floor.

The warrior lifts its foot in the air, trying to step on me. I roll to the side, dodging its foot. I grab my dagger and run back towards everyone.

"That door isn't going to hold him forever!" Kai says.

"Then let's settle this like men! With rock, paper, clamp!" Jay says.

"And women," I mutter.

"No!" The five shouts.

I groan. "I'm tired of you all treating me like I'm not as good as you! I can protect myself, I'm not some fragile doll," I say.

"She's right. You sure you want to fight this dude, though?" Cole says.

"I'm sure I want to prove my worth," I say, putting my hand into the circle.

"Okay. Loser has to face him, so the rest can escape," Jay says.

Lloyd puts his hand in too, but Jay and Kai push him out.

"Not you, Chosen One," Jay says. "Ninjago needs you for the fight." Lloyd rolls his eyes, but backs away.

"On three," Kai says.

"Wait! That's it!" Lloyd says, getting an idea.

"What's it?" Sensei Wu says.

"You guys keep him busy, I have an idea on how to stop him," Lloyd says, running towards the back of the room.

"Let's give the kid a shot," Cole says.

"You just don't want to face him," Jay says, narrowing his eyes.

Cole scoffs. "Let's see you face it."

Jays eyes widen. "I say we give the kid a shot," he says, laughing nervously.

Lloyd nods and opens the vent, ducking into the crawl space.

"Be careful, Lloyd. Good luck," his mother says. Lloyd smiles and disappears.

"I can't believe that's Lord Garmadon's son," Misako says.

"Don't forget, he's yours too," Wu says. She smiles, staring at him with admiration.

"Well, let's distract him," I say, running up the stairs behind us.

We hide behind a wall, Cole on the opposite end than us, and I nod.

The warrior bursts into the room, yelling and shouting in some sort of foreign language.

Cole jumps on top of some bones that were hanging from the ceiling, and cuts the wires with his scythe. The bones fall down on top of the warrior, trapping him for the time being.

"Nice!" Kai exclaims, fist bumping Cole.

"Did we get him?" Zane asks.

"I sure hope so," Jay says.

"You think Lloyd is ready with his plan?" Kai asks.

Suddenly, the warrior sticks his arm out from underneath the piles of bones. He roars and gets up, shaking the bones off of him.

"We have no choice now," I say, backing up with everyone else.

I turn around and run out the door, everyone following behind me.

Misako stumbles on the floor, and Wu helps her up.

"I may not be a ninja, but I can handle my self!" She says, and jumps over the side. She slides down a banner and falls onto the floor safely.

We all copy her actions, but the warrior jumps up in front of us, scattering all of us but Misako onto the floor. She dodged it's strikes and takes off running.

By the time we returned to the room with the sink hole, the warrior was gone—his plan must've worked. I make sure to stay well away from the hole now, I wouldn't want to be falling for eternity with a monster.

"Stay with us," Wu says. "Help us fight the good fight."

"If that's okay with my son?" She says, turning towards Lloyd.

"The more the merrier," Lloyd says, smiling.

His mother hugs him, beaming with happiness.

-

Once again, I find myself leaning on the rails that overlook the deck, looking off into the night sky.

"Can't sleep either?" Lloyd says, walking up to me. I shake my head no.

He nods. "A lot happened today," he says.

"A ton happened for you. Your mother just appeared and is now living with us," I say, laughing slightly.

"Ha. Yeah, I guess," he says, looking at the sky.

I frown at him, but then continue staring off into the stars.

"Are you okay with her living here now?" I ask.

He ponders quietly for a moment, then replies, "I don't know. I'm still angry, but I'm happy that she is here." I nod, but then he continues, "My whole life, I thought I was doomed for darkness. My father is certainly evil, and my mother left her son without any explanation. Seeing that she is good—that she cares about me—it makes me glad we ran into her today."

"I'm sorry you felt that way," I say quietly. He shrugs.

"How come back when we first met, you told us you were on only child?" Lloyd asks suddenly.

I think about it. "Usually I just answer with that I didn't want to explain, but I think there's more to it," I say. "I don't think I've come to terms with my brother's death."

"When did it happen?" He asks softly.

I play with the collar of my shirt sheepishly. "Five years ago."

"Nothing wrong with that. He's your twin, that's definitely hard to get over. And you guys seemed pretty close, having to rely on each other all the time."

I look up at him gratefully. "You're one of the only people who didn't judge me after I told you my story."

Lloyd turns towards me, his face full of surprise. "Why would anybody do that?"

I shrug. "People just aren't as understanding as you."

He turns back towards the deck and looks at his hands, like he always does when he's nervous or if something is on his mind. I look back up to the stars.

I gasp softly. "That's it!" I say.

"What's it?"

"My way to unlock my true potential! I have to come to terms with his death," I say. I frown. "A lot easier said than done."

"Hey, you've got this. I'll be with you every step of the way," Lloyd says.

"And that'll make the whole situation easier. Thanks, Lloyd," I say. He smiles.

I watch as the moon shines onto his features, defining his cheek bones. His eyes seem to glow in the moonlight, a kind yet mischievous glint in his eyes. The same bright eyes scan my face as well, examining my features. They glance down to my lips, and I take a look at his as well.

They were slightly parted, and seemed to be moving closer to mine.

My hands move to his shoulders, as if they had a mind of their own. His hands move to my hip, moving just like mine did.

I close my eyes, and finally, his lips meet mine.

I feel a million things at once, but I felt one distinct thing for sure. Something I hadn't felt in a long time.

Safe.

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