#where nya has her hair completely down for the first time in ages

[kaligraphy]

idk I think nya's hair being symbolic for her journey through life could be really interesting

[crystalgirl259]

How to Train Your Dragonblood 3: The Dragonblood Alpha Ch3

After Jay and Cole finally got Kai and Rocky to stop their little game of tug and war, they all flew towards the smoke to investigate it. Below them, the trees look like an orange, yellow blur below them and on any other day, Jay would be in awe. But as they flew further into the forest, however, the bright orange and yellow colors became a burned, gray forest. The place looked downright depressing. The trees were devoid of any leaves, standing like sticks among the ashes.

They flew through the burnt remains of the forest until they reached the ocean and saw a large and piercing structure of ice, with large protruding spiky icicles.

As they flew around the destroyed structure, Cole realized that used to be a type of trading post or battle fort. This fort looked like it was once a thriving outpost, complete with docks for ships, weapons, and what looked like cages. Jay really hoped they were for containing livestock and not something else. There were even raised docks for archers to fire. Despite Cole clearly identifying the fort as strong, something had reduced it to splinters and icicles.

At first, they thought it was an Ice Dragonblood, but judging but the size of the blast, it must have been an incredibly large and strong one.

They stopped in midair to take in the sight. Jay turned around to Cole, who shrugged helplessly. They had all seen Ice Dragonblood attacks before, but it wasn't just the ice that was strange. The way the ice shot out from the ocean suggested a Water Dragonblood, but the few scorch marks on the bits of wood exposed made Jay think of a Lightning Dragonblood, or possibly a Fire Dragonblood. Jay could feel Kai's hope through their link, but they both knew not to get too hopeful.

They had been disappointed in the past.

They flew closer to the massive hunk of ice, looping through a ring and around it until the man-made structure became more visible.

"What happened here?" Jay asked in horror, but none of his friends had an answer for him. As they kept flying around, the wood splinters on the ice made it seem as if the ice suddenly grew in the middle of a village. On the muddy ground around the ruins, two dragon-like footprints were seen. They looked to be around the size of the monster from the Dragonblood's Nest from five years ago, possibly even bigger.

"I really don't like this," Kai said through the link as he shook his head and Jay put his hand on his neck in reassurance.

"Easy, baby." He replied, but he couldn't hide his own unease.

"Jay!" Cole suddenly cried when he saw something down in the ice, but it was too late.

"Fire!" A man suddenly shouted from below as a net was launched from a trapped ship and Jay and Kai got out of its range just in time. Even though the couple had managed to dodge the net, Cole and Rocky were not that lucky. The Earth Dragonblood was caught in the net and they fell down. Cole was thrown off from the saddle during the sudden drop. The noirette cried out as he fell, but Kai to catch him in his claws. Rocky landed on the ground and men suddenly surround him, carrying shields and spears.

Rocky struggled to escape or transform, but the net seemed to be made from vengestone, blocking out all of his powers.

As the men closed in, Rocky launched rock spikes from his tail that struck a fallen mast. From behind the fallen mast, a man jumped out to join in the fight. The middle-aged man had messy black hair and sharp, sandy brown eyes with long sideburns and stubble around his mouth and chin. He wore a brown jacket with large pockets on the front and a patch on the right side, tan pants, and a black belt, and carried a brown whip. He was also wearing an eyepatch on his right eye with a necklace made up of large teeth from hunted dragonbloods.

"Watch the tail!" He shouted to the men as he leaped on Rocky and grabbed his snout and head spines, pulling him down. As the men tried to tie Rocky's legs, he grabbed a rope wrapped around his arm that he used as a muzzle when he was suddenly distracted by a loud roar in the sky. As he looked up he saw a red dragon crossing the sky above at blazing speeds. "Is that what I think it is?" He whispered as his eyes widened in shock and excitement.

"STOP!" Jay shouted as Kai flew lower with Cole still hanging from his claws. Cole growled in anger when he saw his friend in chains as he hopped down and ran towards his dragonblood, but was pushed back by the men holding up their weapons in a warning. Jay quickly stepped up, holding a flaming sword that he swung at them. They backed off in surprise and Cole took the chance to grab a random sharp stick from the floor.

"Back again?" The man sneered angrily at them until his eyes zeroed in on Kai, still in his dragon form, snarling and snapping behind them. His eyes widened in amazement as she stood up on top of Rocky, holding his left hand over his sword. "Well what do you know, that is a Fire Dragonblood." He smirked at Kai with a predatory stare. Jay's eyes narrowed as he kept his hand in front of protectively while the dragonblood bared his teeth at the hunters.

There was no way Jay was going to let these hunters hurt his boyfriend.

"Thought they were all gone for good." The man continued, sounding very pleased. "Looks like our luck has turned for the better, men; I don't think the Baron has one of those in his dragonblood army."

"Dragonblood army?" Kai mentally asked. Jay was also curious, but right now they needed to save Rocky.

"Look, we don't want any trouble." He tried to reason with the man but he laughed, mocking them, and carelessly gripped into one of Rocky's head spikes. Cole bristled, but fortunately, nobody saw it. The last thing they needed was a fight with their leader targeting Kai and Rocky still in chains while he and Jay were badly outnumbered.

"You should've thought of that before you stole all of our dragonbloods and blasted our fort to bits!" The man shouted angrily as he pointed to the remains of a structure that were impaled by ice. The other men holler in agreement, but the riders were even more confused.

"Wait, what are you talking about? You think we did this?" Jay asked in disbelief. The man huffed and placed one foot on Rocky's head as he scowled at them in contempt. Cole and Kai scowled right back and Jay gripped his sword tighter.

"Dragonblood trapping is hard enough work as it is without do-gooders dragon riders sneaking in to rescue them!" He shouted angrily, but this just confused the trio even more.

"What do-gooders?" Kai asked, but Jay said nothing as he and Cole shared a look before the ginger-haired man processed the whole sentence and turned around, sheathing the sword.

"There are other dragon riders?" He asked in shock. As far as he or anyone else from Ninjago was aware, they were the only ones who ride and co-exist with Dragonbloods. The people of Ninjago had tried for years to get the other islands to accept the Dragonbloods, but it was a painfully slow process.

"You mean other than your little thieving friend from last night? You tell me! You may have an all-powerful dragonblood on your side but we still have a quota to fill!" He sneered as she stepped down from Rocky and on the floor, slowly pacing in front of his people. "How do you suppose we explain this mess to the Iron Baron?!" The man demanded in rage and his people all shouted in agreement. As soon as he said that name, Kai visibly stiffened.

There was no way that fairytale was actually true.

He could swear he had heard that name before when he was just a hatchling, but everyone believed it was just a scary story their parents would tell them to make sure they stayed as far away from humans as possible.

"Kai? Do you know him?" Jay asked through their link, but Kai shook his head, confusing everyone but Jay.

"Never met him, but when we were little Mom would tell Nya and me of a giant human made out of metal trapping disobedient Dragonblood hatchlings and dragging them to the Cursed Realm to work as slaves in his monstrous forge for all of eternity," Kai explained, barely suppressing a frightening shudder. When they were little and told this story, Nya and her friends thought it would be funny to gather up and scrap metal lying around.

They then used it to make Kai think the Iron Baron was coming for him.

"Does anything you say make sense?" Cole growled, snapping Kai and Jay out of their private conversation.

"He's expecting a new shipment of dragons by tomorrow." One of the men said, looking torn between anger and fear. The man, obviously their leader, pointed his finger at the one speaking and nodded his head in agreement.

"The Baron doesn't take well to excuses." Another trapper wearing a hood added, batted his blade weapon at them.

"This is what he gave me last time I showed up empty-handed." The man said as he pulled down his coat and shirt to show them a scar burned into the front of his left shoulder. Cole, Kai, and Jay looked at each other mortified. "He promised to be far less understanding in the future."

"Look, we don't know anything about a dragon thief or an all-powerful dragonblood or your lunatic boss and his dragon army, okay?" Jay gulped nervously, not noticing as the man faintly nodded and other trappers behind them aim their catapults and crossbows at the two humans and Fire Dragonblood. "Just give us back our dragonblood and we'll go, you very strange hostile person whom we've never met."

"Oh, where are my manners?" He mocked as she bowed down and slowly clutched a knife strapped to his lower back. "I am Clutch Powers, the finest dragonblood trapper alive." He announced as he took the knife out of its sheath with a flourish. He looked up where the men turn a large crossbow. He smirked as he pointed the blade at Kai who growled louder.

"After all, it's not just anyone who can capture a Fire Dragonblood."

"Go jump off a bridge you one-eyed bitch!" Kai roared, even though Jay was the only one who understood him.

"This is my boyfriend Kai; he says we're going, now!" Jay snapped, standing protectively in front of his boyfriend, even though they both knew Kai could handle himself in a fight. All of a sudden, the hidden dragon trappers attacked and Kai barely managed to dodge the hit from the crossbows. At the same time, the men began to converge on them. Thinking quickly, Kai shot a fire blast at the ice above them. A large icicle broke off and fell down, causing the trappers to yell and duck for cover.

Clutch too was thrown off his feet.

Jay quickly activated the sword and the flames around it and quickly cut the ropes binding the Earth Dragonblood. With his dragonblood free, Cole, Kai, Jay, and Rocky fly away while Clutch got back up. By the time he was up the pairs were both back in the air.

"You will never hold onto those dragonbloods forever, you hear me? The Iron Baron is coming for them all!" He yelled at the top of his lungs furiously, as he started swinging around the knife. As they flew as fast as they could from the trappers, Jay looked back, concerned at those words...

****************

Back at Ninjago, Jay's friends were all flying around the island, having a playful race amongst themselves. It was just after lunch now and now that they were all refueled and well-rested, the riders and their dragonbloods were looking for anything to pass the time. Right now, that something was racing. Dareth cheered the loudest, currently in the lead, as the others chased after them. As they raced, Plundar and Adam suddenly flew near Ed and Edna's hut.

There Edna was trying to relax, scaring her and the few pigeons and seagulls perched on the porch around her.

The normally calm and sweet Edna grunted and shook her fist at the group of flies, but none of them paid her any mind. In the plaza, Cliff casually greeted the many villagers as he walked towards the forge, hoping Jay would be there. As he maneuvered his way through the crowd, he chuckled when he saw a small group of people either scowling or celebrating at the recent Dragonblood game. A few of them had placed bets to who they thought would win.

Honestly, Cole, Zane, and Jay, if he ever attended, were the only ones who actually won any of the games.

The others were skilled riders and fighters, but they always fought each other instead of focusing on the task on hand. As Cliff entered the forge, he saw Ed working on the grindstone.

"Any sign of him?" The village leader asked when he didn't see his son or Kai in the forge.

"He's probably flown off the edge of the world by now." Ed hummed as he walked next to a Wind Dragonblood in his dragon form and opened the mouth to work on his teeth.

"You sure you want him running the village? You can still delay your retirement." He continued, worried for both Cliff and Jay.

"He's ready, you'll see," Cliff promised as a roar was suddenly heard from outside the forge. Kai and Rocky soon landed with their riders, kicking up a cloud of dust. As soon as Cole and Jay jumped off their backs, the two Dragonbloods returned to their human forms. "Hahaha! Here he is! The pride of Ninjago!" Cliff exclaimed to everyone who could hear, grinning from ear to ear. Dragonbloods aside, his son was becoming more and more like a worthy heir.

Jay quickly took off his helmet and walked towards the two men, with Kai and Cole following close behind.

Rocky would have joined them, but after that close call, he wanted to spend some quality time with his mate and their hatchlings.

"Who finally decided to show up for work." Ed joked lightly as he made a few pretend swings of his hammer as Jay dodged with a smile. Kai and Cole smiled at the casual interactions of the three. Cole had never noticed how close Ed and Jay were but neither did they often banter like that in public. Despite it being five years, it was like a breath of fresh air to see the boy he had been ostracizing still so spirited.

"Sorry, got held up." Jay grinned as he followed his father deeper into the building, dodging any object hanging low from the ceiling. "Hey, um, Dad! Can I have a word?" He asked and Cliff looked positively pleased as he put his large hands over Jay's shoulders.

"Something you're itching to tell me? He grinned as he wrapped his arm around Jay and they keep walking.

"Y-Yeah, not quite the itch you're thinking off but yes." He replied as the Chief grabbed two aprons from a hook that he threw to his son and Kai. Jay put it back on the hook whereas Kai just dropped it on the floor.

"Ah, good man! Now lesson one, a chief's first duty is to its people!" Cliff happily exclaimed as they stopped at a post. From a hook in the wall hang numerous slates inscribed with Ninjago runes and Cliff took the one labeled forty-one.

"Well, can we just talk in private for a-" Jay tried to say but was interrupted as Cliff shouted out the number. People outside were yelling and one excited man was seen jumping up and down and waving his hands.

"It's me, that's me! I'm next!" He cheered as he ran up to the counter as Cliff turned to smile knowingly at his son, who held in an irritated groan. "Okay, okay! I want one of those high sitters with lots of spikes and a big storage compartment." The man squealed in excitement like a child on Christmas Day.

"Absolutely! You got it, sir." Cliff smiled as he wrote down the order and went back into the forge, gathering tools and materials and handing them to his son.

"Dad, this is actually a little more important than building saddles." Jay insisted.

"Yeah, you think you can stop with these little orders and listen?" Kai snapped, only to back off at Jay's glare. Thankfully, Cliff didn't pay Kai's comment any mind.

"Ah, lesson two; no task is too small when it comes to serving your people." He told the ginger-haired man as they got to a table with diverse instruments. Cliff began to look at them and dropped them in a box while Ed got Kai to re-light the forge's fire behind them.

"Dad..." Jay whined as Cliff pushed the box of supplies into his arms and he took it as they started to walk to another part of the forge. As they walked, Jay also grabbed several things that he placed in the box. "I really need to tell you about this new land we came across."

"Another one?" Ed hummed as Zane and Pixal appeared from his right.

"Any new dragonbloods?" The pale man asked in excitement as Cliff picked up a large piece of leather, looking completely focused on his task and unaware of the conversation going on around him.

"We didn't stick around to find out." Jay shuddered at the memory.

"Yeah, these folks weren't friendly." Cole agreed with a glare as Jay and his father stopped beside a big, wooden structure that was meant to represent a dragon's back. Cliff put the leather on it and began to inspect it.

"Aw, really? Your Fire and Earth Dragonblood didn't bring them cheering to the rooftops?" Plundar laughed at the scowls they all sent him.

"No, this was different." Jay insisted as he began to draw the outline of the saddle while Cliff pushed on a level that aligned the leather and the structure that it sat on. "These guys were trappers, dragonblood trappers." He gulped and all his friends seemed to freeze at that. Over the years, especially in the beginning, a few ships would attack the odd Dragonblood that was hanging around near the edges of the island, but when they saw the riders coming in to attack, they quickly fled.

That didn't make it anymore scary at the thought of one of their scaly friends suddenly being taken away, never to be seen again.

Jay often had nightmares about that, as did Kai.

"You should've seen their fort, all blown apart and stuck in giant spikes of ice, it was weird," Cole added, still really confused by it all.

"Do you think it was an Ice Dragonblood?" Pixal asked.

"It's possible, but there was something about how the ice was shaped that didn't look like the work of an Ice Dragonblood." Rocky suddenly said as he walked in with Adam. "There was also damage to the ships and scorch marks on the wood."

"So a group of dragonbloods?" Morro suggested.

"No their leader said it was one, all-powerful Dragonblood that attacked them last night, I've never seen anything like it; and worst of all, they thought we did it!" Jay cried in offense and shock. Sure they had an island full of Dragonbloods and a seeming one-of-a-kind Fire Dragonblood, but even they wouldn't just up and attack a base and risk any lives like that, human or dragonblood.

"You know, you kids are gonna get in serious troubles one of these days, not everyone appreciates this way of life." Ed reminded them all.

"Ed's right, son, best we keep to our own." Cliff agreed as he took the leather and walked over to a table with a giant saw, where he laid it down. "Besides, you have more important uses for your time once we make the big announcement." He smiled as he pulled a lever that activated the saw and rubbed his hands gleefully, thinking of seeing his son taking over as Chief. Jay didn't share his mood and stopped the machine to finally get his attention.

"They are building a dragonblood army." He said in a tone that showed everyone that this was no laughing matter. His serious tone drew the looks of the people waiting outside, and some even subconsciously held their Dragonblood friends and family closer. "Or-Or at least the guy they work for is... uh, Metal Barton or something." He continued, trying to remember the name Clutch told him but failed. As soon as Jay said that, Cliff's eyes widened and he shared a look with a terrified Ed.

"I'll bloody his fist with my face if he tries to take Tox!" Dareth exclaimed as he punched his fist in his hand as the overall mood dove in somberness. Ronin, Shade, and Tox all rolled their eyes at Dareth's declaration, knowing he was all talk. Nevertheless, Ronin shared his brother's determination, as did the others. Before Jay could say anything else, Cliff suddenly grasped his shoulders, pushing him back a step as he forced the ginger-haired human to look at him.

"Baron? Iron Baron?" He whispered in absolute terror, something Jay nor anyone else had ever heard in the chief's voice.

"Uh... Yeah, I think so." He nodded, feeling incredibly confused and uncomfortable with his father's sudden shift in moods.

"Wait! You know him?" Kai frowned, but Cliff didn't answer. He simply had a faraway look in his eyes as he gazed around in thought. There was only one thing to do...

[aweebwrites]

Monsoon

Here you go @thelucariosfish!

_________

In the tall, tan grass of the dry savanna laid a seemingly sunbathing Cheetah, camouflaged almost completely thanks to the fur that covered most of his body. The darker spots and even the messy chestnut hair the big cat had didn't hinder his ability to remain camouflaged at all. In fact, these aided him to fit into the earth tones of the dry savanna. While the sun felt good soaking into the demi human's skin, he had his eyes focused on the small group of gazelles grazing in the dry grass nearby. They seemed to have arrived earlier than expected for the rainy season. Jay could hardly wait himself. It's been hard finding a water hole to keep hydrated under the intense heat of the sun, especially with the lions and stronger animals than he hogging it all for themselves. Jay watched as a gazelle strayed from the group, his tail flicking eagerly as he wanted for the right time to strike.

Given that he was on his own and finding territory was hard, worse to find a watering hole, he decided to do the most foolish thing any cheetah, demi-human or not could do… He decided to try and talk to a lion. Bigger, fiercer, angrier cats than he. Even a female could take him down easily if they somehow got their paws on him. But what choice did he have when his adoptive parents had passed from old age? The old hyenas had taught him as much as they could about life as a cheetah through their experiences with them. He wasn't used to being in the norm anyway. He had to do what he can to survive. Of course he steered clear of the baser lions and headed for a small group of demi-human lions. In fact, it was so small of a group that was only two persons. A lion and a lioness. That didn't mean that the sole lion with a dark mane, borderline red didn't pounce on him immediately, snarling at him as he held him down with his large paws.

The gazelle strayed farther from the herd and closer to him. He licked his lips as he tightened his crouch, ready to pounce. The gazelle wandered even farther from the herd and even closer to the waiting predator. Finally, Jay saw his opening and shot out, startling the gazelle into a run as the others rushed away for safety. Jay was on its tail, keeping up no problem as he worked on getting closer. He kept up with each sudden turn to try and throw him off, paws beating roughly against the dry plains as he kept going. He was starting to get tired through, felt it in his muscles with each fast step of his paws. The gazelle started to gain distance. Jay smirked as he chased it still. He may be getting tired but that gazelle wasn't about to get away. He darted left before the gazelle could, keep it right in the right path. They were approaching even more tall grass.

Suddenly, the lion and lioness jumped out of the grass roaring at the gazelle and startling it, leaving it to skid as it tried to change direction. That was all the opening Jay needed. He pounced at the gazelle from behind, sinking his claws into its hide and biting into its back. Before the gazelle could think about trying to escape, it had the thick fangs of the lion in its neck, the lioness helping Jay hold it down. Suddenly, the lion jerks back, snapping the gazelle's neck and securing their meal. Both Jay and the lioness held onto the gazelle as the life left it then only relaxed a bit once it was still.

"For a second there, I thought you were losing your game." Kai says then licked the blood away from his thick fangs.

"So you think." Jay huffed as he pulled back, licking the claws.

"We don't have time to chat. The hyenas will be here any second now." Nya says with annoying, the lioness sniffling along the animal's back then picking a spot to sink her fangs into.

Both lion and cheetah shared a look before joining her, enjoying their catch. By the time the hyenas do arrive, they've eaten almost everything already, leaving nothing back but scraps and an occasional bite of meat. They walked away from the more primitive versions of the hyenas, letting them fight over their leftovers as they headed towards their shared den about a mile back. It was a shallow cave located in the side of a small, rocky hill and was their shared home for the past three months. Jay recalled fondly when he came here, directly to their home to discuss. 

_

The angry lion with burning brown eyes looked down at the cheetah with a snarl, thick fangs on display as his paws pressed heavily into the cheetah's shoulders. Everything in Jay screamed to run but to run was certain death in the near future. So he pushed past instincts and spoke.

'H-hey! No need for the hostility! I'm friendly! I promise!' Jay says and the lion squinted down at him, his growls only quietening slightly.

'What do you want?' The lioness' voice was low, clipped and cold as she walked over on her hind legs, her fur slightly darker than the average lion, almost matching the reddish brown of the lion's mane.

'Uh. Could you uh, let up a bit first?' Jay asked the lion nervously and his snarl was a clear no.

'Talk or you'll become lunch.' The lioness says impatiently and Jay winced once the lion's grip on his shoulders tightened.

'Ok! Ok!' Jay was quick to surrender then swallowed. 'I want to join your pride.' He managed to say as seriously as he could.

Both lions paused, sharing a look to see if they heard the same thing- the large lion over him made his first humane sound: he laughed. Loud and hard. Jay tried not to let himself get angry but the parts of his spotted face not covered by fur was getting red with his irritation.

'Are you done?' Jay asked drily after a while and the lioness started to laugh too, realising that he was serious.

This only rubbed Jay even more raw. Was he really that laughable as a cheetah for them to completely turn his offer down like this? He had always been different from the few baser and demi cheetahs he's come across before but he hadn't thought the difference would be so much for these two to all out laugh at his face… If that's the case then… He can kiss the promise he made to his adoptive parents about staying alive goodbye.

'You can't be serious.' The lion finally spoke around a laugh and Jay glared stubbornly at the larger male.

'So what if I am?' He asked, tilting his chin up stubbornly.

'Oh he really is serious.' The lioness says with light amusement in her voice.

'Last time I checked, you were a cheetah.' The lion pointed out.

'Yeah? So what of it?' Jay asked and the lion blinked at him then leveled him with an unimpressed look.

'What do you even mean. You're a cheetah. We're lions. Only lions can join prides and you aren't one. Either way, we're fine on our own.' The lion says and Jay frowned.

'But isn't hunting with just two of you harder? I could help! I'm super fast!' Jay prepositioned and the lions shared a look again.

'And what makes you think you have what it takes to hunt with us? If you need to seek unhelpful or protection or whatever, what good are you to us? You'll only drag us down. And even so, we don't need anyone else in our pride and that's that.' The lion says then let up the cheetah. 'Now scram before I change my mind.' The lion says with an aggravated growl.

Jay got to all fours, thinking quickly. He can't let this opportunity pass him. He has to convince them somehow.

'I'll prove I can be useful-'

'Look. We know the only reason you're here is because you want something from us. Not that you want to join us.' The lioness says, crossing her arms as she flicked her tail back and forth. 'What is it? Territory? Prey? Water? Pro- oh.' She stopped once she spotted the visible tense in Jay's body language once she mentioned water.

'So it's water, huh? Of course.' The lioness chuckled. 'This deep into the dry season, a waterhole with water still is a blessing for any creature.' She says then huffed.

'I'm surprised you didn't just bypass us completely and drank your fill. What? Want to settle down? Too bad. We aren't too keen on sharing out territory.' The lion went from amused to threatening.

Jay's situation was going south quickly. He had to think, and fast. He looked around quickly then looked back at them both then paused, looking at their fur.

'But you do need help hunting.' Jay insisted, regaining his courage, keeping his grin off his face when they looked struck. 'Just let me try for a while. I'm not intrusive! You won't see me around at all outside of helping you guys hunt and defending the territory. I promise!' He pleaded and both lion and lioness paused, sharing a look.

The lion gave him a long, hard look before stepping aside and have a hushed conversation with the lioness. Jay took the chance to rub at his shoulders carefully with his paws that were roughened from the harsh ground of the savanna. He was nervous. Their answer could mean life or death for him… He tensed once they turned back to him then swallowed on their approach. The lion lifted his paw and Jay flinched- but then blinked once the lion extended a paw for him to take.

'We'll see what use you have to us. But if we decide to send you away, you better leave without a fight.' The lion says aggressively.

Jay couldn't help but beam, taking the large paw and allowed him to help him to his hind legs.

'Alright! I will!' The cheetah says excitedly, flicking his tail back and forth.

'Your trial starts now.' The lioness says, gesturing to the outside and Jay nodded, already full of energy and food.

He could get them a gazelle or a zebra no problem!

'Oh. And by the way, I'm Kai.' The lion says and Jay blinked up at his cocky fanged grin, finding himself taking in his whiskered face, his intelligent eyes, his-

'And I'm Nya.' The lioness says, crossing her strong arms over her chest.

Jay looked between both powerful lion demi-humans then grinned.

'I'm Jay!'

_

That was where their partnership began. It wasn't easy for Jay. They worked him to the bone but he wasn't willing to give up. It took almost a month before he was allowed to eat with them and even more before he could share their den. They've gotten really close over the entire time period however. They groomed each other and worked together as their own strange pride. They've got a lot of strange looks from other demi-humans while the baser versions of their kind chalked it up to odd demi-human behaviour. But they worked. They fit. They become family. And Jay? Well… He long felt right at home.

All three cats looked up once thunder sounded, seeing dark clouds forming overhead.

"Well well. The monsoon is here. Finally." Jay says as they walked together, a smirk on his face.

"Monsoon?..." Kai asked confused, tilting his head to the side.

"It's a human term. It's a fancier way of saying the rainy season." Jay explained.

"You sure do know a lot about the human language." Nya says, glancing across at him as they continued their way home.

It was almost suspicious but Jay had explained that his adoptive parents were hyenas that had been helped by humans before. The human language was taught to all demi-humans by their parents and their parents before them. While what they knew may be a bit outdated, it allowed demi-humans to communicate more effectively and to understand more clearly the intentions of humans. Even though they understood and spoke the human language, it was a well kept secret from the humans that they did know it. It was an advantage no demi-human was willing to let go. All the humans knew was that they could learn it if necessary. They tend to do that with more domesticated demi-humans after all.

"I only know so much. I don't like humans very much though. It's hard to tell their intentions. They twist their words and most of them hunt us." Jay says with a frown.

"Yeah…" Both Kai and Nya says quietly, leaving Jay to frown.

Did he accidentally say something bad? Before he could even think to ask, a drip of water fell on his nose. He looked up then pressed his ears flat against his head once the drop turned to drizzle.

"Oh no!" Kai yelled then took off running.

"Huh? Hey wait!" Jay yelled, running after him, keeping up with the larger lion with ease.

They made it to the cave in the nick of time, rain pouring down seconds later as thunder rolled.

"You're really particular about water, aren't you?" Jay says, amused and Kai blinked at him mid lick of his paw. "Meaning, you don't like being covered in water." He clarified.

"Water isn't my thing. It's Nya's." Kai says as he turned around and looked out of the shallow cave.

Jay looked out too then blinked to see Nya standing there on her hind legs, taking in the rain, letting it wash over her, a smile on her face. She looked really happy… Kai laid down on his stomach then began licking his rough tongue against his paw. Jay joined him, laying beside the larger lion and licking at his mane. Sure, that meant he was guaranteed to get a hairball later but he knew how much Kai was proud of his mane. He wanted to help as much as he could. Anyway, it was a really unique and attractive mane… All spiky and standing up rather than down. Things were quiet for a while, even after Jay had finished helping Kai groom himself. They watched as Nya flopped over on her back, not caring that she was getting muddy, laughing to herself as she enjoyed the heavy downpour. Jay found himself smiling.

She really did look happy.

"Hey Jay…" The cheetah looked across at the lion as he watched his sister still.

Jay had thought for a while that they were a more intimate pair and received the yelling of a lifetime.

"Yeah, what's up?" Jay asked, tail flicking back and forth curiously.

"... Now that the rains are back… You'll stay here with us still… Right?... You won't… Abandon us too… Right?" Kai asked him softly, a look of pain crossing his face.

"Too?" Jay whispered to himself, wondering who had left them before.

The cheetah's breath caught however, remembering that the only reason he came to them was for their watering hole. Did they think after all this time he spent with them, knowing them, becoming one of them, apart of their family that… That he would up and leave that behind? No way.

"Of course not. It could rain forever and I'd stay right here with you guys. You guys are family, you know?" Jay says with a fond smile, looking out as Nya squirmed around on her back, paws up in the air.

Kai looked across at Jay, at his eyes that flashed with the lightning. They were as beautiful as they were deadly. A smile tugged at Kai's lips. Family huh. Jay blinked, his eyes widening as his cheeks reddened when Kai's tail caught his flickering one, coiling around it. He looked at Kai with those wide eyes and the lion only gave him a soft smirk before shifting closer, pressing his body right up against the cheetah. Kai nuzzled the smaller cat then licked at his cheek before settling, leaving Jay to lay there tensely, his cheeks red and his heart beating a mile a minute. What was this… He… Jay relaxed himself as he smiled softly, his heart warming as he rested against the warm mass of Kai. He was always so warm, like the sun…

Jay took a moment to wonder if the reason he was never this close with him was because he was afraid he'd leave. He didn't think too much into it, choosing to nuzzle against the warm fur of his mane instead, a purr leaving him as he closed his eyes. Kai smiled then closed his eyes too, taking in the sound of rain and the feeling of Jay next to him. Somewhere along the line, the odd cheetah got under his defences, under his skin and made himself home. From his odd jokes, to his energy filled nature, to his gorgeous features and more. But he was so hesitant to get as close as he had wanted to. Not when the dry season was coming to an end. Not when the sole reason for Jay coming into their lives would leave. But now… Knowing he wouldn't leave them… Leave him… He burrows his nose into the curly brown hair of the cheetah, taking in his scent with a content purr of his own.

This monsoon felt like a little taste of heaven.

______________

(Not the fic I had in mind to post but a fic nonetheless! I really need to get back into the one-shot scene but bet your bottom dollar I ain't done with this fic. A new series? Very likely. Highly doubt it'll have regular updates right now but in a month or so. Thanks for reading!)

[green-powered-hero-blog]

The Great Ninjago Rewrite: Pilot

Here’s the thing I have been planning on working on for a long while -- the great Ninjago Pilot Rewrite! I’m almost done it, so you guys can now read this.

Fanfiction.net

AO3

Long ago, the world of Ninjago was nothing. No land, no life existed. Then, a traveler from another world came to Ninjago, and with his power of Destruction and Creation created the land. With the power of Earth, he lifted the ground from the salty sea. With the power of Water, he created streams to produce Nature and the system of Nature. To prevent one species from overpowering the other, he used the Winds to create Lightning in the sky, and Poison and disease to help neuter any overpopulation problems. Finally, he introduced the concept of temperatures, allowing Death to come in after Life has expired—with Ice being cold and Fire harming anything that came in its way. Before he finished, he realized that Life required Emotion to thrive, and gave the budding Life the ability to decide their Fate. With that settled, he introduced the world the Golden and Silver Weapons he used to create Ninjago – The Scythe of Quakes, the Naginata of Tsunamis, the Tekko-Kagi of Toxins, the Hidden Sais of Tornadoes, the Nunchucks of Lightning, the Shuriken’s of Ice, and the Sword of Flames.

In the first years of life, the creator split off his power to the world, hoping that the powers wouldn’t be used for evil. Then, the creator had two sons, the eldest being born with the power of Destruction, while the second son bearing the power of Creation. As soon as they were of age, he let the Master of the Dead claim him, allowing them to protect the land as they saw it.

However, the firstborn son was cursed from a vile, corruptive power—a bite from the Great Devourer, a snake that would not stop until everything was eaten. In the wake of his father’s death, the Master of Destruction took the Silver Weapons – the destructive powers enhanced his own—and hoped to rule the world with them. His brother, the Master of Creation, fought back—with the Golden Weapons, and hoped to make him see his wrongs. When it became clear that his brother was being consumed by the venom in his body, the Master of Creation despairingly opened a Portal to the Land of Demons, hoping that, somehow, they would cure his brother from the poison in his veins.

In his grief, The Master of Creation took the Golden Weapons and hid them in their respective corners of the land, making sure to map out their locations in case he needed them again, knowing that his brother was not one to cower in another world when his kin betrayed him. The Master of Creation left the map of the Golden Weapons to an honest man, living a simple life near the hidden location of the last element created, in the hopes of one day finding the map with the next Master of Fire…

However, he never suspected that his brother had something up his sleeve, and foresaw the awakening of three Elemental Masters in that village, and made sure to take the two that he needed for his plan…

 --

Ignacia, a village of soft winds and hot summer days, where people work in rice pools and use the elements of Wind, Fire and Water daily. It was a beautiful place, and the people would fight as well as they could as they have no protectors naturally. The village was near the mountain that housed the Fire Temple, an ancient tower that formed to protect a legendary treasure inside.

A few days before the Culture Festival – where the people celebrate their town and its growth, a time of celebrating the perfection in their lives. It was at this afternoon, that the first of three children were whisked away to adventure.

A young child no older than fifteen came up the bend to fetch a pail of water for the blacksmiths, the Four Weapons. She was a slight young girl, with traditional blue robes and black pants, carrying two buckets with her honey-tinted body. Her jade eyes shone with a sense of adventure and faint traces of love. She held in her arms a bamboo stick that carried two buckets of full water, giggling as she came up to the shop.

The Four Weapons shop was once known as the best blacksmiths in the kingdom – two legendary masters of the craft – a husband and wife – once lived in the shop, mending and creating things for all kinds of people – from the poorest to the richest, from simple farmers to even *samurai* -- soldiers for the lords in richer cities. The shop had been kept in relative good condition since the children of the original owners – Kai and Nya Hinata – took up the reins of their store. The chimney from the furnace dispelled smoke, meaning that the elder of the two was working on some new things to sell. It was one of her favourite things to watch — seeing the elder brother of the two children mess up again.

“To forge the perfect weapon…” the eldest, a teen who was half a year older than the girl outside the shop said, wearing a white t-shirt with his favourite red jeans under a blacksmith’s apron muttered to himself, his brown hair spiked like the very flames he used. His amber eyes concentrated hard on the blade to be in the forge. “You need the right metal, and plenty of heat…” Using the tweezers, he pulled out the weapon from the forge into the cooling bucket, before immediately pulling it out—causing the metal to warp completely. “Pres—ah…” he sighed, seeing the mangled mess of a sword.

The girl outside the store giggled, before another girl joined in mocking the blacksmith. She was the younger of the two, wearing a simple red Chinese dress with an obi sash around her waist, and decorated with golden Phoenixes on her left side. Her light amber eyes alight with mirth, she stated, “You made it too quickly, Kai, be patient.” She looked to the newcomer beside her, before smirking at her. “You know what father liked to say…”

“Yeah, yeah. ‘No matter how much fire you have, experience isn’t something you learn overnight’.” The blacksmith – Kai – snorted. “That may work for you, Nya, but I’m gonna be a better blacksmith than dad.” He confidently said, making the bucket girl to laugh harder.

“Please, Kai. You’re killing me.” The bucket girl set the water on the store counter top, her eyes alight with mischief as Kai retrieved the containers for his forging with a forced unamused look. “I like you, but it’s obvious you aren’t the one that’s going to run the shop.”

“Please, Kazeko. Have a little more faith in your favourite guy.” The girl – Kazeko – rolled her eyes as he flexed his muscles to her. Neither of the three kids noticed the elderly man – wearing white gi under his large straw kasa, wielding a bamboo stick as his walking stick in hand. He hummed as he looked at the merchandise, before speaking outright.

“Hmm… Your metal is loud and heavy.” The elderly man stated, causing the three to turn to him in surprise. “Useful to slow one down. Useless in the art of stealth. All the tools of a samurai,” He then turned toward the three with mischief in his onyx eyes. “but nothing for a ninja?”

Kai scoffed at the comments. “Ninja, huh?” he then glowered at the old man, wondering who this bozo was and why he decided to pick on him and his stock. “You’re a long way from finding any ‘ninja’, old man.” Kai smirked, before noticing that the old man was just browsing in the shop. “And the shop is called ‘Four Weapons’, not ‘For Browsing’. Either buy something or go pedal your insults somewhere else!” He snarled at the browser, wondering if he should go and get the broom for this man.

“Hm… Too bad.” The old man said, looking in Kai and Kazeko’s direction. “Thought I’d find something special here.” He said aloud, before looking at Nya carefully.

Nya gestured to Kai to show the old man the merchandise. Kai and Kazeko had turned away from the older man while searching for something that would satisfy the older man. “Well, I can show you—" As soon as Kai turned around, the man disappeared from the store, leaving the three teens confused as they turned to the spot where the old man was.

“Huh?” both Nya and Kazeko said dumbly, wondering if they saw a ghost.

“He was just… You know what, never mind.” Kai sighed, going back to work in the furnace. “Thanks for the water, Mach. Nya,” Kai turned to his sister, whom was coming up to the counter with new iron to work with. “Can you give Kimijuna here her payment?” He winked at Kazeko, who giggled at the affection.

“Yeah, yeah lover-boy. Suck it up to your water fetcher…” Nya sighed, but smirked at her brother’s affection for the girl. She did as he asked, despite the bitterness she felt with Kazeko.

“It’s alright, Junebug. You don’t need to pay me.” Kazeko said, trying to push the outstretched money back into Nya’s hands.

“But I do, Mach. It’s not fair that you haven’t found a place to stay just yet.” Kai said over the roar of the furnace. “Besides, it’s better than not being able to eat.” He whispered to himself.

“I still don’t know why you haven’t left this place, with how much you’ve wanted to explore the world, Kaze.” Nya said, getting over the counter to pick up some more iron for Kai.

“Neither do I, honestly.” Kazeko shrugged, sadly looking at Kai before leaving out of the shop with Nya. “I just feel… Better being with you guys, even if Kai and I are making goo-goo eyes in your presence.” She giggled as Nya looked at her in scorn. “I really do like it here. I just think that life’s going to become more interesting if I hang around.” She said softly, smiling softly. “Besides, someone’s gotta make sure that Kai doesn’t end up getting the both of you evicted from your family home.”

“Yeah, I do.” Nya giggled, getting a look from Kai on her back.

It seemed like a picture-perfect day in the village of Ignacia. But, as with all things in the world, that peace wasn’t meant to be.

The skies suddenly darkened, and the rattling of bones could be heard off in the distance. The rice-tenders looked to where the bone-rattling was, and found multiple skeletons riding on cars with skull and bone motifs all over the vehicles present. The roaring of the engines of each of the vehicles suddenly cut off, before revealing that literal skeletons were the ones that were driving. One of the skeletons, with a metallic eyepatch over his right eye with blue loincloth and bracers, plus some bronze spikes on his skull like a mowhawk, eagerly jumped up and down in his seat, his visible red eye swirled with deranged madness.

“Oh! Oh! I wanna murder things! Can I murder things, please Samukai?” the eye-patched skeleton asked, before being thwacked in the head by another skeleton – wearing a monocle and hardhat instead, and brown linens and loincloths.

“You dolt, you don’t need to be so hyper! Samukai,” the monocle-wearing skeleton turned to the tallest – and four-armed – skeleton behind on the vehicle. “What are we doing, here? And can I drive?” He seemed more into the second question than the first.

“No boys. This is mine.” The skeleton—Samukai—said, his smirk overpowering his underbite. “We’re after the map. Our boss said it would be near two kunochi-to-be.” Samukai looked as he said that, before zooming onto the Four Weapons shop in the distance. With a smirk, he commanded the attack, and the skeletons on the vehicles raced onward. Scaring some humans on the way to the Four Weapons shop, the skeletons screeched and hollered as they got closer, hoping to get the map without much trouble.

While the skeletons got close, Kai, Kazeko and Nya looked out to see the travelling group of skeletons coming in their direction. Kai immediately ran back into the shop, getting out the best samurai armour they had from the mannequins.

“Kai, what are those things?” Nya asked, looking to the dust cloud in the distance.

“Don’t know, but stay here, just in case.” Kai growled as he looked to the advancing cloud, wearing the samurai gear carefully. “Kazeko, take Nya and get outta here.”

Kazeko nodded, grabbing Nya by the wrist and hauling the younger girl inside. Kai immediately fought off the skeletons that tried to go after the two, knocking their skulls off as he swung his blade. One of the bodyless skulls, noticing how close he was to Kai’s red shoe, immediately bit into it.

“Argh!” Kai furiously screamed, before kicking the skull up to the sign, knocking it downward to reveal the map to Nya and Kazeko. “Bite that!” He yelled to the skull, about to fight more skeletons when he noticed that Nya and Kazeko had taken care of the two skeletons he was going to fight. “Nya, Mach! I told you to stay back!” Kai yelled at the two, slicing through the skeletons in his path.

“And what? Miss out on the fun?” Nya smirked, smacking a few skeletons in the exchange.

“Aww, come on Yosei! I wouldn’t survive if I didn’t know your condition!” Kaseko said, kicking a few skeletons in the back as well.

While the three were fighting the skeletons in the front, the two larger skeletons maneuvered through the fight to the back of the Four Weapons shop, before noticing a piece of paper on the back of the sign.

“Kruncha! Look! The map to the Golden Weapons!” the eye-patched skeleton said, grabbing the paper as well as a sword off to the side of one of the mannequins. “We’ve got this, now, let’s kill things!”

“Nuckal! We aren’t here to kill!” Kruncha thwacked Nuckal’s head, before picking up an axe from the floor. “We’re here for the map! And,” He looked outside the shop, to find the siblings and Kazeko about to finish off the last of the skulkin soldiers soon. “to grab some potential students for the Lord…” He finished, returning to the fight with Nuckal tailing behind him.

Kai and Nya ended up finishing the last skeleton together. Panting from the exertion all three had with the fight, they prepared themselves to start fighting the leader of the skeletons when Samukai launched himself in the middle, bringing up his four swords with a cruel smirk.

“Oh, great Dragoness.” All three had thought as they saw the skeleton pull out the swords. Immediately, they tried to swarm him on all sides, only to be thrown off by Samukai’s attack. Immediately, they all fell to the ground, Kai’s sword flying out of his hands, while Nya’s and Kazeko’s own daggers flew off as well. They tried to get back up, to continue fighting against the tall and monstrous being, before a golden tornado suddenly intercepts them and the hulking brute, taking it head on!

“NINJA-GO!” the tornado yelled, sounding exactly like the old man from earlier. The tornado kept up a pretty good fight, though it seemed like he was losing to the monster of a skeleton to the trio. Immediately, they grabbed their lost weapons to fight with once again.

“Wu! I knew you’d be here… You’re quite rusty with your Spinjitsu!” The leader stated, pushing the tornado back from him.

“Nothing like using bone to sharpen my blades, Samukai.” The tornado – Wu – stated, breaking both the standoff and his tornado to reveal the old man from earlier. He eyed the three near him – and the water tower right by their house. Seemed Samukai noticed the water tower as well, as he smirked while looking in the direction the trio were.

“You can only save one, Wu.” Samukai said, before throwing one of his blades at the water tower base, breaking it clean in half. Kai, Nya, and Kazeko looked up to the tower, before realizing what the monstrous skeleton had done. Immediately, Wu revved up his Spinjitsu once again.

“Ninja—GO!” Wu said, taking the trio away as best he could, pulling all three in as the water tower fell to the ground. Because of Wu’s velocity, he accidentally threw Nya and Kazeko out of the spin. Nuckal and Kruncha came in soon after, holding the map of the Four Weapons in his hands.

Samukai, noticing the map in Kruncha’s hands, immediately retreated to his big truck. “Take the girls! Lord Garmadon needs them!” he yelled to his subordinates, loud enough for Wu to hear over his oldness.

“Lord Garmadon?” Wu asked in surprise, not noticing Samukai ordering Nuckal to capture both Nya and Kazeko from his grasp.

“No! Nya! Kimijuna!” Kai yelled, about to jump onto the skeleton vehicle before they left, but they dashed off before he could go after them. Nevertheless, Kai tried to pursue, ‘try’ being the keyword, as Wu grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from chasing after the girls. “Kimijura! NYAAAAAAA!” he collapsed then, a look of horror and fear across his face. “They took my sister and my Kimijuna…” Kai’s eyes watered as the thought crossed his mind—the one thing he never expected to happen, happened. Now, he was alone… and about to be thwacked by Wu for not listening to him.

“As I said, useless.” Wu stated, before thwacking Kai in the head. Kai immediately became furious at the elder man.

“You—You obviously know more than I! Why didn’t you use that twisty-jutsu thingy—”

“Spinjitsu.”

“Who cares what it’s called! You didn’t save my family!” Kai got up then, his heart burning in rage and fear that shone in his eyes. Wu hummed over the look as Kai continued. “I’m going to save them.” Wu stepped in front of him then, a glower in his face as he explained the situation.

“Those skeletons are called the Skulkin, Kai. They live in a world where we cannot travel to.” Wu turned to Kai carefully. “The four-armed beast you saw there was Samukai, the King of the Skulkin. If it’s true that Garmadon has taken control of the Skulkin, then I believe things are direr than I thought…”

Kai couldn’t take it anymore. “Garmadon? Skulkin? Nothing matters more than my own sister and my own girl! I can’t leave them in those—those monsters— What did we have that was so important to them, and why did they take my family and kimijuna?” If there was tears in his eyes, Kai ignored them for a near snarl of rage.

Wu looked at Kai in distain, before ranting about the world to the poor, angered blacksmith the entire world’s history and his family… Each bit separated by death, and miserable fate…

 --

Meanwhile, in another location…

Snow covered the expanse as two figures walked along the long-covered road, their breaths stolen by the howling blasts of wind. The white seemed endless, what little light that could break through the harsh cloud cover lighted the figure’s shadows along the path. While the figures remained in their human-like shapes (despite their darkened clothing), the shadows that could be seen had horns and tiny, bat-like wings – which neither of the two seemed to have. The figures had been walking towards a village far away from the place that housed their kind, and they couldn’t be more grateful for it. The slightly taller, with the horn in their shadow being on the left of their head, stopped for a moment, their counterpart stopping as well.

The smaller figure tilted their head, their horn in the shadow becoming longer as they moved to the left. “What’s up?” they asked, their voice having a feminine hint to it.

“…Lost the scent…” The other said, voice croaked from the harsh winter around the two. The male-sounding figure sighed, before looking at the other carefully. “At this rate, we may not find that map…”

The two both sighed at the idea, puffs of white coming out of their mouths as they looked to where they thought their location was. Suddenly, the feminine-sounding figure started to shiver forcefully.

“You shouldn’t stay out for too long, then.” A third voice stated, causing the two figures to suddenly turn around and bring out their hands out, bright balls of green and lavender brightening up the snow venomously. Both figures looked to see a young, darkly clad child with a purple streak in her dark hair. Her dark chocolate eyes shone in mirth as she watched the two figure’s faces change from fear to recognition.

“No way…” the figures both said, not noticing that the weather had cleared up fully – revealing the two as twins: the male sounding figure having blonde hair and red eyes, and the feminine sounding figure having brown hair with pink eyes. They both looked to each other, their light skin reflecting off the light in their hands, before looking back toward the smaller, almost dead looking kid.

“Lloyd,” The girl said, looking at the male carefully. She then turned toward the young girl. “Rei… Want to see Papa?” the child asked, her mouth twitching to a semblance of a smile – hard to tell with the bone mask that covered her face. Immediately, the two – Lloyd and Rei – relaxed, the balls of green and lavender light disappearing immediately.

“Spectra? W-what do you mean see Dad?” The male – Lloyd – asked, his horn and wings suddenly appearing to the girl. The brown-haired girl – Rei – did the same, revealing that her horn was on the right side of her head.

“If you don’t remember, Grissie, we can’t enter that world – not like you can.” Rei stated, her voice getting grumpier in frustration.

Spectra gave Rei a look, before returning to her cheerful state. “Don’t worry! Papa taught me how to take more than one person into the portal! I can take you right now, if you want?” She asked carefully, knowing that the two wouldn’t want to pass it up for the world.

As expected, the two had thought for a moment, before nodding. With a battle axe given to her by the Skullkin, Spectra instantly cleaved the ground, allowing the three people to pass through safely without incident. The only thing that was left of the three’s existence was the mark left by the axe, which had gotten eaten up with the storm that returned.

 --

The next day, halfway up the Mountains of Impossible Height…

Kai grunted as he climbed up the mountain, wondering whomever had the bright idea to try climbing up an impossibly tall mountain range just to prove themselves. Then, the brunette reminded himself that he had been the one to decide that, after the conversation with Wu last night. Speaking of which, where was—

“Patience, young Firestarter.” Wu stated, leaving Kai in the dust momentarily as he breezed through the climbing. Right, they were talking about the agency of their mission, considering that the Skullkin stole the map and Kai’s sibling and girlfriend. They reached the top, to find a beautiful, intricate monastery made what looked to be out of marble, with red roofing and a red door decorated with golden dragon symbols. Dragon heads made up the door handles, their mouths carrying a ring to pull on as Wu did. “You will be ready, when you are ready. Not a minute sooner.” Wu then looked to the stunned Kai, before moving toward an intricate golden dragon statue beside the main entrance to the building.

“Are… Are we really fighting in a place of peace?” Kai asked, wondering if the feelings he had were for disturbing the serene area.

“Not fighting, training.” Wu said, as if that made it any better. “Firestarter, in order to become a true ninja, you must first be able to see what others do not.” Kai noticed the title that Wu had given him that moment, about to question Wu on the title.

“Wait, why are you calling me—”

Then, the elder suddenly pulled the hand of the dragon statue, causing a massive line of deadly turnabouts and spinning dummies to surface in the monastery’s courtyard, startling Kai. In the middle was a carousel outfitted with many deadly, poking things – and a couple of outfitted dummies. Kai couldn’t help but be amazed at the machinery involved, as every bit of the contraption spun around with the rotation of the carousel.

“Woah!” Kai awed, momentarily forgetting his question. “Is this how you’re going to teach me that spinny thing?” the brunette asked, getting up toward the poles that were bobbing up and down, managing to land on one before it threw the former blacksmith off.

“Complete the training course before I finish my tea.” Wu stated, slurping the hot beverage for extra effect as he winced at Kai’s failure. “Unfortunately, today you’ve failed. We’ll start again tomorrow.” The elder man stated, before retiring back into the monastery in full. Kai looked to the so-called wise man in confusion, picking himself up and dusting himself off.

  --

In the Underworld…

--

Wearily, Nya carefully opened her eyes, her head pounding and her back sore from resting on rocks. Her mind caught the smell of ancient blood and an undead sense of smell, suddenly making the raven-haired girl to cough loudly out of her slumber. As soon as she did, Nya recognized the layout of the place – dark, forboding place, the walls splattered with dried blood and a musky, tomb-like scent. Nya shivered as she looked beyond her cell – for how she could not see the bone bars keeping her captive in this region? – and found the young girl who made her brother happy in a cell opposite from hers. Kazeko looked forlorn over the whole situation, har body leaning on the bone bars as she peered off in the distance. Immediately, Nya sprang to her feet, reaching her own bars and trying to get Kaze’s attention.

“Mach! Are you okay?” Nya frantically asked, worried about her good friend’s odd look. Despite how she felt about Kazeko dating her brother, Nya knew that whatever was going on with the both was less important than their situation. Kazeko seemed to think the same, as she looked to Nya with a relieved smile on her face.

“Junebug! I’m glad you’re awake!” Kazeko happily said, her face brightening up. “All I had to talk to be my own shadow, and you know how much a conversationalist she is.” She giggled at her own remark, causing Nya to chuckle a bit as well. “Nya…” Kazeko said solemnly, reminding Nya of the situation. “Can’t you feel it? the call of… something in this place, talking to us…”

“Kaze, what –” As soon as Nya asked the question, a soothing melody that sounded like waves entered her head, almost overtaking her thoughts. “W-what is that?” She asked, freaking out over the siren’s call.

“I-I don’t…” Kazeko tried to plug her ears, feeling an almost flute-like, excited song in her own head.

“Ah, I see both the Watersiren and the Windfarer have awakened…” A gravely, disturbing voice called out to the two, quieting the songs in their heads. “To think, that you two would be where the Firestarter was as well. As much as I would have loved to take him along, his sense of Justice would have shut out anything I told him…” The figure was at the entrance of the cells, an armoured samurai helmet rested on his head. Black skin covered most of his body, his ribs outlining his chest badly. The only other article of clothing the newcomer had was torn gi pants, burnt and shredded from something – yet kept together to keep the man’s dignity. His red eyes glowed with an air of malicious intent yet shone with a hint of fatherly love. The markings on his face, on the other hand, made the intent stand out more than anything else.

“Who – who the Grand Oni are you?” Nya was the first to ask, her expression barely hiding the fear she felt from the man. Kazeko looked over the man’s shoulder to find two kids behind him, both looking erringly similar…

“I am Lord Garmadon, my dear Watersiren…” The being – Garmadon – stated, looking at her carefully and gesturing to the figure behind him for something. “And you two are going to become part of my own little group, as long as you have this…” As soon as it was placed in his hand, Garmadon revealed a beautiful, untarnished silver naginata to Nya, reveling in the look of aww and wonder as it sang the soothing song it had sung for her. Behind him, the two figures looked over to Kazeko, revealing themselves to be Lloyd and Rei from earlier.

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this yet, Miss Windfarer.” Lloyd smirked, holding up silver gloves with a compartment that contained beautiful, claw-like sais. “Can’t have you running back to your boyfriend without being trained to fight him, too.” He winked at Kazeko, knowing she was too busy looking at the sais to hear what he just said. However, Nya did hear him.

“Wait, what do you mean—”

Garmadon took back the naginata – as did Lloyd with the sais – when both girls tried to grab the now-shrieking weapons. “The weapons are useless without knowledge of their corresponding elements, that’s what makes them the Silver Weapons that helped shape the world.” He winked to Rei, before looking back at Nya’s seeking gaze. “When I start your training, you will be bound to a specific contract that I have outlined to all the Weapons when I was dragged down. I’d hate to think how’d you be if you fail it…” He warned the two, before immediately throwing the naginata into Nya’s cell, allowing the spell to take effect as she touched the Silver Weapon. Lloyd did the same, shoving the gloves into Kazeko’s awaiting hands and watching the effects of his father’s magic take place. The magic roared around the two, binding them to the clause that Garmadon had threatened the two as it swarmed around them. When it died down, the two had looked no different than they had been before, save for the hint of a few markings lining their dominant hands -- Garmadon’s head as a symbol in black ink.

“Oh, my head…” Nya said once the smoke cleared, feeling a sense of protect them, help them swelling in her mind. Immediately, she looked to Lloyd and Rei, the both of whom looking at her expectantly, and bowed silently. “I swear on this Weapon, I’ll make sure to see you safe.” Her voice droned on, but a hint of relief came when she saw the two smiling excitedly.

“Dad! The spell worked!” Rei excitedly yelped, jumping up and down as they saw Kazeko mimic what Nya did as well.

“Good, good. My Defenders, rise.” The two rose, still looking at his charges with a fondness he wished he could express. “We’ll begin your training; better to show you how to better protect my children, then using magic to immediately learn it.” Garmadon immediately took the hands of his eldest son and daughter, a soft, non-villainous feeling as the three turned to stride out of the cells, the new guards following behind them.

  --

Three weeks after, at the top of the Mountains of Impossible Height…

Kai grunted as he went through the training regimen from Yomi once again, his face contorted into a visage scowling at the carousel of death. His thoughts at how the first bit of training went sprung to mind, and the many failures that he endured before he managed to figure out the system. The first five times, Kai failed at the start, with the bamboo shooting him out into the air. The next week, Kai had failed at the carousel of death with it’s merciless dummies, having ended up being knocked back as soon as he hit the side of the carousel instead. The past week, he managed to get past those things, only to nearly get skewered by the spears that were being shot out (luckily, they were just bamboo sticks, but Kai was starting to get hit too many times to tell). And all those moments rounded to Wu immediately finishing his drink before Kai could get up again. Now, Kai had a plan to keep Wu from failing him on the spot, but it needed the precise moment…

There! Just as Wu sat down to start drinking his tea, Kai immediately threw a rock into his cup, shattering the cremated beverage holder and forcing Wu to get up to get another one. Immediately, Kai took the opportunity to take the course again, this time getting through each part of the course with tremendous ease. Like a house cat, he gracefully moved with the motions of the course, keeping himself steady on the shooting bamboo, and frolicking – yes, frolicking – through the carousel of death like a jaguar ready to strike. Kai smirked as he galivanted like a cheetah through the maze of buzz saws and maces, before finally pouncing on the last dummy like the tiger he was meant to be, arriving back at the start just as Wu absently looked for his missing teapot. With the smirk of a content lion, Kai held up the teapot in his hands, his smirk growing bigger as Wu realized what he had done.

“Was it one sugar, or two?” Kai asked smarmily, amber eyes alight with mirth. Wu couldn’t help but be proud of how the young boy handled the course. Kai immediately gave the master the teapot back, watching as Wu poured a cup of green tea for both himself and the excited student.

“Well done, Firestarter.” Wu congratulated, giving Kai his own cup before sipping his drink. “You’ve managed to pass, and the fastest I’ve seen!” He gave a wink at the boy, before going on. “We’ll start looking for the Golden Weapons tomorrow. Go and get some rest.” With that, Wu immediately brought Kai up into the monastery, taking the tea-set he had with him.

“H-huh? But what about teaching me Spinjitsu?” Kai asked, bewildered that Wu put him through a course for three weeks without teaching him anything.

“You’ve already learnt it.” Wu cryptically said, puzzling Kai further. “For now, get some rest. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.” Wu retreated to his room, far away from Kai’s bemusement and questioning voice.

Later, at night…

Heart a little unsure, but the feeling of the creature he awakened in his head never left him as Kai got ready for bed, feeling antsy over the cryptic message left by Wu. In his fire-red pyjamas, Kai carefully took his toothbrush and cleansed his teeth of any disease or germs in his mouth. The words of his master echo through his mind, making the feeling in his heart ignite with a sense of anger.

“Get some sleep? How about I don’t!” Kai angerly said, before throwing a series of moves about with his toothbrush as his practice weapon. In his frustration, he barely noticed the door to his room opening, allowing a dark-clothed figure to enter his room. “Let’s go!” Kai thrusted his make-shift sword into an imaginary enemy—possibly Samukai—as the figure settled into place. Another dark-clothed figure entered through Kai’s open window, pulling out a pair of shuriken’s and waiting for the moment to strike. “I want to save her!” Kai punctuated that last bit with another thrust of the tooth brush, only to hit a dark-clothed ninja behind him… one with a very big, very sharp scythe in his hands.

The fire died inside of him, as Kai realized the situation that was about to happen. “Oh…” he said, uncharacteristically softly.

  ***Part 1 End***

[athyrabunlord]

LLSHP 17 - Untitled

Arc1: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7]

Arc2: [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13] [Chapter 14]

Arc3: [Chapter 15] [Chapter 16] [Chapter 17] [Chapter 18 - sanguinem pudicitia (TBD)]

Interludes: [Carbonado (1)] [Carbonado (2)] [Of Feathers and Wind] [Delphinus (teaser blip)]

[Brief note about School Term] [other LLSHP AU stuff] [YohaMaRuby concept arts] [ChikaYouRiko concept arts] [KanaDiaMari concept arts] [Hogwarts Staff]

[FFN link] (up until ch14!) [Pixiv Link] [Translated to Chinese by plin2290]

A/N: After gazillion years I finally finished this chapter XD; And no, that’s not a typo, this chapter really is called ‘Untitled’. Anyway, this chapter went through a bunch of rewrites and, combined with RL issues, it took this long to complete. The next chapter will be more fun I promise whenever that is. As always, any feedback is appreciated and thank you for reading! Words: 7,814

Not even a week has passed since the visit to the hospital, two letters arrived at Hogwarts, one they had been hoping for and one unexpected.

The first letter was from the Kurosawa Patriarch, with a seal of approval for Dia to visit Riko. This was most likely due to the hospital staff and the Sakurauchis’ requests, as he had disregarded Ruby’s prior inquiries. However, Dia must be cleared of her charges before she could be allowed to step out of the Estate. While the heiress was never formally convicted, any smidgen of doubt is still a stain to the family name, and there are laws to abide to as well. From the Ministry’s standpoint, Dia is not guilty yet not innocent either, especially since there have been no leads to who the true perpetrators were.

Therefore, for the time being, Dia and Ruby’s parents will be meeting with the Sakurauchis to discuss what they could do in this situation, to help Riko’s recovery. As the former Chief Warlock whose words carry a lot of weight, the Patriarch has also exerted his influence and connections with the Ministry. Several of the Kurosawas from the Estate are allowed to join the Auror team that has been investigating Moonstruck and the slip of security on Hogwart grounds that led to Riko’s kidnapping.

It isn’t the best scenario, but it is at least more than they could have hoped for.

The second letter was from Hanamaru’s grandmother, about how her grandfather is sick with a flu and wishes to see her. Without access to owls, Muggle relatives usually send letters to a specific address, which is actually an outpost under the Muggle Liaison Office’s jurisdiction. Because of this extra detour, the letter took longer to be delivered and so Hanamaru doesn’t know if he has already recovered or if the flu has worsened.

As much as she tries not to let it show, but she must miss her family especially after the rather traumatic hospital visit. Ruby is able to convince Hanamaru that they will be fine and she should visit her family.

Yoshiko requests to go with Hanamaru, a gesture that the rest of the group appears rather happy about, especially the brunette. At the end, Ruby has managed to include herself, along with Chika and You, in the meeting today between her parents and the Sakurauchis, while Kanan and Mari decide to stay behind at Hogwarts. The staff, some of the Professors especially, is sympathetic to their situation and is willing to turn a blind eye to their supposed surveillance.

And so, it is with heavy heart that Yoshiko treks towards Hogsmeade with Hanamaru and Professor Hoshizora, who volunteered to accompany them. To get to Hanamaru’s home, they would have to travel either via Apparition or Portkey since there is no fireplace at her house, and even if there is one, it’s not connected to the Floo Network anyway. Therefore, a special Portkey has been arranged to be activated at a designated spot to bring the girls to the Kunikida residence.

Yoshiko walks a little ways behind the chatting pair, still feeling a little awkward in spite of that heart to heart conversation with Hanamaru at the bus stop. She has, however, acknowledges that she needs to stop pushing away her important people and stay close to Hanamaru for as long as she could. She promised her that she would try.

“Okay, here we are!” They stop just outside of the train station, and Yoshiko wistfully recalls the last time she was here, with Ruby and Hanamaru, running from the supposed Grim and receiving help from the golden cat.

“Thanks for taking us here zura~”

“No worries, I need to get some supplies from Hogsmeade anyway so this is on my way nya~” Professor Hoshizora was the one to bring the petite Muggleborn to Diagon Alley, so it makes sense that Hanamaru feels most at ease around her. After all, her memory is clear up until her arrival at King’s Cross Station.

“So, just remember to touch this badge again at 5pm nya, both of you,” the gamekeeper hands a riceball-shaped badge to Hanamaru. “And it will bring you back here, where I’ll be waiting to take you back to the Castle. Unless, of course, if there’s any emergency, just tap on the badge with your wand and someone should Apparate right over to you! Any questions? No? Good!” She thoughtfully rubs her chin as she peers at the teenagers. “Hmm, you sure you don’t need another person going with you two nya?”

The ponytailed witch looks concerned at their wellbeing, rather than having them leave the castle grounds unsupervised. Yoshiko appreciates that, but she still replies firmly. “I’m more than enough to protect her, Professor, but thank you for offering.”

Lucifer pops out from under her jacket then, hissing as if to protest that it is a fine bodyguard too. She doesn’t know how the bat knows, but it’s rather miffed at her for wandering around the Muggle world by her lonesome. Since then, her loyal minion has been attached to her side since her return, even during daytime like now.

Professor Hoshizora laughs. “I see you’re both set then! Well, lemme tell you a lil secret nya~” She lowers her voice playfully. “The Trace is actually just a myth, meaning you can use magic in the Muggle world. We trust that you will not abuse magic and follow the standard protocol of the Statue of Secrecy, so it’s okay if you want to show off some tricks for your family nya~”

“Oh, but I can’t use magic, not really anyway. It comes and goes zura…”

“That’s why she’s here, isn’t she?” The Muggleborn professor laughs again and ruffles Yoshiko’s hair, ignoring her protest. “As awesome as magic is, it’s always good to spend time with your family. Have fun nya~”

Though slightly annoyed, Yoshiko is grateful for the Professor’s effort in lightening up the atmosphere. She could tell Hanamaru’s feeling anxious, in spite of her cheerful tone while conversing with the older witch.

Yoshiko holds out her hand, and without any hesitation Hanamaru hands over the badge to her, though her fingers remain in contact with the Portkey. Minutes later, upon the activation time, she feels this unpleasant sensation of something hooking her navel and flinging her into the sky!

The world spins around her, disjointed scenes of clouds and forests and roads and whatnot. The nauseous sensation continues to swirl, particularly in her tummy, even after they land ungracefully at a small clearing.

“Ugh, no wonder the Apparition license is so popular… I bet anything’s better than Portkeys.” She fights down the urge to throw up and shakes her head slowly a few times. “As soon as I’m of age, I’m so gonna-” Before her mind begins to form plans for the future, she bitterly stops herself and tries to focus on the present. Lucifer rolls out of her jacket, coughing sickly from the Portkey travel, but the bat still nudges her hand as if to comfort her.

“T-This feels like my first time on a car zura…” Hanamaru isn’t faring any better, her back resting against a tree as she attempts to get her breathing under control.

Pocketing the badge, Yoshiko struggles to get to her feet and wobbles towards her companion. After a moment’s hesitation, she extends her hand towards the brunette to help her stand up. “So, did we arrive at the right place?”

“Yes, this is close to our backyard actually, I recognize it!” Hanamaru’s eyes light up in excitement as she gestures at the pebble-paved path behind the shrubs. “Come on, Yoshiko-chan! I bet Obaa-chan’s waiting for us!”

Without waiting for a response, the smaller girl pulls her along the forest trail and past a jizou statue, the foliage gradually thinning. Lucifer faithfully glides behind them, its presence bringing a certain amount of comfort to Yoshiko, but she still gulps nervously at the spiritual atmosphere from the surroundings. She tries to remind herself what the merpeople Chieftainess told her though that doesn’t lessen the feeling of being unclean.

“Yoshiko-chan, just a bit more.” Hanamaru looks over her shoulder and gives her an encouraging smile then, her grip on their intertwined hands firm and steady. Yoshiko relaxes slightly, finding her being here upon these holy lands acceptable as long as she’s accompanied by the temple maiden.

The path widens until it reaches the edge of stone pavement that meanders around a wide expanse of grass and bare soil tops. There are trees and shrubs here and there, carefully arranged and maintained in a way that Yoshiko is certain would form some sort of pattern if seen from the sky. Some flowers are just starting to bloom, adding splashes of vivid red, violet and yellow to this otherwise lush and green scenery.

A moderate two-story house is located just ahead, near a greenhouse that has a shelf of miniature bonsai trees right beside its open door. The old temple is further ahead, along with many slabs of grey that Yoshiko assumes to be weathered tombstones from ancient times. Strangely, she doesn’t feel uncomfortable at the thought of this place possibly haunted by ghosts. Rather, she likes to think that the spirits of the deceased guard the Kunikida residence just as much as they do for the temple.

Hanamaru’s serene expression shows that she most likely grew up thinking along the same lines too. She slows down a bit as she scans the the yard before letting out an excited yelp. There, beside a heap of fallen leaves and some gardening tools, is an elderly woman wearing thick-framed glasses and a similar gentle smile.

“Obaa-chan!”

Hanamaru runs towards her grandmother, who opens her arms wide to accept the girl’s greeting hug. As the Kunikidas exchange words joyously, Yoshiko couldn’t help but watch over them with a small smile. There’s envy, or rather longing, for growing up with such a loving family. Simple gestures or just the cozy atmosphere itself are indicators enough that Hanamaru is very close to her grandmother. Looking around, Yoshiko could almost picture a miniature Hanamaru exploring the yard and helping her grandparents with the gardening.

“It is good to have you back, even for just the afternoon, Maru-chan. I see you have brought your friend-?” Grandma Kunikida’s eyes crinkle at Yoshiko’s hesitant approach.

“Nice to meet you, ma’am. I am Yoshiko Tsushima, Hanamaru’s friend,” she politely dips her head and holds out her hand.

“Oh~ You’re that Yoshiko-chan, the one Maru-chan always talks about in her letters,” the elder chuckles as both of her hands clasp warmly over Yoshiko’s. “I’ve always wanted to meet you in person.”

“U-Uh-? Thank you-?” Uncertain how to respond to such enthusiasm, Yoshiko drops her gaze awkwardly. Normally, she would have been overjoyed that her girlfriend would talk to her family about her but, as the situation stands, she’s just Hanamaru’s friend.

“O-Obaa-chan! Um, where’s Ojii-chan? How is he doing zura?” From how flustered Hanamaru appears, does that mean she still mentions her even after her memories became jumbled?

Yoshiko isn’t sure whether to feel happy about this or not.

“He was just napping until moments ago! He has gotten much better, thankfully, but he still likes being cooped up under the kotatsu, that ol’rascal. I came here to roast some sweet potatoes, y’know, his favorites,” Grandma Kunikida gestures at the house. “Why don’t you talk to him dear? I’ll have Yoshiko-chan help me with the prepping and cooking.”

Hanamaru glances at her hesitantly, so Yoshiko gives her a stiff nod. This is the purpose of their trip here after all. Surely, she can be alone with her former girlfriend’s grandmother for a period of  time.

Surprisingly, once Hanamaru is out of sight, the elder does not grill Yoshiko with questions about school or her granddaughter. Despite her easy-going manner and slow pace, Grandma Kunikida is rather focused on her task and only instructs Yoshiko every now and then to set up the fire pit.

“Erm, I’m done with the skewers. Is there anything else I can do to help, Kunikida-san?”

“Please, just call me Obaa-chan too,” the woman’s wrinkled smile is kind as she beckons for the girl to come sit beside her. “And yes, if you could please hand me the lighter and my gloves…”

“O-Okay!” Yoshiko is rather surprised but glad at such mundane request and sense of familiarity. The elderly woman’s relaxing and accepting aura makes it easy for her to feel included at the Kunikida residence. Again, Yoshiko is humbled by this down-to-earth and simple atmosphere of Hanamaru’s grandmother.

After Grandma Kunikida starts the fire, a stretch of silence descends upon them. Yoshiko tries to think of a topic, uncomfortable with the lack of conversation, yet only apologies come to mind. The elder probably doesn’t know the full story of what had transpired at Hogwarts and how she, Yoshiko, is the cause of Hanamaru’s suffering.

A quiet crackle from the smoking twigs prompts the elderly woman to prod at the sweet potatoes. Yoshiko fidgets and swallows dryly, deciding it’s now or never. She takes a deep breath and opens her mouth to speak.

“Something happened to Maru-chan at school, no?”

Yoshiko narrowly avoids biting down on her tongue. “Pardon me?”

Grandma Kunikida folds her wrinkled hands over her knees as she stares contemplatively into the fire. “The letters she sent us seem different after the end of January. Her Head of the House had sent us a letter explaining to us what had happened, how her magic had been compromised, but Maru-chan did not tell us any of that.”

“She… didn’t-?”

“Maru-chan never lies to us, so I’m certain that she did this for an important reason.” The elder shifts slightly so that she faces Yoshiko, her eyes solemn but kind. “Jii-chan and I do not want to push her. Still, she is our precious granddaughter, the only family we have left after our son and daughter-in-law passed away. We’d like to hear her story too.”

Yoshiko’s fingers subconsciously curl into a fist, though she doesn’t avert her gaze. “...if Hanamaru herself doesn’t tell you, then it’s not my place to either. I can tell you though, that she always thinks the best for her friends. She… she could have just came home, came back here to all of this, yet she chose to stay with us, because she wants to be of help.”

“And? What do you think of her decision to stay?”

Yoshiko lowers her head in shame but she’s unable to stop the words from pouring out of her heart. She couldn’t bring herself to avoid the question or lie to this elderly woman. “I-I want her to be safe. I don’t want her to be hurt again but the truth is, deep down, I… I’m happy that she chose to stay. Close to me, willing to still stay by my side, I mean.”

Grandma Kunikida nods patiently, giving her a few moments to gather her thoughts.

“I need her, um, Obaa-chan. Even after everything that’s happened, she continues to mean a great deal to me, and she calms me like no one else can. R-Recently, I realize that…” I still love her. Yoshiko ignores the heat crawling up her neck and ears and tries to keep her voice from wavering. “...I’m still weak, but never again will I let her get hurt, not while I’m around.”

Yoshiko meets the woman’s gaze as earnestly as she could, and is unprepared for the quiet chuckles that follow. Grandma Kunikida is slouched over her seat, one hand covering her mouth to muffle the laugh.

“Erm-? What did I say?”

“Oh don’t worry dear, I just wasn’t expecting you to tell me… this much, and so truthfully too. Then again, I should have expected it - you’re every bit the good girl I’d imagined you to be, Yoshiko-chan.”

This time, Yoshiko is very aware of the blush burning her face, especially after the woman gives her an affectionate pat on her bun. “Eh?”

“Maru-chan talks about many things and many of her friends in her letters, although I don’t think she’s realized the topic always goes back to you. Yes, even nowadays.” At this, Grandma Kunikida gives her a significant look.

“R-Really-?” Alright, this time, Yoshiko couldn’t help that flutter of joy in her chest, but now she’s more worried about how the woman would react if she finds out their past relationship.

“Ho ho ho, look at you, what an adorable child! We old people don’t last this long on this planet for no reason! We see and sense things young people can’t. Had I disapproved of you with my granddaughter, I wouldn’t be talking to you, would I? Well, Jii-chan did throw a minor fit, but he got over it after I talked sense to him.”

Yoshiko gapes. Grandma Kunikida laughs again.

“I heard you were quite taken with the kimono my granddaughter wore to the Christmas party?”

“Ah yes, thank you for sending her the- wait no! That’s not what I wanted to say-!”

At her frantic gestures, Lucifer flies nearby in her defense. Grandma Kunikida watches the bat with interest and attempts to coax it with some snacks she takes out from her pocket.

“I’m okay, Lucifer, this is um, alright, I’m not in any danger,” physically at least.

The clever bat looks between her and the elder, and decides food is the priority. It swoops down and perches on Grandma Kunikida’s shoulder, crooning when it’s fed and caressed behind the ears.

“Tch, that was fast,” Yoshiko complains half-heartedly, relieved that her minion’s intervention saves her dignity from crumbling further. Grandma Kunikida probably decides that it is enough teasing and seems content with Lucifer’s company.

“You girls lead a very exciting life at Hogwarts, though I understand that there have been quite a few dangerous incidents. You’re right, I would have preferred to have my granddaughter back here with us, where it’s safe, but that’s not the path she has chosen. Jii-chan and I respect that. I was going to ask you to keep an eye on Maru-chan, but that’s not necessary, is it?”

Yoshiko says seriously. “I will protect her with my life-”

“That’s not what I want to hear, dear,” the woman admonishes quietly as she covers Yoshiko’s hand with her own. It feels warm and protective. “It’d upset me if I hear anything were to happen to you. I want you to take care of yourself too, Yoshiko-chan. I may not know what had happened, but you’ve been hard on yourself, haven’t you?”

“How did you-?” Had she been that obvious, or is the elder that perceptive?

“It’s just a haunch, from our conversation. Your expressions are rather stiff, as if you haven’t allowed yourself to feel.” Grandma Kunikida chuckles gently. “It’s okay to want to be happy. I’m sure that would make Maru-chan happy as well. Now, give this old woman your best smile, hmm?”

Yoshiko hastily wipes at her eyes and tentatively makes a pose, which feels both nostalgic yet unfamiliar since it’s been a while. Nodding, she gives the woman her best grin.

“Obaa-chan~ Ojii-chan wants some pork buns now but I can’t find any in our freezer-” Hanamaru walks up to them, blinking at her applauding grandmother and the posing girl. “Umm, what’s happening zura?”

“Pork buns, you say? That Jii-chan, a bigger glutton now that he’s recovered from the flu...”

“Oh, so Hanamaru got that from her grandfather huh… ack!” Yoshiko slaps a hand over her mouth but it’s too late. Hanamaru glares at her but bursts into giggles a moment later, while Grandma Kunikida watches them with a fond expression.

Yoshiko clears her throat and tries to appear nonchalant. “What do we do with these sweet potatoes then? They’re about to be done, right?”  

“They are indeed. You’re both welcome to enjoy them while they’re fresh!”

Hanamaru glances at the sweet potato longingly but determinedly tears her gaze away to face her amused grandmother. “Actually, if you don’t mind, Obaa-chan, I’d like to take Yoshiko-chan to town, to get those pork buns for Ojii-chan but also to walk around the neighborhood zura?”

“Hmm, it’d be a nice change of scenery. I’ll bring these to Jii-chan for now,” Grandma Kunikida makes a playful gesture of shooing them away with her broom. Lucifer smartly takes flight and circles overhead. “Don’t dawdle though. You know how your grandpa gets when he doesn’t get his food, fu fu.”

“Like how Zuramaru gets when you don’t feed her bread?” Again, words slip out of Yoshiko’s mouth before she realizes it, so naturally and smoothly that it takes both girls a few moments to process what just happened. This is the second time!

“Mou! Yoshiko-chan is mean!” Even then, Hanamaru looks rather happy as she tugs at the taller girl’s arm. “Okay, Obaa-chan, we’ll be back soon!”

As much as she enjoys Grandma Kunikida’s company, Yoshiko is rather relieved to take a little breather. As they walk towards the main entrance to the temple and down the stone stairway, she has to suppress the urge to skip and hum to express this liberating sensation.

It’s nice to feel normal.

“So, did something funny happen zura?”

“Hmm? Why would you say that?”

“W-Well, I haven’t really seen you smile, not really,” Hanamaru looks a bit wistful at that.

“Is that so…” Yoshiko awkwardly rubs the back of her head, unaware that she’s been smiling. “It’s just that, uh, you have a good family, Hanamaru. It’s nice.”

“Really? I’m glad to hear that!”

“So your grandpa, he’s all better now?”

“Yup! If he hadn’t asked for those pork buns, I would’ve fallen asleep in the kotatsu too,” Hanamaru chuckles sheepishly, but her eyes dim in sadness a moment later.. “It’s good to see him so energetic. I was so afraid when I got the letter. He’s old… they’re both old, a-and I’ve b-been away…”

They stop at an intersection, though there is no need to since there are barely any cars in this quiet neighborhood.

“Will you come here again with me in the summer, Yoshiko-chan? Ruby-chan and everyone else too, I’d like to introduce them to my family zura.“

Yoshiko’s throat aches a bit but she manages to squeeze out a word. “Okay.”

Hanamaru’s demeanor lightens at that. “Something to look forward to! First though, those pork buns for Ojii-chan zura~ He wants to talk to you too, Yoshiko-chan, so we should hurry~”

“Heh, yeah, it’s better if I bring some offerings to him.” And if that doesn’t work, Obaa-chan probably will have to save me.

“I think he likes you too. He showed me some of the letters I used to send, before my memories were… yeah,” Hanamaru glances at Yoshiko curiously. “Those letters said you used to pose a lot, something about little demons and being fallen angel Yohane?”

Yoshiko is mildly surprised that she isn’t as bothered as she thought she would be. True, back then, she was ignorant and silly, but at least her antics had made her friends happy and she had believed that identity to be real. It’d be wrong of her to denounce the memories of that time, when things were perfect as they were.

“Yup, I used to collect black feathers. It’s just that… things had happened and, well, I just found more important stuff to do than indulge myself in the fantasy.”

“Do you still believe in it?”

“Believe in what?”

“Being a fallen angel,” Hanamaru pauses, her voice lowering apologetically. “I shouldn’t have asked that, when I didn’t even know what happened-”

“It’s okay.” Yoshiko looks up into the blue sky, smiling at the sight of Lucifer circling underneath the clouds. “I’d been angry and depressed for a while, and now I’m just… honestly, I’m not sure how I feel, or how I should feel.  In a way, I’m still one heck of a mess just as I had been before I went to Hogwarts. Fallen angel? Perhaps I really am.”

Her definition of fallen angel is different from Yohane after all.

Hanamaru is about to reply when she notices the surprise in Yoshiko’s gaze. Turning, she smiles at the sight of the playground just ahead of them. Gently tugging the stiff girl, she leads her into the small park.

“Do you remember?”

“Yeah, I do,” Yoshiko mutters hoarsely, glancing around the swing set, the monkey bars, the slide and the sandbox. Everything seems so nostalgic, so precious. “Heh, they’re smaller than I remember, then again we… we were just little kids. There’s no one here though.”

“Mostly elderly people live in this area, I think you’ve noticed that from our walk here. The few children here are all grown up or have moved out of town already,” Hanamaru says a little sadly. “No one comes to play outdoors anymore.”

“Their loss,” Yoshiko shrugs and approaches the swing, hesitantly touching the chains. “We had fun here, hadn’t we?”

“We did,” Hanamaru seems to be thinking about something. “Can I… tell you something?”

“Sure? What is it?”

“I-In spite of how nice everyone is, a small part of me still isn’t sure, because of how my memories are all over the place. Classmates I don’t remember, friends I should be close to, magic I should know. But… only you, Yoshiko-chan. I’m certain I’ve met before Hogwarts. I didn’t want to say anything because I don’t know what’s real or not but now that we’re here, now that you’ve said that you do remember playing with me here, I’m relieved.”

“I didn’t know it bothered you that much,” Yoshiko says guiltily and struggles to find the right words to express her thoughts. “It’s only recently that I remembered this playground though…”

Even though it wasn’t me, it was Yohane. I didn’t even exist back then.

“I’m just glad you do now. That will always be one of the most special memories in my life,” Hanamaru smiles up at her. “The first time I’ve witnessed magic zura.”

Yoshiko almost spills out everything then, about Yohane and Horcrux and all that, but she couldn’t bring herself to ruin the joy and the utter trust in those ochre eyes. Instead, inspiration strikes her and prompts her to extend a hand towards the shorter girl.

“Come on, let’s go up there.”

“Eh-? Up the slides?” Though giggling, Hanamaru takes her hand as they carefully climb up the tiny steps. The platform at the top is almost too small to fit the two teenagers, and they could easily sit on the railings.

“Hmm, there’s no one around us right?”

“No, I don’t think so-” Hanamaru checks the surroundings, blinking up at Yoshiko when she takes out her wand. “What’re you-?”

“You said you’ve become fascinated by magic because of… me, right? Well, I’m gonna recreate that,” Yoshiko wraps one arm securely around Hanamaru’s waist so that they are practically hugging. The proximity makes them both blush but she tries to ignore her pounding heartbeats as she grins down at the flustered girl.

“Are you ready to fly with me?”

Her grin widens at Hanamaru’s confused expression. With a careful Ascendio, they’re propelled into the sky. Startled, the smaller girl clings to Yoshiko, whose grip tightened around her to ensure that she wouldn’t fall. Using a few Hover Charms and Descendio here and there, Yoshiko is able to stabilize their flight as they weave and fly around the playground.

Pleased by the success, Yoshiko finds herself laughing and is soon joined by Hanamaru. They continue to chuckle even as they glide over the monkey bars and land safely beside the sandbox.

“T-That was unexpected, but amazing, Yoshiko-chan!” Hanamaru leans against the taller girl, her legs slightly wobbly.

“Heh, it’s different than flying with a broom, isn’t it?” Yoshiko keeps her steady, breathing her soothing scent and the lingering fresh breeze. This must be what freedom feels like, as fleeting as it had been. What they experienced just now is theirs. Not Yohane’s.

This belongs to her. With Hanamaru.

As the thrill gradually fades, she becomes conscious of their closeness again but she couldn’t bring herself to let go. Grandma Kunikida’s words echo in her head, that it’s okay for her to be happy too.

Before she loses her nerve, she leans down and kisses Hanamaru’s forehead. The brunette jolts slightly in surprise, but she then responds by tiptoeing and kissing Yoshiko’s cheek, her lips lingering as she glances at Yoshiko’s.

“I… I think that’s what’s missing. We weren’t just friends, were we? Please tell me the truth, Yoshiko-chan.”

Swallowing hard, Yoshiko embraces Hanamaru and whispers against her ear. “No, we weren’t just friends.”

Hanamaru makes a small sound, burrowing her head against Yoshiko’s shoulder. They stay like that for a while, relishing in each other’s warmth and touch. The tension is replaced by something more familiar and comfortable.

“...I think I know what you’re thinking zura. You didn’t want to push it because I don’t remember that we were a couple. You didn’t want a preconception to confuse me.”

“How well you see through me…”

“But the thing is. I-I still find myself… well, you seem distant but you’re kind, and today I see for myself that you could be funny and a bit of a dork too-”

“Hey!”

“-and I think that’s how you used to be zura. So, it doesn’t matter how you’re like, I…” Hanamaru’s voice is so quiet and muffled against her jacket that she has to strain to hear her. “I’m still attracted to you. Because, you’re, you.”

“Hanamaru…”

In spite of the Imperius Curse. In spite of everything that’s happened. In spite of Yohane. Hanamaru still ends up liking her, just as she couldn’t ignore her feelings either.

Horcrux be damned. The whole mess with the Fallen be damned.

She may not have been the one to save Hanamaru from Dementors back then, but the fact stands that a Patronus was summoned, and somehow she was still able to cast it while Yohane couldn’t. Maybe...

“I don’t know if this would do anything but, we’re here at least, so why not?” Yoshiko pulls away a bit, though she keeps one arm around Hanamaru. “Expecto Patronum!”

Silver light burst out from the tip of her wand, and the shimmering coelacanth swims around them freely and magnificently. An evanescent trail of light envelopes them, filling them with such positive energy that they find themselves smiling.

“Looks familiar?” Yoshiko watches her Patronus maneuver around the playground, similar to how she had flown with Hanamaru earlier.

“Y-Yes, it saved me from those Dementors,” Hanamaru murmurs, entranced by sparkles of light and the coelacanth’s corporeal form. “I was so scared, so very scared, but this concept of fear seems so… impossible zura, now that we’re standing here with the Patronus.”

“It’s an amazing spell, isn’t it? It’s said to be the only way to defend yourself against a Dementor, but not much is said about its other uses and that’s why not a lot of people bother learning it.”

“But it’s so beautiful…”

“Right? I believe there’s more to the Patronus Charm. It reveals your inner self and hints at your Animagus form - heh, it’d be hilarious if I turn into a fish though. Most importantly, it reflects the caster’s soul, or at least that’s what the merpeople Chieftainess told me. She saw my Patronus and told me that it’s proof of my worthiness.”

As Yoshiko says these words aloud, she recalls how her Patronus is able to damage Yohane’s wings, which are practically pieces of her soul. The correlation must mean something, though she doesn’t understand magic enough to figure out what.

“Anyway, I always feel a bit better whenever I cast this spell. It’s reinforced by positive thoughts after all. And the coelacanth, it’s a nice reminder.”

“The living fossil that we learned together from the encyclopedia zura,” Hanamaru giggles, reaching out a hand towards the silver fish. “Shiira-kansu, ne?”

When her fingertip comes in contact with the Patronus, Yoshiko feels an odd sensation of cold water trickling down her body and she gets tunnel vision on the coelacanth. Moments later, the vision returns to normal again, except the scenery looks slightly different.

Hanamaru has reverted to a little girl, her eyes wide with terror as she stares blankly at something behind Yoshiko. Yoshiko glances down at her hands, which are tiny as well, before turning around.

Dementors seem to glide towards them in slow motion, their tattered cloaks fluttering and their rotting bodies oozing of despair. A faint voice at the back of Yoshiko’s mind reminds her that this must be a flashback, but she’s mostly rooted in fear and consumed by a child’s young mind, unable to process her thoughts. All she could do is pull at Hanamaru’s hand as they try to run away from those foul creatures.

Little children’s legs could only move so fast and so far, and soon they stumble at the edge of the sandbox. Yoshiko spreads her arms wide, willing her tiny body to shield her friend from harm. The Dementors descend towards them, enclosing upon them, ready to suck their souls dry.

Hyperventilating now, Yoshiko fervently hopes for her angelic powers to manifest, to defeat this evil and protect her precious friend.

Something hurts within her chest, the pain so agonizing that she’s forced to her knees, but that is soon overcame by this sense of joy and hope. Light bursts from her body and the coelacanth Patronus swims around them, warding off the Dementors and chasing them away.

Yoshiko blinks at this miraculous turn of events, and only jolts out of her trance when she notices Hanamaru slumping behind her. The little girl must have been overwhelmed and thus had lost consciousness. Yoshiko herself is close to passing out as well, though she couldn’t look away from the brilliant Patronus.

Then she realizes that the Dementors are still around. Perhaps her magic isn’t as strong as a child, and the coelacanth is already doing all it could to keep the creatures at bay. Whenever it swims to chase one away, the others would attempt to close in on them.

It would only be a matter of time before the Patronus fades.

Then how did she save Hanamaru? How were the Dementors vanquished? This is a flashback right?

She finds her answer soon enough in the form of another Patronus, a Raven, powerful in its bright light as it soars straight through the Dementors and repelling them far away.

A dark-haired woman, her mother, stands in front of her determinedly while her father wraps protective arms around her small form. Yoshiko sniffles, clinging to her father’s warmth as he murmurs comforting words and caresses her back. The coelacanth fades not long after, its magic depleted, and exhaustion washes over her like a tidal wave. Before she nods off, she sees her mother speaking with the wizards and witches who just Apparated into the playground.

Her vision darkens but she remains aware.

She floats aimlessly in the darkness for who knows how long, and suddenly she finds herself facing a fallen man.

The fireplace nearby is littered with charred kindling and the Floo powder is scattered all over the expensive-looking carpet floor. Ornaments are shattered, portraits torn and furnitures upturned, a clear sign of an aftermath of a vicious battle.

Yoshiko discovers that, unlike the flashback earlier, she couldn’t really control her movements. There’s something viscous about the atmosphere too, adhering to her thoughts and weighing her down with malicious intent.

The red-haired man struggles to sit up, but all he could do is to slump against the wall. Amusement fills Yoshiko’s mind as she watches the wizard raise his wand with a trembling hand.

Nothing happens. Not even a spark from the tip of the wand.

Panicking now, the man utters incantations after incantations yet he’s still unable to cast a single spell.

“You Pureblood rely on your magic too much.” A familiar voice, Yohane’s voice, comes out of Yoshiko’s mouth. She tilts her head slightly, and one of the hooded figures behind her steps forward to wrench the wand out of the wizard’s hand.

“You won’t be needing this anymore after all.”

Yoshiko feels vile magic pooling at her back and, from the edge of her vision, she could see black feathers materializing. She flexes her wings in a silent command, and the hooded figures leave the room at once.

The reason becomes obvious when a Dementor glides in, and its terrible effect immediately shows as the wizard begins to quiver.

Yoshiko wants to scream, anything, to stop the creature from nearing the man. Alas, trapped in Yohane’s body, all she could do is watch in sheer horror as his soul is sucked out of his body.

A Dementor’s Kiss.

The man collapses, his eyes still open but blank with nothing inside of them.

Yohane does not laugh, though she’s obviously pleased from the way she kicks a broken plate out of her path as she exits the room.

“Oh, I didn’t notice you were here too.”

Abruptly, Yoshiko’s vision darkens again, the despair and dread dragging her down into that void of nothingness. She doesn’t even have a corporeal form, wherever she is, wherever this is.

Wandless.

Helpless.

What’s happening to me?

Did my soul leave my body or something?

The more terrified she feels, the deeper she sinks and it becomes harder and harder to form thoughts. This is different from her mind just blanking out when she loses control and those black tendrils burst out. She feels like she’s losing something, something important…

Is this what dying feels like?

“Yoshiko-chan!”

Someone’s calling her.

“Yoshiko-chan, snap back to your senses!”

She could feel it. Hope and light, somewhere far away and out of reach.

“Please, Yoshiko-chan!”

A familiar soft cry, a bird that is tragically misunderstood like she is.

Her vision is filled with light, forcing her to blink several times to adjust to the sudden brightness. A shimmering Patronus in the form of an Augurey flies around and encompasses the trail of light around her and Hanamaru.

“Y-Yoshiko-chan! You’re awake!” Hanamaru chokes with emotions, gripping Yoshiko’s hands so tightly that it’s almost painful. Lucifer is also perched on Yoshiko’s shirt, hissing softly in concern.

Yoshiko peers at them rather dumbly, trying to gather her thoughts and process what in Satan’s name just happened. “You saved me…”

“F-From what? What happened zura?”

“I… there was… it was all so dark, I…” Yoshiko says slowly, squeezing Hanamaru’s hands as if to reassure herself that she is back in her body. “Did you see anything-?”

“Y-Yes, h-how you saved me from the Dementors when we were little kids, here at this playground, but then I came to my senses and saw you’ve fainted zura. I-I kept calling your name but y-you wouldn’t respond. Lucifer tried too, it even bit your finger but nothing worked.”

Yoshiko takes a deep breath, pressing her hand against her chest and sighs in relief at the sensation of heartbeats. She’s back to reality now, from wherever that was.

“Is this-?”

The silver Augurey lands gracefully beside her before fading. “I couldn’t cast any spells, no matter how hard I tried, so I thought about what you said about souls and the Patronus Charm a-and, well, it somehow worked a-and it helped me wake you up.” Hanamaru shakes her head, as if unable to believe her success.

“T-That’s amazing… you’re able to cast an advanced spell, a Patronus Charm too...”

They both smile tentatively, though it’s obvious they’re still in a state of shock at what just transpired. Yoshiko rubs her aching temples, fragments of that scene with Yohane scaring her for many reasons.

Unlike the aftermaths of her previous connections, she doesn’t have a nosebleed, meaning this is something else.

Or that Yohane has recovered and is on the move.

And the poor man who was executed by a Dementor was unable to cast magic, most likely because he was hit by that same spell that affected Mari and Hanamaru.

Unlike the childhood memory in the playground, if Yohane can acknowledge her presence, it would mean that event has just occurred in the present. Yohane and the Fallen had attacked the man in his home before he could escape.

A Pureblood, a prestigious one too, based on all the fancy decorations.

The Black Jaguar insignia on the broken plate.

The Kurosawa emblem.

Cold fear settles in the pit of Yoshiko’s stomach.

“T-The Kurosawa Estate! It must be! We must get back to Hogwarts now and let the others know!”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

She grits her teeth and barely manages to dive behind an ornate mirror to avoid a powerful Stunner. A mere moment later, the glass shatters under the house-elf’s onslaught and forces her to vacate her hiding spot. The magical creature’s eyes are wide in turmoil, unable to fight against the powerful Imperius Curse forcing it to attack its liege.

She’s learned a few useful wandless spells for dire situations, yet she is unable to even summon magic. The terrible disruption remains, causing her great pain and almost paralyzing her when she tries to forcefully pour out her magic into the form of a spell. As the house-elf stiffly moves towards her, she mutters a silent apology before flinging a heavy book towards it.

While the servant is distracted by the impact, she lunges forward and smears her bloodied hand upon its brow. The house-elf shudders once before its energy seems to shut down as it closes its eyes and slumps to the side. Feeling her adrenaline receding, she crawls towards the wall, her body aching from exhaustion. She fruitlessly taps the corner of the shelf, hoping to activate the hidden passageway, yet nothing happens since there is no magic output. It seems that while ancient blood magic still works due to the bond between master and servant, she is practically a Squib and utterly defenseless.

It must have been that tea.

Grandfather had summoned those that remained within the Estate for a meeting and, as per tradition and decorum, tea had been serviced before discussions were allowed to proceed. Though fond of tea, she had been nervous and had only taken a small sip.

When the Wards were first breached, her relatives were shocked to discover that they could not cast even the simplest of spells to subdue the intruders. Cloaked trespassers aside, there was a legion of Dementors whose terrible presence alone was enough to incapacitate her relatives and even the Kurosawa patriarch. Having relied on and grown dependent on magic for so long, the formidable former Warlock and the rest of her family were easily overpowered.

Those who weren’t in the meeting were disarmed by a few Imperio’d house-elves and the Dementors. The number of house-elves then quickly dwindled down after they deliberately injured themselves, once they discovered having betrayed their masters even though they were controlled against their wills.

Those black feathers… such malignant magic...

Even without her magic, she was able to keep those intruders out of reach at first due to her sabre. Then, the winged witch commanded a different group of people to attack her with weapons like axes, halberds and swords. No matter how confident she was with her sabre, she was terribly outnumbered and, without her wand to cover this flaw in her defense, a blade slipped through her guard and disarmed her.

In spite of her injured right arm, she’s ambidextrous and has trained to fight like a Muggle. She knew there was no winning the fight then and successfully fled the room. She evaded Curses and Jinxes, using the layout of the Estate to her advantage when the intruders gave chase. In that moment of panic though, she had ordered Pana and Elicchi to leave the premises carrying the Kurosawa heirloom so that it would not be broken or fall to enemy hands. She did not know who are still free within the Estate but she knew that the Floo Network is compromised and the Wards are overwritten.

Knowing the two intelligent owls, they would have flown for Hogwarts to her little sister and her friends. And knowing them, they will definitely find a way to come here to save her.

However, by coming here, they would all be placed in grave danger and Dia despises herself for being the reason.

Alas, what else could she do in this predicament? Help isn’t coming, not from those outside the Vow, and she doesn’t know how long she can evade capture.

Her vision blurs precariously, prompting her to bite the inside of her cheek to jolt her back to consciousness. The copper tang of blood makes her stomach lurch. She breathes deeply, hoping to clear away any vestige of lightheadedness so that she could plan her next course of action. The deep cut on her right arm throbs, reminding her that the makeshift bandage to staunch the blood flow won’t be enough. The enemies had time to study her fighting style, and had improved their counter since they knew the sabre’s weakness against purely Muggle-forged weapons.

“...I ...I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault.” Dia tries to block the vivid image of Riko from the Pensieve, but her faint whisper hasn’t stopped haunting her since that day. “...it is mine.”

Anger overwhelms sorrow and fear, and she regains the strength to move again. With a pained gasp, she concentrates all her energy within herself and is relieved when the transformation slowly takes place. Though her world has become much larger from the new perspective, her sharpened senses now allow her to pick up even the slightest sound from down the hallway. She tests her injured foreleg, finding the limp acceptable before running out of the room. She uses her small size to squeeze under an armored statue without alerting a passing Dementor, though she almost falters from that shroud of despair.

It doesn’t affect her as much as it would have been if she was in her human form. She’s grateful to have learned Animagus magic, for it is her only defense against such horrid creatures now.

Even if she was able to use magic, she would still be defenseless against Dementors. She hadn’t been able to cast the Patronus Charm since...  

She hastens her pace, fueled by rage and hatred. That winged witch, the leader of these intruders, most likely knows what her Animagus form looks like due to Riko’s memories. It’s only a matter of time before she’s found or succumbs to her injuries. However, there are still many things she could do, things that only she knows about the Kurosawa Estate.

Just how long would this battle of attrition last, between the wounded rabbit and the hunters out for her blood?

[dimensiontripperhibiki]

A Name In The Wind (17/?)

REPOSTED BECAUSE THERE WAS AN ISSUE WITH THE LAST POST. 

Here’s the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoy! Warning(s): Angst, medical triggers, character death.

Chika was feeling a little bit more optimistic as she made her was down the hallway at school. She was more hopeful now that she had an actual plan to try to save Honoka and had people willing to help her. The hard part was yet to come, she knew, but things were looking brighter. She noticed the door to the classroom ahead open but she didn’t think anything of it until a hand reached out and grabbed her arm, quickly yanking her inside. She yelped automatically just before she caught sight of You, closing the door. “You-chan…?” “I’m screwed.” You said in a panic. “I’m totally totally screwed, Chika-chan!” “Eh?!” Chika shook her head in confusion. “Wait...what’s going on? Did something happen? Did you have a fight with Riko-chan?” “No! Wait...why would I fight with Riko-chan?” You frowned at the question.

“I don’t know, I just figured…” Chika’s eyes widened suddenly in realization. “Did Kanan-chan say something to you? I didn’t plan to tell her you watched us have sex, it just came out. She didn’t seem angry at the time.” “You TOLD HER?!” You exclaimed in shock. “Ugh. It’s not that, okay?!” Chika frowned. “Then what is it?” “I made out with someone.” You frantically wrung her hands in front of her as she looked past Chika, nervous of Dia finding her. “A-And I gave her a hickey! I didn’t think and I’m SO DEAD!” “You-chan, I don’t under-” “RUBY!” “Oh!” Chika suddenly realized what was going on. “Shit. Dia-san...You’re so dead, You-chan.” “I know, HIDE ME!” You pleaded with Chika. She grasped Chika’s hands tightly. “Dia-san is going to notice and she’s going to lose it! You have to help me, Chika-chan!” “Oh my gawd…” You’s eyed widened at the sound of Mari’s voice. She wasn’t in the room though, she was in the next it seemed. “Mari-san, what are…?” Dia’s voice followed, taut with confusion. “IS THAT A HICKEY?!” You stayed quiet, waiting for Ruby’s reply. “Yes.” Ruby sounded blunt but embarrassed and You winced to herself. “Ruby-chan is so mature, zura!” Hanamaru piped up enthusiastically. “YOHANE IS JEALOUS! SHE’S SUPPOSED TO BE THE FALLEN ANGEL!” “Hide, You-chan.” Chika whispered, grasping You’s hand. She led her quickly over to the closet and pushed her inside. Just as she stepped away from it the door burst open and Dia stepped inside with Mari, Hanamaru, Ruby and Yoshiko behind her. “D-Dia-san!” “Is You-san in here?” Dia asked, looking around in search of You. “I thought I saw her come in earlier.” “Ah..no. I mean yes. She did come in.” Chika tried to casually lean against one of the desks. “But she left. It’s just me here now. Do you need her for something?” “I NEED TO…” Dia trailed off for a moment and gritted her teeth. “Talk to her. I just want to talk.” “Um...it doesn’t really seem like that.” Chika said with a nervous laugh. “But she’s not here. Maybe she’s on the roof? Or maybe she left already.” “Ruby, stop smirking and straighten your collar.” Mari chirped, noticing Dia looking at Ruby out of the corner of her eye. “Here, let me do it.” Dia breathed a sigh of relief as Mari straightened Ruby’s collar up, concealing the mark on her neck. She paused after, realizing it wasn’t very like Mari to go out of her way to do that. Usually she would just tease her. Chika was giving Mari a strange look too, confused by how responsible she was suddenly acting. “Um...yeah, as I was saying, You-chan isn’t here now. Can I help you with anything?” Dia growled under her breath. “No, you can’t. Wait...you can tell her that she shouldn’t be pursuing girls who are younger than her. Ruby is much too innocent.” “Uh...Ruby-chan is only a year…” Chika trailed off at the angry look on Dia’s face. Dia could be fairly scary at times. She put a desk between them before she continued. “Maybe if You-chan was Kanan-chan’s age I would tell her that but like I said before, maybe you should focus on keeping your sister’s hormones in check. You-chan has a hickey on her neck too. And one on her collar. I just didn’t want to tell her I saw them.” “RUBY!” Dia gasped, turning to her smug looking younger sister. Ruby suddenly didn’t look very smug. “H-Hanamaru-chan, class is starting, let’s go!” “DON’T LEAVE YOHANE BEHIND!” Yoshiko exclaimed as the two rushed from the room. She quickly followed them. Chika laughed nervously, realizing only Dia and Mari were left. “You’re not gonna kill me now that we’re alone, right?” Dia scoffed. “Tell You-san I’m looking for her.” With that she turned and walked from the room with Mari. The door closed and Chika breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly the closet door opened and You hurried across the room, throwing her arms around Chika. “Thank you!” You exclaimed gratefully. “You’re the best friend ever.” “Yeah, yeah.” Chika grumbled, rolling her eyes as You pulled back. “Maybe don’t leave hickeys where Dia-san can see them. Kanan-chan likes to leave them on my…” “Stop!” You held her hands up, effectively cutting Chika off. “I don’t need to hear that and I’m not d-doing it with Ruby-chan!” “You’re not? Oh...I guess that’s a good thing. Dia-san might actually kill you.” Chika thought, looking You over. “And then I guess Mari-chan would help her hide the body…” “HEY!” You exclaimed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Don’t tell me that! I’m freaking out enough already. What am I going to do?” Chika shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to talk to Dia-san eventually.” You groaned. “I was worried you would say that…”

-----

Honoka stared at the  computer screen, tears streaking their way down her cheeks. The organizers of Love Live wanted to send them to America so they could hold a third competition in Akiba Dome. But she wouldn’t be able to go. She would have to get her parents permission and with everything that was happening, she wasn’t sure they could give it. Hanayo was sympathetically rubbing her back, having been the one to show Honoka the invitation. She had chosen to do it quietly without telling the rest of Muse first. The door opening drew her attention to it and  Eli appeared in the doorway, the rest of Muse behind her. “Eli-senpai…” Concerned, Eli entered the room and made her way over to Honoka. Hanayo, who had sent out a quick text to Eli when Honoka hadn’t stopped crying, vacated her seat for the older girl, letting her sit down. Eli drew Honoka into her arms and looked up at Hanayo. “What happened?” “Muse received an invitation. Or a request, rather.” Hanayo pointed at the computer screen. Quickly the rest of Muse gathered around Honoka and Eli, leaning down to read what was on the screen. “America?” Kotori asked in disbelief, stunned by the news. “They want us to go.” “To raise publicity…” Nico read from the screen. Slowly, she straightened up and glanced toward Maki. “Can Honoka even go like…” She hesitated, looking at Honoka. “With her condition?” “I wouldn’t want to risk that if I was her doctor.” Maki said softly, staring sympathetically at Honoka. “Her parents would never say yes anyway. If she went she would need to use steroids if she was going to dance. And what if something happened and we needed a hospital? There’s a communication barrier, not to mention…” “I can speak English fluently. As well as French and Japanese.” Nozomi pointed out quietly. “We would be fine.” “You could help out with the steroids and stuff, right Maki-chan?” Kotori asked hopefully, grasping Maki’s hand. “I mean you could help her inject them if she can’t do it herself. Your dad could show you maybe.” “Maybe but her doctor might advise her not to fly.” Maki reasoned uncomfortable. “If she’s at risk for increased swelling in her brain.” “It’s worth a try though, isn’t it?” Umi asked quietly, her hand on Honoka’s shoulder. “You too, Umi?” Maki asked in surprise. She would have thought Umi would be completely against it “Fine. We can try. But if we do get to go you can’t abuse your medication, Honoka.” “I-I won’t!” Honoka sniffled, looking up from Eli’s shoulder. “I promise.” “I’ll give it to Eli and let her be in charge of it.” Maki said with a sigh. “You two will have to share a room together. With Nico.” “Huh?” Nico looked up sharply. “Why?” “No funny business.” Maki answered though she was staring right at Eli and Honoka. “I’m serious about that.” “Then you’re all going to be in different rooms. NOT with your girlfriends.” Nico cut in, crossing her arms in front of her. “Fine.” Maki grumbled. She couldn’t deny that, she supposed. It was fair. “I’ll room with uh…” “Kayo-chin is rooming with me, nya!” “I’ll room with you, Maki-chan.” Nozomi said softly. She smiled at the grateful look Maki shot her. “I guess we’re roomies, Umi-chan.” Kotori said with a small smile. Umi smiled back. “Yeah.” “So we really are going?” Honoka asked hopefully. Eli hugged Honoka gently. “Yes, we are. You want it so we’re going.” Maki cleared her throat. “With your parents permission. We’ll do everything we can to get it but I don’t want you to be disappointed if we can’t go. If we can’t, it’s for a good reason. Your health is more important than some stupid publicity stunt.” “They’ll let me go, I-I think.” Honoka said, looking up at Maki with a tearful smile. “Thank you, Maki-chan. You’re always taking care of me.” As Maki looked away, grumbling, Honoka continued softly. “It’s Yukiho I’m worried about. She’s going to be angry. And she’s going to worry when I’m away.” “I’ll ask my dad if Arisa can stay with her.” Eli said softly, stroking Honoka’s hair. “She’ll be able to keep her calm.” “Thank you.” Honoka said softly. Looking up, she addressed the others. “All of you. I want to do this with all of you. More than anything.” Together, the group huddled around Honoka and Eli and leaned down to hug them, a few tears being shed as they did.

----

Kotori shuffled into the kitchen, her eyes half-open still. As soon as she’d woken up she’d gotten out of bed, wanting to get things started as soon as possible. They would need to find Eli and explain everything to her. She paused, finding Maki in the kitchen, making coffee and what smelled like breakfast. Kotori briefly considered walking away but it was too late. Maki spotted her. “Um...I wanted to try cooking for you.” Kotori glanced over Maki’s shoulder. “You’re overcooking the omurice.” “Wha…?!” Maki turned around and quickly grabbed the handle of the pan, trying to keep a fire from forming. Kotori’s lips twitched upward. As much as she wanted to be furious with Maki, as much as she wanted to dislike her in that moment, she couldn’t. It wasn’t possible. She walked over to Maki, standing behind her and placed her hands on top of Maki’s, one hand on top of the hand clutching the pan and one hand on the hand holding the spatula. “You have to be gentle with the eggs.” She explained softly. “Hold the pan just barely to the heat and use the spatula to gently fold the egg over the vegetables and rice.” She helped Maki do so before letting go. Maki swallowed thickly. “W-What about the chopsticks?” “That’s for folding it the second time. Here, let me show you.” Kotori took the pan from Maki when her girlfriend offered it. Maki stepped to the side, watching closely as Kotori finished making the omurice. She waited until Kotori had set it on a plate before she spoke up. “I…” “You know how to use the ketchup, right?” Kotori asked, raising an eyebrow. “Ah, yeah...of course. I’m just not as artistic as you with the design,” Maki said with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’ll love whatever you draw on it.” Kotori said in a whisper as she stared down at the plate. She heard a sniffle and looked up in time to see Maki trying to dash tears from her eyes. “Maki-chan.” “I just want to protect you.” Maki cried regretfully. “I’m not keeping things from you for any other reason. I just want you to be safe and happy. Y-You’re so much better at this than me. I don’t know why I keep failing at the most basic of things in this relationship. I just hate seeing you cry, upset, hurt and...I-I know you’re not fragile. I don’t think I would be stable if you weren’t beside me. You were the strongest, Kotori. It’s the same as with Umi, I don’t want you to see me weak.” “I want to see you weak.” Kotor murmured, shaking her head. “I want to see you not push your own feelings aside for the sake of mine. Come here, Maki-chan.” Maki stepped into the offered embrace, hugging Kotori tightly. “I started smoking a year ago.” She said bluntly. “I started doing it when I saw my grades slipping in senior year. The exams and cram school were killing me a-and you were busy with college and I just needed something to calm myself. Fuck, I just want to quit. I hate it.” Kotori was silent for a long moment before she spoke up. “Do you want me to help you?” “P-Please, just...I need you to keep me from being a workaholic.” “If you keep me from becoming an alcoholic.” Kotori said, half joking. She let go of Maki and picked up the omurice and the bottle of ketchup. “Let’s eat together, okay, Maki-chan?” “Okay.” Maki wiped the last of her tears away and crossed to the table where she sat down with Kotori. She watched as Kotori used the ketchup to draw a small bird and a cat with a heart between them. She smiled softly at the gesture. “I guess...if we get Honoka back this would never have happened. Our life now. Maybe I’ll never have started smoking.” “At least we’ll still be together.” Kotori reached over and took Maki’s hand, giving it a light squeeze. “Huh, and I thought I would have to keep that a secret.” Nozomi said softly from where she was watching in the hallway with Umi at her side. “Those two really are the most stable.” Umi said, tentatively leaning into Nozomi. Nozomi sighed a little. “Did you take your medicine?” “Yes. Did you?” “Yeah.” Nozomi said quietly. She blindly reached for Umi’s hand, grasping it after a moment. “Do you feel okay about this? We have to find Eli eventually. And she might have to speak to Chika after that.” Umi cringed at the thought. “She’s going to do something stupid. You know that.” “I guess it’s a good thing Kanan-san will be there.” Umi straightened up, her heart suddenly racing. “They’re going to fight. What did Maki tell you?” “That Eli is drunk off her ass when they talk.” Nozomi said softly. She squeezed Umi’s hand. “They’re not going to touch you, Umi-chan. Eli wouldn’t dare and as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think Kanan-san is like that.” “I won’t let her hit you either.” Umi said, her voice strong and defiant, taking Nozomi off guard. “She’ll have to go through me.” Nozomi smiled warmly at the comment. She didn’t doubt Umi. She would defend her even if she was panicking while doing it.

-----

“Are you feeling okay, Honoka-chan?” Kotori asked as Honoka took her seat next to her. They’d just gotten onto their plane, heading for New York and Honoka seemed a bit nervous. “You seem worried.” “I’m excited.” Honoka smiled back at Kotori. She was relieved her parents had agreed to the trip, albeit reluctantly. “But I’m a little worried about Nozomi-chan, having to sit next to Eli-senpai. They’re still mad at each other, I can tell.” “They’ll be fine.” Kotori said reassuringly. “Don’t worry about those two. Umi-chan will keep them in check. Nico-chan too.” Honoka didn’t look convinced but she needed anyway. There wasn’t much else they could do besides switch seats and while she wanted to sit next to Eli she wanted to sit next to Kotori too. “You should get some rest on the flight over.” Kotori suggested quietly. “I know you, you’ll want to look around as soon as we get there and I don’t want you to wear yourself out.” Honoka smirked. “You don’t have to act like my mother, Kotori-chan.” “I’m not your mother, I’m like...your older, more mature sister. I have to look out for you sometimes, don’t I?” Kotori asked expectantly. “Just like you look out for me and Umi-chan sometimes.” Honoka smiled softly at the comment. “Like sisters.” She murmured to herself, nodding her head. “I think of you that way too, Kotori-chan. You and Umi-chan.” Kotori winced at that, thinking of Umi’s old feelings for Honoka. At least she had moved on to someone better suited for her. She fell silent for a moment, thinking about that but so did Honoka. She seemed to be nervously biting her lip now. Kotori figured Honoka was thinking about when Kotori and Umi were the only two left out of the three childhood friends. She took Honoka’s hand, both for her friend’s comfort and for her own. Nozomi watched from a few seats away as Honoka rested her head on Kotori’s shoulder. She sighed. At least they weren’t as uncomfortable as she was. She looked back to Eli in time to see the blonde staring past her at Honoka and Kotori, a slight frown on her lips. “She’s fine. Kotori-chan is a good friend.” “I know…” Eli mumbled, sitting back in her seat properly. She knew Honoka was fine with Kotori but she wanted to be over there. “At least I’m not Nicocchi.” Nozomi joked, hoping to get a response from Eli. She didn’t. She cleared her throat uncomfortably. “So are you excited for the…?” “No.” Eli interrupted sharply. “I’d rather us not go for her sake, damn it.” Nozomi coughed awkwardly and looked up, catching Maki’s eyes. The redhead was sitting just a couple of seats away from her. “Help me.” She mouthed silently. She watched as Maki nudged the person next to her. A moment later, Umi stood up with her bag and made her way over. “Um...would you like to switch seats, Eli?” Eli looked up. “Who are you sitting with again?” “Maki.” “The seat’s yours.” Eli stood up and walked over to Maki, sitting down next to her with a heavy sigh. Nozomi felt a wave of relief wash over her as Umi sat down next to her. “Never leave me alone with her again.” “Nozomi.” “What? I can barely speak to her without her spitting fire at me. What am I meant to say?” Nozomi asked in frustration. “Let Maki calm her down. She can teach Eli how to use the injection through the trip too.” Umi reasoned, hoping to soothe Nozomi. She knew Eli not speaking to her girlfriend hurt her. “Can we watch a movie?” Nozomi wrapped her arms around Umi’s arm and pressed her face into her shoulder. “Sure.” Umi said with a gentle smile. “When we take off we can start watching together, okay?” Eli huffed in annoyance as she looked away from Umi and Nozomi. “Great. She gets to be with her girlfriend and I’m stuck here. Typical.” “Hey, my girl is with your girl.” Maki pointed out, raising an eyebrow. “We’re both watching them with envy. We just have to accept that they want to be together right now. Otherwise they would have already switched seats. They’re best friends, they need their own time.” “Why? Because they don’t have much?” Eli gritted her teeth, her hands balling into fists. “Fuck.” “Eli, you need to calm down.” Maki said softly as she watched Eli struggle with several emotions. “Saying things like that is only going to make you feel worse. Trust me. Here, let me just teach you how to inject the steroid.” “Eh? But we’re on a plane!” “I don’t have it with me, we’re going to watch a video on my laptop.” Maki said with a roll of her eyes. “It’ll…” She trailed off, briefly distracted by her phone. She checked her messages and blushed at Kotori’s request to meet her in the bathroom once they were allowed to unfasten their seatbelts. She looked back at her girlfriend, noticing a coy smile on her face, even with Honoka dozing off on her shoulder. “Maki, what are you looking at?” Eli shifted in her seat, struggling to see. “N-Nothing!” Maki said quickly, turning her attention to the space in front of her. “I’ll show you the steroid thing later, okay?” “Um...okay.”

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It was during her lunch break that Kanan decided to go and look for Riko. She’d intended to speak to the second year for a while now but hadn’t gotten around to it, with everything that was happening with Honoka and Muse. She walked down the hallway to the music room, already catching the sound of the piano being played. She knew it was Riko. She didn’t know anyone else who could play that well. She paused in the doorway, looking through the small pane of glass to be sure. Indeed she found Riko sitting behind the piano, her hands moving over the keys. She was relieved she had managed to find Riko so fast. Truthfully the girl could have been anywhere in the school. She pushed the door open and entered the room and the music stopped immediately. “Kanan-chan.” Riko said in surprise. “Take it easy.” Kanan said, holding up her hands. “I just came to talk.” She waited for a nod from Riko before she made her way further into the room, pacing over to the piano. She ran her fingers lightly over the glossed surface. “I figured I would find you in here. You’ve been avoiding us a little.” “Have I?” Riko didn’t look or sound shocked but it was clear she was trying to. “That hasn’t been my intention. Maybe I’ve just been busy with homework or school or something.” “I’m not oblivious, I can tell.” Kanan said, raising an eyebrow. “W-What?” “You like her.” Riko felt like the ground had been pulled out from under her and for a moment she could only open and close her mouth. Finally she managed to form words. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Riko.” Kanan sighed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t play dumb.” “Fine.” Riko slumped down slightly, her hands falling to her sides instead of resting upon the piano. “Well I screwed up. I thought she was...crazy.” “Well that’s the worst thing to say to a distressed girl.” “NO!” Riko exclaimed, her eyes wide. Kanan jolted in surprise. “I-I didn’t say it out loud! But I...maybe hinted at it when she tried to tell me about whatever is going on with her.” “It’s true you know.” Kanan pointed out, her tone clipped with annoyance. “You should have believed her. She wanted your help. She even told me she wanted it over mine.” “O-Oh…” Riko worriedly bit her lip, looking down at her lap. Kanan stared at Riko long and hard. It was clear the pianist didn’t really understand the gravity of what she was telling her. “We’re dating now, the two of us. I don’t know if she told you that.” Riko smiled sadly. “She didn’t. I kind of figured it out myself though.” “You could have been in my position, you know.” Kanan frowned at Riko. She didn’t want to hurt her but she needed her to know what she had done. “If you’d just believed her. Or supported her.” “I had a feeling she might have felt the same way...I guess we misunderstood each other.” Riko took a deep breath and looked up at Kanan. “You’re the better option. You’re unconditional.” “I am.” Kanan said softly. Riko stared at Kanan pensively for a moment. “Is it true that you have experience? With more girls than Chika-chan?” Kanan nodded. “It doesn’t matter now though. She’s the only girl that makes me feel...happy. My heart beats faster when she smiles. It skips when she holds my hand,” “Sounds nice.” Riko said wistfully. Kanan straightened up a bit. “We’re friends too, Riko. So I don’t have to tell you not to go after Chika-chan. Do I?” Riko shook her head. “Good.” Kanan said softly, her stance slowly relaxing. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry if I ended up hurting you by dating Chika.But I couldn’t just ignore how I felt about her. I love her.” “I understand.” The simple answer had Kanan thinking that while Riko did understand, she didn’t especially want to. She cleared her throat. “Thank you. We can still be friends, right?” “Of course.” Riko said with a hurried nod. She looked a little worried at the question, something that reassured Kanan somewhat. “I need some fresh air.” Kanan watched as Riko stood from the piano bench. “Are you going to skip class?” “Maybe.” Riko answered quietly as she skirted around the piano. “Don’t follow my bad habits.” Kanan advised as Riko moved past her. Riko waved Kanan off as she left the room. She walked down the hallway, zoning out as she did so. She had thought that Chika had feelings for her but then Chika had told her she didn’t have feelings for anyone so she’d assumed that she’d been wrong. Riko remember with a twinge in her chest that Chika had been pressing her to see whether she was interested in anyone though. Maybe Riko had just scared her off by lying to her. Maybe Chika had thought she didn’t feel the same way. A part of her wanted to tell her now. Just so that Chika knew the truth. She collected her shoes and left the school at a jog, in a hurry to get away. She had about ten minutes left until the end of lunch so it was easy for her to slip away unnoticed. She would deal with her mom later if the school called her. She reached the beach, vaguely noticing a photoshoot of some kind happening a short distance away. It was only when she got closer and heard someone speak that she really started to pay attention. “Gimme a profile, Nico-chan!” Riko wiped briefly at the tears that suddenly clouded her vision. Her eyes widened as she looked closer at the photoshoot, noticing a girl with wavy black hair, under a sun hat. She was wearing heels and a stylish blue sundress. Riko stepped close, making a mental note to look for it online. “Always so mature, Nico-chan.” The photographer was saying as he snapped pictures of Nico. “The other models tend to smile but you always know when to keep a straight face. Now give me that fierce look!” Riko inched as close as she dared, noticing the loneliness in the model’s ruby red eyes. Her brow furrowed in confusion. She recognized her from somewhere. “Nico-chan.” She repeated back to herself thoughtfully. The only Nico she knew of was Yazawa Nico from Muse and it wasn’t as though she would be there. Deciding to wait, Riko stayed where she was. She had only been planning on walking anyway. “Okay, that’s enough.” A woman standing on the sidelines called out. “The wind is getting too strong. Plus, we have a fan.” Riko glanced over her shoulder, looking around to see if anyone else was there before she realized the two of them were talking about her. She blushed fiercely, realizing she had been caught staring. As she backed away, she noticed the figures begin to pack away. She caught the model staring at her and froze once more. Suddenly the model was walking toward her. Riko considered running but it seemed her feet were glued to the ground. “What are you doing here?” Nico asked when she reached Riko. “You’re not allowed within five feet of the shoot. Damn it, don’t tell me you were behind me.” Riko narrowed her eyes as she looked up at the girl. In heels Nico was around an inch taller than her. “I was further than five feet away from you.” She pointed out. It had been clear to her that she was around ten feet from the shoot. She wouldn’t have dared get as close as Nico had said she was. “And...does it look like I was behind you? This is a public beach. Maybe you should have put up some warnings?” “Oh god, you’re like her…” Nico groaned in exasperation. “Excuse me?” “Nothing, just...an old friend. Nevermind.” Riko watched as Nico turned to her team and said that she was taking ten. She almost wished she had stayed at school. This conversation was only making her feel worse. Nico turned back to Riko. “Know a good place to get something to eat around here?” “Huh?” “I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything since I got here.” Nico said slowly as if she was speaking to someone especially stupid. “So do you know a place?” Riko frowned. She didn’t like this girl’s attitude. “How old are you? Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” Nico twitched. “I’m twenty.” Riko blushed at her mistake. Nico smirked. “Playing hooky, huh? I’ve done that. Why don’t you come with me? It’ll be my treat.” “Go with you?” Riko echoed in surprised. She laughed in disbelief after. “I-I’m sorry, it’s just...you came over here and accused me of getting in the way of your photoshoot and now you want to take me out to lunch.” “Yes? A beautiful girl deserves something nice.” Nico shrugged her shoulders. “Besides, playing hooky usually means something is bothering you.” “And now you’re hitting on me.” Riko said, a little surprised. “Even though I’m clearly wearing a uniform so you obviously know I’m a student.” “Don’t flatter yourself, You just look upset. I’ve been in the situation at your age. I just thought you needed something to cheer you up.” Nico argued, shaking her head. “Besides you have to be like...a third year, right? You’ll probably be graduating soon so it’s not like it would be weird for me to hit on you.” Riko hesitated for a moment. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. So um...what kind of food do you want to eat? I don’t know if I’ll go with you but I can show you the way.” “I don’t mind.” Nico answered with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’ll leave it to you.” “Okay. Follow me then.” Riko hesitated for a moment before she led Nico along the beach, trying to figure out where to go as they walked. “There’s not much here. You’re probably used to Tokyo or somewhere, right? You look like a city girl.” “In a way. I’ve lived in France for the past couple of years. Before that I lived in Tokyo…” Nico seemed to trail off in thought. She came to her senses after a moment though, clearing her throat. “Uh...I’m just visiting for a while.” “Are you staying here? In a hotel or something?” Riko asked curiously as they stepped off the beach, onto more solid ground. She noticed for the first time that Nico had taken her shoes off and had been holding them loosely in her hands. She paused for a moment to put them back on. “At an inn.” Nico clarified as they started walking again. “I have some business in Tokyo tomorrow but I’ll still be staying here.” “Business? Like another photoshoot?” Nico gave a soft laugh. “You’re pretty curious, huh? No, not another photoshoot. I’m visiting a friend.” Riko watched Nico closely, noticing her smile fade and her expression sadden. “I’m sorry to pry.” “It’s fine.” Nico smiled again but to Riko it looked forced this time. “I like your curiosity.” Riko smiled back, hesitantly. “You’re...daring. You seem like you would be fun to be around.” “Oh so now you’re figuring that out?” Nico laughed genuinely and Riko felt her cheeks warm at the sound. Nico reached out and ruffled Riko’s hair. “Sorry about earlier. I tend to be grumpy when I’m hungry and I wanted to get out of there.” “It’s fine.” Riko said softly. She stopped short, nodding toward a small restaurant she’d led Nico to. “Um...this might be a good place to stop to eat. It’s small but the food is nice.” “You won’t come in with me?” Nico asked as Riko turned, seemingly to walk away from her. “I don’t even know your name.” Riko turned back to Nico with a small smile. “Sakurauchi Riko.” “Riko.” Nico echoed softly. “Will you come and eat with me? Come on, I don’t know anyone else in this town.” Riko pursed her lips to hold back a laugh. “I um...don’t know if I should. I don’t really know you and well….I don’t know.” “Yazawa Nico.” Nico teasingly held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Riko.” “What?” Riko stared at Nico in surprise for a moment. She numbly took her hand and gasped as Nico pulled her in close, kissing one of her cheeks. “I-I um…” “Sorry.” Nico said softly, smiling at Riko’s shock. “Habit. I’ve lived in France for a while, remember.” “I-It’s not that, I’m just…” Riko paused, unsure as to whether she should tell the truth. “Um...I feel like I’ve heard your name before.” Nico’s smile faded slightly and she let go of Riko’s hand. “Let me guess, you’re a school idol.” Riko nodded. “Well that would be how you’ve heard of me.” Nico said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Anyway, I’m not a school idol anymore. I haven’t been for a long time.” She looked over her shoulder at the restaurant. “Are you sure you won’t come in with me? I want to hear more about you.” “About me?” Riko asked in surprise. She wasn’t sure why someone like Nico would want to hear about her but it was touching that she did. “Um...sure.” Nico grinned and grabbed Riko’s hand again. She tugged her into the restaurant and they quickly found a small table in the corner to sit at. The waitress wandered over right away and they ordered their drinks. “So.” Nico said, leaning back in her seat. “What else do you like doing?” “Um...I play the piano.” Nico laughed at that. “Oh man, you really are her. Do you compose?” “No, my friend Mari-chan is our composer.” Riko said with a shake of her head. She was tempted to ask about Maki, given that she had figured out that was who Nico was comparing her to but she resisted the urge, not wanting to bring up painful memories. Nico leaned a bit closer to Riko, their eyes locked intently. “Your eyes...they tell a story about someone who isn’t sure about what they want. Do you want to talk about it?” Riko swallowed thickly. “I-I barely know you.” “Sometimes strangers are the best people to talk to.” Nico lightly touched Riko’s hand. “Come on, whatever you have to say can’t be that bad. I’ve done some pretty bad things too, you know.” Riko felt her composure crumble at the gentle touch, her throat aching and her eyes watering. As she broke into tears she reached up, covering her eyes with her forearm. “I just don’t know what I want.” She said tearfully. “I love playing piano but I’m not really good. I get nervous and now that someone I thought I liked is no longer close to me I feel I’m losing my last inspiration to play. Like I said I’m not even composing the songs, I’m just...a help. I don’t really do anything.” “Play for me.” Nico requested softly, giving Riko’s hand a light squeeze. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be here. I haven’t decided yet. But I want you to play for me before I leave.” Riko sniffled as she looked at Nico. “O-Okay.” She realized what she was doing and quickly wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry, I don’t usually do this in front of people I’ve just met.” “So you’re saying I’m special.” Nico smirked teasingly. She didn’t wait for a response from Riko though. “It’s fine, I don't mind. Let’s just order, okay?” “Yeah.” Riko slowly allowed herself to relax. “Okay.” She fell silent for a moment as Nico waved the waitress over. The two ordered and when the waitress left, Riko chanced another glance up at Nico. “My friend used to have a poster of your...group on her door. You look a lot different.” “Thanks?” Nico said hesitantly. She tried not to picture what that poster would have looked like, with the others and Honoka. “I felt like a change after high school. I used to have to fit the idol persona but they’re called school idols for a reason.” “Right.” Riko said quietly. Much like everyone with an interest in school idols she knew what had happened within Muse, with their leader getting sick and eventually dying of her illness. “Well this look suits you.” “Thanks.” Nico said again, a smirk tugging at her lips as she leaned back. “You’re not so bad yourself, you know.” Riko blushed at the compliment. “I thought you weren’t hitting on me?” Nico gave a soft laugh. “If that’s how you react to something like that, I’d love to see how you react to me actually flirting with you.” Riko swallowed heavily. “You...still haven’t let go of my hand.” “Do you want me to?” Nico quipped. Nevertheless, she drew her hand away, letting it fall back to her lap. She drew something from her pocket and slid it over to Riko. “Here. Before I forget to give this to you.” Riko looked down. A business card was sitting in front of her, on the table. “Your phone number…?” “Well you promised you’d let me listen to you play.” Nico said with a shrug of her shoulders. She gave a soft laugh as Riko blushed once more.

-------

Maki took a slow breath as she straightened her laptop in front of her. She wondered how long it had been since she’d spoken to Rin. It had been a long time, she knew that much. During their last two years of high school they had barely spoken. She’d hadn’t spoken with Hanayo much either. She felt hands on her shoulder and then Kotori was leaning down behind her, their cheeks brushing together. “I’m going to bed.” Kotori whispered, gently rubbing Maki’s shoulders. “Are you going to be okay?” “Yeah.” Maki said softly as she looked up at Kotori. “Yeah, of course. It’s just Rin.” Kotori lightly kissed Maki on the lips. “If you need me I’ll be in the bedroom.” Maki nodded and watched as Kotori turned and left. She waited until the bedroom door closed behind her girlfriend before she turned to her laptop. Trying not to think too much about it, she pressed the button to skype call Rin. It rang for a few minutes and Maki wasn’t sure Rin was going to pick up. She hadn’t warned her that she was going to call, after all. As she continued to wait for Rin to pick up she double checked the time difference. It was one in the morning in Japan, meaning it was eight in the morning in America. “Maki-chan?” Maki flinched as the skype call was finally answered. She flicked back to it on her laptop and paused when she saw Rin. The girl was jogging, her ponytail swinging behind her. “Your hair got longer.” “Uh...yeah.” Rin seemed to adjust her grip on her phone. Lifting her other hand, she used her sweatband to wipe her forehead. “What’s up? You wouldn’t call me unless...” She stopped short, alarm finding it’s way to her face. “What happened?” “Nothing, everyone is fine.” Maki said quickly, not wanting Rin to get the wrong idea. “I need to ask you for a favor.” “Now? I’m kind of busy. I’m practicing.” Rin said as she went back to jogging. As the phone moved, Maki could make out a track behind Rin, suggesting she was running on campus. “I need you to come back to Japan.” She blurted out. “Huh?” Rin frowned in confusion. “What do you mean? Why would I come back there? Are you not telling me something? Is someone sick? Is it Kotori-chan?” “NO!” Maki exclaimed quickly, her voice raising at the idea of that. “No, it’s not that. Um...it’s about Honoka.” “Honoka-chan?” Rin once again ground to a halt. Deciding to take a break for a few minutes, she walked over to the bleachers and sank down. She picked up the bottle of water she’d left there and pressed it to her forehead. “I don’t understand.” “I’m sorry.” Maki said sincerely. “I don’t really know how to explain all of this, it’s just...we need you back here. For...a reunion concert?” “You’re lying.” Rin retorted bluntly. “And I wouldn’t want to do that. Muse isn’t Muse without Honoka-chan. I can’t believe you would even…” “Okay, okay. It’s not that, I’m sorry!” Maki exclaimed quickly, seeing that Rin was getting upset. “I’m sorry, okay? But...it is for Honoka in a way. Eli is back in Japan.” “Good.” Rin said with a soft sigh of relief. “And we need you to come back because she’s leaving again soon.” Maki lied, hoping Rin would believe her this time. She felt bad for doing it but it couldn’t be helped. “And…” “Maki-chan, you’re a terrible liar. I’m hanging up now.” Maki cursed under her breath. “Wait, wait. Okay, fine. Just hear me out. Honoka needs you. She needs all of us.” Rin lowered her eyes. “Honoka-chan is dead. This isn’t funny.” “Am I lying though?” Maki asked expectantly. She watched as Rin looked up, seemingly staring at her intently. “Rin, please. Nozomi and Umi are here too. We just need you, Hanayo, Nico and Eli.” “You sound crazy.” Rin said with a shake of her head. “You know I hate bullshit, especially…” “I know!” Maki said as Rin trailed off. “But damn it, I’m begging you. Just come over. Give me a day! I’ll even pay for your plane tickets!” “Fine!” Rin finally relented with a huff. “But it better be important. I have track meets! I’ll call you later.” “Ri-” Maki was cut off by Rin abruptly hanging up on her. She sighed and slumped back in her seat. “That went well…”

--------

“I um...have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Eli rolled her eyes as she watched Maki get up and head down the aisle to the bathroom. Looking over her shoulder she noticed that Kotori wasn’t in her seat either. “Of course.” She muttered. She paused for a moment before she decided to get up herself. The fasten seatbelt sign was no longer on so she was free to go where she liked. Quickly, she made her way to the seats a few rows back and sat down next to Honoka. “Where did you go?” Honoka mumbled without opening her eyes. “You’ve been gone for a while.” “I think she went to make out with Maki in the bathroom.” Eli answered with a smirk. Honoka’s eyes sprung open. “Eli-senpai!” She exclaimed happily. “What are you doing over here?” “I came to keep you company. Kotori’s probably going to be a while.” Eli said with a roll of her eyes. She leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to Honoka’s forehead. “How are you feeling?” “Um…” Honoka hesitated for a moment. “My head hurts. And I feel kind of nauseous but I think that might just be from flying.” “I feel a bit sick too.” Eli murmured with a nod of her head. “I wonder how those two can handle screwing in the bathroom.” Honoka made a face. “I don’t need to think about that, especially when I can’t do that myself. We’re not going to get much time to ourselves at the hotel…” “I’ll kick Nico out.” Eli said with a grin. “We need to get her a girlfriend.” Honoka gave a gentle laugh and shifted closer to Eli, resting her head lightly on her shoulder. “How do you know she likes girls?” “How do you know she doesn’t?” Eli countered, raising an eyebrow. “Besides I’m pretty sure she was into Nozomi at one point.” “Nico-chan and Nozomi-chan?” Honoka thought about that for a few seconds, nodding thoughtfully. “I guess that would make sense. Nico-chan is a bit hot-headed. Nozomi-chan would be able to keep her calm. Nozomi-chan is with Umi-chan now though. Do you think she might be interested in Nico-chan too?” “There’s a lot I can say about Nozomi right now but she’s not a cheater.” Eli said, irritation slipping into her voice. “And she wouldn’t be with Umi if she wanted Nico.” She looked over her shoulder, noticing a line forming outside of the bathroom. “Those two nerds are going to hold up the bathroom. Who would have thought Kotori could be so bad. Or Maki…” “Maki-chan isn’t surprising.” Honoka said with a shrug of her shoulders. “When we were…’dating’ she wanted to make out in the piano room. And in an empty classroom between classes…” She trailed off as Eli turned to frown at her. “Oh. Sorry. If it makes you feel better you’re a way better kisser.” Eli’s lips turned up at that but then they heard a moan from the bathroom and the smile slipped away. “Crap. I should go and get them.” “You don’t have to.” Honoka nodded over Eli’s shoulder. Eli looked up in time to see Nozomi storming down the aisle, an annoyed expression on her face. She relaxed slightly, a sense of familiarity settling over her. At least they were still the parental figures of the other members of Muse. She lifted her hand to cover her mouth against a laugh, noticing Nozomi mouthing that she was going to kill Maki. Nozomi got to the floor and rapped loudly on it. A moment later, a rather disheveled Maki appeared. Her button down shirt was untucked, three of the buttons at the top undone while her pants were only zipped, not buttoned. Kotori stumbled after her, her ribbon missing from her hair and her skirt wrinkled, like it had been pushed up then hastily tugged back down. Eli watched as Nozomi said something and the two blushed before Nozomi tugged Maki by the ear back to her seat. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.” Maki cringed as Nozomi tugged her down the aisle. On her way past Umi, Nozomi seemed to apologize before she went to sit next to Maki. “You can take the seat next to Umi.” Eli pointed out when Kotori returned to Honoka. “I’m going to stay with Honoka. Unlike someone I’m not going to leave her to have sex.” Kotori couldn’t think of an answer to that. She bowed her head. “Sorry, Honoka-chan.” She mumbled before she wandered off to take a seat next to a furiously blushing Umi. “That was mean.” Honoka said with a soft giggle as she wrapped an around around Eli’s waist. “Well they have to learn.” Eli shrugged, smirking as Umi seemed to shrink away from Kotori slightly in embarrassment. “Otherwise they’re going to end up fined or arrested.” “I thought Nozomi would have teased them about it.” Honoka said as she watched Nozomi and Maki. From the way Nozomi was talking and Maki was staring at the floor, her shoulders slumped it was clear that some kind of lecture was going on. “Poor Maki-chan.” “Nozomi tends to be more serious when it comes to being arrested.” Eli sighed and shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about Nozomi. She didn’t even want to look at her but Honoka seemed captivated by the discussion going on. Eli watched as Maki tugged on her grey jacket and Nozomi grabbed the younger girl’s phone. “No sexting either.” Nozomi’s voice was just loud enough for them and several other people to hear and Honoka burst out laughing. Kotori slumped down in her seat as Umi scowled and started her own lecture about why she should be more responsible in a public place and what the consequences could have been for Muse AND the other passengers. “Umi-chan still hasn’t done it yet.” Kotori teased, interrupting Umi mid-sentence. “KOTORI!” Kotori smirked and glanced at Nozomi who was watching them out of the corner of her eye. She winked at her and turned her attention back to Umi. “I thought Nozomi would take you already since she’s the most perverted out of all of us.” Nozomi’s face turned bright red. “Kotori-chan, what are you talking about?!” “Nothing.” Kotori said innocently as Umi started to tug her collar further up her neck. “Just some girl talk between best friends.” Maki laughed at the look on Nozomi’s face. She turned in her seat, looking around at Kotori. “I love you.” “Enough, both of you!” Nozomi exclaimed loudly. “Now I know why Nicocchi said nobody can share with their girlfriend.” Nico perked up. “TOLD YA!” “Miss, please be quiet.” A passing flight attendant said, causing Nico to frown. “It’s like Umi-chan and I are the only responsible couple.” Nozomi said with a roll of her eyes. “Hey, we are too!” Honoka called from her seat, earning herself a few annoyed looks from other passengers. “MISS!” “S-Sorry.” Honoka said sheepishly, slumping back down in her seat. She lowered her voice slightly. “I think it’s time for most of us to go to sleep. Rin and Hanayo are already.” “Yeah and they’re both sleeping on my shoulders!” Nico scowled. “MISS!” “Sorry, sorry…” Nico grumbled, rolling her eyes as the flight attendant berated them once more. “As I was saying, you need to be more responsible.” Nozomi told Kotori as she looked over at her. “Please.” Kotori scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “If Umi-chan wouldn’t freak out you wouldn’t hesitate to pin her to a wall and have your w-” “KOTORI!” Umi whisper yelled. “We’re in public!” “They’re all sleeping.” Kotori said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Or they have headphones on. Besides, you can’t say you don’t feel the same way. Nozomi-chan is hot.” “W-Well I do but…” “You do?” Nozomi asked in surprise. “I mean so do I but...I mean I don’t want to rush into anything. Not that I would feel rushed or anything but...I mean you. I don’t want to rush you.” Kotori smirked in response. “Seems like someone has been holding herself back. Must be driving you crazy.” “Why don’t you sit next to Umi and talk about that?” Maki suggested hopefully. “I guess Kotori could sit next to me and you two can talk about whatever you need to talk about. Umi looks like she wants to say something, doesn’t she?” “Nice try.” Nozomi said with a roll of her eyes. “We’ll talk about this later, Umi-chan.” Umi smiled and nodded, settling back in her seat. Kotori huffed out a sigh and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Kotori.” Maki called, successfully drawing Kotori’s attention back to her. “It’s Umi who has it bad. Nozomi can control herself. Umi can’t. I should have taken a picture of her pinning you to the wall that time I walked in on you two.” “I’m going to kill you in your sleep.” Nozomi muttered as Umi spluttered out her innocence. “T-That’s not true.” Umi spluttered. “Go Umi-chan!” Honoka hollered from where she was sitting with Eli. “Miss, for the last time, be QUIET!” Eli grabbed Honoka’s hand and tugged her back down into her seat. “Okay time for bed everyone. Especially you troublemakers.” She looked pointedly between Maki and Kotori. Thankfully the two quietened down. Eli closed her eyes and angled herself more toward Honoka, letting Honoka sink into her, huddling against her chest. Eli positioned Kotori’s pillow behind her, ignoring the girl’s protests that she needed it. It wasn’t long before Honoka dozed off but Eli couldn’t force herself to sleep. She glanced at Nozomi and Maki and found Maki lying down with her head in Nozomi’s lap, the third year gently stroking her hair. Eli shifted ever so slightly to check on Umi and Kotori too. Kotori’s head was resting on Umi’s shoulder while Umi had tilted her head to rest atop Kotori’s. They seemed to be sleeping soundly, much like Maki. A glance at Nico had her chuckling softly. Rin and Hanayo were sleeping huddled against her, each with an arm around her waist. As unhappy as Eli was sure Nico would be, she was sound asleep anyway, leaving only herself and Nozomi the only two awake. She quickly closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.

-----

Maki was surprised when she opened her apartment door and found not Hanayo but Chika and Kanan standing in front of her. “Oh…It’s you two.” She frowned. “What are you doing here?” “I want to get started!” Chika exclaimed brightly. “Can we come in?” “Don’t you have Love Live to focus on?” Maki asked dryly. “Thanks!” Chika ducked past Maki into the apartment. “We have the day off. Besides, Honoka-chan is more important than Love Live. More important than saving our school even.” Maki groaned as she allowed Kanan to walk into the apartment. “I’m going to fail my classes if this keeps happening.” “Do you have a photographic memory, Maki-chan?” Chika asked expectantly. She turned to smile warmly at Maki. “Besides, priorities. If we change the past this won’t be happening right now so that means you’ll be studying instead. Maybe you won’t even want to study what you are now. Maybe you’ll...” “Chika.” Kanan interrupted pointedly. “Right, sorry. Um...where’s everyone else?” Chika asked, glancing around. “Wow, this is a really nice apartment.” “Nozomi and Umi are on holiday.” Maki explained slowly. “Winter break. So they’ve gone out to make the most of it, I think.” “So they’re sightseeing?” Chika asked with a hint of skepticism. “We need to be here though.” “Umi-chan wanted to go and talk to Honoka.” Kotori’s sleepy voice sounded from across the room. “She went to visit her grave.” Chika glanced at Kotori, her eyes widening as the girl wandered into the room. Having just woken up she was only wearing panties and a shirt that was only closed with a couple of buttons in the middle, leaving her midriff on show and exposing a fair amount of cleavage. “Whoa…” Maki glared at Chika. “Watch it.” “Huh? Oh right. Sorry.” Chika quickly averted her eyes. “So you were studying, huh?” Kanan quipped, raising an eyebrow. Maki huffed and crossed her arms. “I was about to. Not that that’s any of your business. She just fell asleep after...ugh, why am I telling you this?!” “It’s a gift.” Kanan said with a smug smile. Maki’s gaze trailed to Kotori who was shuffling over to the coffee maker. She bit her lip as the shirt rode up, exposing Kotori’s ass. Quickly she remember that Kanan and Chika were there. Luckily for them when she glanced at them they were both averting their eyes. “Kotori, can you put some clothes on? Please?” “I need coffee.” Kotori pouted as Maki walked over to grip her shoulders and turn her around. Maki’s gaze shifted down. Being so close to Kotori she could easily see down her shirt. Kotori took advantage of Maki’s distraction and gripped her hips, pulling her in close. “Like what you see?” She asked in a husky whisper as she kissed the redhead’s neck. She smirked in satisfaction at Maki’s answering whimper. “Knock, knock, knock.” Maki and Kotori pulled away from each other at the sound of another voice. Looking over to the door they found Hanayo standing in the open doorway. “Hey.” Hanayo said with a small smile as she stepped into the room. Kotori quickly tugged Maki back in front of her. “You didn’t tell me she was coming! I’m practically naked!” “What? So Hanayo you care about but these two you can walk around naked in front of…” Maki said with a roll of her eyes. “And they’re teenagers! And one of them was gawking at your boobs the whole time!” “Maki-chan, you jerk!” Kotori pouted, grasping Maki’s arms to keep her in front of her. “I don’t care about what they think, but it’s Hanayo-chan!” Hanayo smiled at their antics. It seemed some things hadn’t changed. “I see I came at the wrong time. Good thing I brought…” “Hanayo, I think these chocolates melted all over the backseat. It’s dripping out of the box somehow. I guess we shouldn’t have put the heat on.” “You brought a BOY?!” Kotori exclaimed as a dark haired male appeared in the doorway. “What?” Hanayo glanced between Kotori and Raven who had already turned his back. “Oh please, he only sees me naked. This is Raven, my boyfriend.” “It’s nice to meet you both.” Raven said, lifting his hand in a wave without turning back to them. “I’m going to get changed.” Kotori said before she hurried off to the bedroom. “We can come back later if you’re busy.” Hanayo said, glancing at Kanan and Chika. “You seem to have company.” “Oh...no, they’re staying. Come in, it’s fine.” Maki said with a shake of her head. “Um, can I come in or…?” Raven trailed off as Hanayo grabbed his hand and tugged him into the apartment. He closed the door behind him. He turned to face forward, holding up the chocolates in his hand. “Uh...we brought a gift but we blasted the heat in the car on the way over so they kind of melted.” “Um...thanks.” Maki said, taking the box of chocolates. She placed them on the side, not wanting to rudely throw them in the trash right in front of the couple. “I told you she was straight.” Chika whispered, nudging Kanan who rolled her eyes. “Bisexual actually but close.” Hanayo answered, glancing at Chika. “She was dating a girl before me.” Raven chimed in, in agreement. “I won her heart though.” Hanayo fondly rolled her eyes at him but she was more focused on Chika. “You’re Chika, aren’t you?” “Uh…” Chika grimaced. “Yeah. Yeah, I am. This is my girlfriend, Kanan-chan.” Hanayo smiled fakely, her eyes closed and Maki shuddered. She knew that smile. Shivers ran down her spine as she remembered the last time Hanayo had smiled like that. After Honoka had died, Hanayo had started to fake her smiles and cheerful tones at school. It was part of the many reasons she and Maki had grown distant. Raven leaned toward Maki, lowering his voice to a whisper. “That’s her ‘I really don’t like you but my boyfriend is here so I’ll play along’ look. She’s actually seething.” “I know.” Maki whispered back as Chika and Kanan shifted uncomfortably. “She slapped someone in junior year when provoked. All with that smile.” “She’s scary when she’s mad.” Raven mumbled, glancing at Hanayo. “At least she’s stable.” Maki mused as she noticed Kotori wander out of the bedroom and move to greet Hanayo with a hug. “I’m guessing Kotori-san is a handful?” Raven asked curiously. “Sometimes. But she’s stable.” Maki answered with a shrug of her shoulders. “Hanayo’s told me about her. About...Chika.” Raven said with a nod toward Chika. “Not specifics, just...that she hates her. And that she was involved with...well, you know. I don’t want to bring it up but maybe putting those two together isn’t a good idea.” “It has to be done.” Maki sighed and stepped forward, taking Hanayo’s hand. Kotori glanced at Raven as Maki tugged Hanayo into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. “Not a good sign?” “Nope.” “What the hell is that fucking bitch doing here?! Do you know I’m shaking? I’m fucking SHAKING, Maki-chan! WHY IS SHE HERE?!” Kotori, Raven, Chika and Kanan cringed at the loud exclamation from the bedroom. “C-Calm down, don’t be crazy, Hanayo.” Maki said warily, her voice harder to hear than Hanayo’s. “She’s lucky Raven is here or I wouldn’t be so damn NICE!” Hanayo yelled angrily. “You haven’t answered me! Why is she even here?!” “Um...I’d rather we all explain together.” Maki said with a wince. “Nozomi and Umi should be back soon. They…” “Do THEY KNOW about this?! How can you even let her into your apartment?! She KILLED HONOKA-CHAN! You know what, I’m not doing this.” The door to Maki’s bedroom was wrenched open a moment later and Hanayo stormed across the room to Chika. Kanan moved to step forward but Chika held her arm out, stopping her. A second later, Hanayo lifted her hand and delivered a sharp slap to Chika’s face. “I deserved that.” Chika mumbled, her eyes watering. “Damn right, you did!” Hanayo yelled as Raven walked over to her, lightly tugging her away. “Do you have any idea what you did to us? To HONOKA-CHAN?!” “Of course she knows!” Kanan, who had turned Chika to face her so she could look at her cheek, retorted, shooting a brief glare at Hanayo. “Why do you think she’s here?” “Just hear her out.” Maki said quietly as she paused next to Kotori. Hanayo scoffed and looked directly at Chika. “I don’t know what you did to convince Maki-chan but me and Rin-chan are going to be harder to crack.” “You are going to pick her up in two days, right?” Maki checked thoughtfully. “Yeah, yeah.” Hanayo grumbled, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Oh and she’s bringing her best friend from America too.” “Fine. Ugh, the apartment is going to be so cramped.” Maki muttered, glancing around. She wondered if Nico would end up staying there too when they finally managed to track her down. “You’re rich and it has space.” Hanayo pointed out skeptically. “This is KOTORI’S!” Maki exclaimed loudly. “I told you that on the phone. Listen, just...you can stay if you want. We have one bedroom left. Rin can sleep on the air mattress in my study or something. I guess if she’s best friends with this girl they can just sleep together.” Hanayo smirked and raised an eyebrow. “You know Rin-chan has a crush on her, right?” Maki groaned in exasperation. “Whatever. We’re sticking with the plan.” “Those two.” Hanayo jerked her thumb in the direction of Chika and Kanan. “Aren’t going to be here, right?” Chika sighed loudly but she was saved from replying when her phone chimed with an alert. She tugged it out of her pocket, her brow furrowing when she noticed it was a news alert. “Local has been spotted with international model, Nico-chan. Hey, that looks like…” “RIKO!” Kanan exclaimed, looking closer at the picture. “It is!” “Wait, INTERNATIONAL?!” Chika exclaimed in surprise. “Nico-chan is that popular?!” “Somebody doesn’t read the fashion magazines.” Hanayo said snarkily. Chika looked up, stunned to see the others didn’t seem all that surprised. “Wait, you all know?” The others nodded. “Nozomi reads in french so yeah.” Maki answered with a shrug. Kotori chimed in after. “I follow her on twitter. The clothing she models inspires me. Most people only know Nico-chan as a model. Not even many people in Japan know her as an idol. Besides school idols.” “Rin-chan and I were practically her cheerleaders when she first started at eighteen.” Hanayo explained quietly. Chika frowned at Maki. “You told me that the rest of Muse didn’t talk anymore. Didn’t you say that Rin-chan and Hanayo-chan only spoke when they had to?” “But they still seem like best friends.” Kanan said thoughtfully. “You are, right?” Hanayo nodded her head. “Yeah. The time difference usually works out so we talk every couple of weeks.” “Muse was separated.” Maki pointed out, frowning at Chika’s implication. “I didn’t know what happened to Nico. Rin and Hanayo started ignoring me.” “US?!” Hanayo cried out in disbelief. “You threw yourself into fucking cram school and med books! You abandoned US! At least Nico-chan tried, even though she was a mess too! You were the one who kept acting as if everything was okay when in fact you were a wreck. You became obsessed with finding a cure for an incurable disease!” “FOR HONOKA!” “Honoka-chan was already DEAD, damn it! There was nothing you could do to save her when she was alive, what makes you think you can when she’s DEAD?!” Hanayo’s accusation had Maki reeling back but she didn’t pause to give the redhead time to reply. “Rin-chan ran into track the moment we disbanded but she was trying to take her mind off what had happened, like Honoka-chan wanted us to! You were OBSESSED with it! You’re lucky Kotori-chan was so patient with you. With the way you were acting, anyone else would have broken up with you! And what would you have done then?” Raven leaned toward Kotori. “Shouldn’t we…?” “Let them get it out.” Kotori said with a shake of her head. “It’s the first step to recovering. We should probably leave them alone...you have a car, right?” “I-I KNOW THAT!” Maki finally yelled after hesitating a moment. “I know if she wasn’t here I would be getting drunk off my ass right now!” Kotori cringed. She was relieved when Raven nodded yes to her question. “We should go and pick up some food for when they’re done if you don’t mind driving.” “Sure.” Raven shrugged his shoulders. “Uh…” Kanan stepped forward slightly. “Can we…?” “Yes, you can come along.” Kotori said with a nod of her head. “Let’s just go.” Maki and Hanayo didn’t notice the other four leave the apartment. “I didn’t abandon you.” Maki said, her voice low and angry. “The two of you just expected me to be fine after Honoka died. You two were allowed to be as broken as you wanted but you expected me to be steady. I wasn’t a damn robot, Hanayo. I loved Honoka too, just as much as the rest of you. Maybe even more than some of you. I even dated her for a bit, you know?” Hanayo’s eyes went wide with surprise. “What?!” “The whole Chika thi-” “Shut up! Just...shut up. I don’t want to hear it.” Hanayo turned on her heel and stormed into her temporary bedroom, slamming the door behind her. “Damn it.” Maki stumbled back, barely managing to find her way to the couch before she collapsed down onto it, in tears. “DAMN IT!”

TBC

[ohnohetaliasues]

Haven OC

(Kat)

I reviewed this OC a very long time ago when this blog was newer. I decided, since it's been a while, and my gif folder has filled in a bit, it would be fun to review again.

Link to original review: http://ohnohetaliasues.tumblr.com/post/125717671213/this-oc-is-an-ecanon-interfering-mary-sue-you

Let's go.

Does she remind anyone else of Belarus (and England), or is it just me?

HAVEN

Haven (Human name: Sophie Nyan [ソフィーニャン]), Who declared herself a country even though she possesses no land

Like Ladonia who only exists online? Or Niko Niko? I guess she can be a micronation, but it just says she's a country.

Haven (避難所)

Character Info Name : Haven

Japanese Name: 避難所 (Hinansho)

Human Name: Sophie Nya

Uh.

'Nya' means 'meow' in Japanese. That's not a good choice for her last name.

I'll bet anyone that Sophie is probably the creator's name.

Age: 21

How does this correspond with her history? 

America is only 19 because he's a fairly young nation.

Appearance

She is usually seen in her trademark maid outfit, this consists of a Royal blue Dress, Light blue Blouse (Sometimes she wears an Apron oTie. She also likes to wear Black Gothic dresses when not being formal.

This just reminds me of Belarus. 

Also why black gothic dresses?

Her natural appearance consists of Lightly tanned skin, Long Blonde hair that reaches down around her waist, Green eyes and slightly thick eyebrows.

She has an ahoge much like America’s also.

Please tell me what that represents. Curls or ahoges usually represent something. America's represents Nantucket. Austria's represents Mariazell. The Italian brother's curls probably represent Rome and Venice. These things represent things that are important. This also applies to OCs.

Brief Story

Haven grew up as a normal English child in the middle ages, treated poorly by her father, she decided to move out into the crowded streets of London when she reached 16. 

She would die on her own. The middle ages in England were full of famine and disease. 

She soon decided that she wanted freedom, so that she could do whatever she wanted to do. Plucking up her courage she approached the head of country pleading for her to builld her own nation, Laughed at by many highly rated people, she was very nearly turned down.

Um. I would probably ask if she was on something.

You cannot just build a nation. It costs money. A freaking lot of money, I'd imagine.

If it hadn’t of been England sitting in the sthame room as her at the time, she would never of been allowed to build her own country.

I literally just explained why this is bad. Also, if England's boss didn't agree, why would England? He can't contradict his boss. His boss tells him what to do.

Following this, England decided to take her in under her wing, He taught her the basics of how to become a strong country just like he was and introduced her to many of his colonies at the time. 

Oh, how convenient.

Around the time of the revolutionairy

Revolutionary**

war, Haven insisted to fight by her dear Friends side, Who insisted he would not let a lady help him as it was too dangerous. After losing to America, America found out that he had a blood relation to Haven and claimed that he should be the legal guardian from now on

You said she was 21. America is 19. To be someone’s legal guardian, you have to be older than them

deeming any efforts against him useless. England had to agree to this deal and handed Haven over to America, This broke young Haven’s heart.

Labelling America as her ‘Big Brother’,

BUT AMERICA IS YOUNGER THAN HER????

The two got along well, Apart from when Haven refused to eat America’s hamburgers or when Haven cooked as she had apparently inherited England’s bad cooking. America raised her well but never let her stay in contact with England as he thought he was a bad influence, she has nothing against her big brother as she loves him dearly.

Haven then went to World Academy W at the same time as other nations were starting to join, this is where she met England for the first time in a long time, She had completely forgotten what he looked like but remebered what they did together whilst England on the other Hand remebered who Haven was clearly. 

Countries don't just forget each other.

England eventually reminded Haven of who he was and the two eventually became inseperable.

This is a picture of Haven and England.

It's spelled inseparable** 

This is going in a downward spiral.

Haven is still seen to this day with England and is often seen either attempting to help clean his house, which England put’s a stop too as she was invited to his house as a friend and not hired to clean, or drinking tea with him and his friends whom Haven can see.

Oh good, she can se magical creatures, too. 

When she’s on her own, she can often be seen planning what her counntry will look like, designing her flag or just lazing around

It takes more than that to be a nation.

Also, her flag apparently looks like this:

I could only find that tiny version, unfortunately.

Relationships

England

Raising her from when she declared herself a country, Haven cherishes England as one of her closest Friends and is often teased by other countries upon how much she loves England. She would do anything for him.

Wow.

Why am I not surprised?

Also, did I mention that the creator ships her OC with England?

...Yeah.

America

Blood brother to Haven and is good friends with her also. Raised her after the Revolutionairy war. Often seen bickering with eachother over oneanother’s cooking

She can’t be his blood sister because she started out as a normal British teenager. There’s no way they could be related.

Canada

Also a blood brother, A close friend to Haven and is quite suprised that she can actually see him.

THE CANADA WHO JOKE IS OLD. CUT IT OUT.

Romano

Although he denies it, he’s one of Haven’s Close friends. He is sometimes seen with Haven and Canada when she decides she wants to go out somewhere (Cinema or shopping)

Of course she's all buddy-buddy with everyone.

Germany

Haven get’s along well with Germany but lost contact with him during the World Wars, After them they met up again and became friends.

France

France approaches Haven like any toher nation, although he tends to flirt with her a lot. Haven doesn’t mind France but can be creeped out by him sometimes

I'm just going to leave this here casually.

If someone told him to stop flirting with them, he would listen. The picture above proves it. I personally think that if someone dated France, that he would treat whoever he was with like a friggin queen, and love her like one too. So leave France alone, and let him run free

Italy

Haven sometimes sits outside with Italy and paints with him as she enjoys painting a lot.

Why is she literally friends with everyone?

Japan

Haven visits Japan regularly, When visiting they often draw or read manga or watch anime whilst eating something cultural.

I'm so tired of all the OCs liking anime and manga that aren't related to Japan. It's getting old.

Sealand

Haven babysits Sealand often when no other countries will take him, Sealand gets along ok with Haven, mainly because they are both micronations. Haven usually gives tips to Sealand to help him be recognised.

#notacountry

Wy

Haven is good friends with Wy and the two can often be seen together joking about something (Usually about how they’re recognised and Sealand isn’t)

If this isn't hypocrisy, I don't know what is.

Seborga

As they are both micronations, they get along well. Haven is not at all phased by Seborga, even when he’s lying upside down on a tree with ketchup on his head.

That only happened once. I don't think that's something Seborga does on a day to day basis.

Ireland

Even though Ireland makes no appearence in the Anime or Manga, Haven has a good relationship with Ireland, mainly because some of her roots go back to Ireland.

Um, okay, but what roots? Please tell me.

Scotland

Even though Scotland makes no appearence in the Anime or Manga, Haven gets along with Scotland mainly for his weird sense of humour

Links (These links lead to videos/pictures that include Haven)

Youtube- [Link Removed]

DeviantART- [Link Removed]

The YouTube videos are basically just MMDs about their fan pairing of Haven and England. Deviant art is more art of this oc.

2P! Haven

That looks like female 2p! America.

Most Hetalia charcters have another side to them, or another colour. Haven is no exception as she also has another side to her. Her human name is Myriam Nyan (ミリアムニャン)

2P!Haven Chibi Appearence (Up ^)

Much like 1P Haven, 2p Haven keeps her long hair but makes it a lot more curly and is toned in a dark red. Her eyes are also a red colour but they’re much brighter in colour. She also wears a pair of pink sunglasses ubove her head for appearence. Her skin is much darker than 1p Haven’s. Clothes wise, she wears a short pale yellow dress with a pink tie. She also wears a black backpack, It’s contents is unknown. She also wears a black belt with a gold circular buckle.

This OC just comes off to me as unoriginal 

Personality

Her personality is very different to Haven’s as it usually is with most 2p Characters. 2p Haven isn’t sunshine and rainbows like 1p Haven, She fight’s to get most of the things she wants. She is much more brutal than 1p Haven. Her only flaw is that she is easily frightened.

One flaw?

ONE?

NO.

SHE NEEDS TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE FLAW.

Her biggest fears are mostly of Insects and being attacked by another person unprepared. In her spare time she can often be seen with 2p England in the kitchen making cakes oor biscuits., 

This person seems to have an unhealthy obsession with England. There are other Hetalia characters, Creator-san.

Her relationships are much the same as 1p Haven

They'd be different. I'm sure of it.

Nyo!Haven

Nyo!Haven Like most countries, there is alsoo a genderbend version of Haven. His name is Ethan Nyan (イーサンニャン)

Like.. Like the meme? Nyan cat?

Appearence

Nyo!Haven looks very differnt to Haven.in many different ways, but keeps some features. —

You know, other than the gender swap.

His hair is a light brown colour whilst his eyes stay the same green colour, just a little bit brighter. He has abnormally large eyebrows which are smaller than England’s. He dresses very smartly as he was brought up mostly by Nyo!England up until he was taken charge over by Nyo!America. He mostly walks around in suits all the time. When he’s not wearing suits he likes to laze around in a white polo shirt and shorts, He picks this trait up from Nyo!America.

You just described England to me.

Please be more original.

Personality

Nyo!Haven is a very shy character, He mainly likes to stay inside as he doesn’t like to go near strangers but he is very loyal to those he knows. There is one contradiction to his personality though, He likes to sing, and when he’s singing he’ll sing in front of anyone. If he’s not inside though, He’ll go outside for a walk.

Yeah, and that contradiction is not a thing that should happen.

Shippings

Oh goodie.

Most used pairing. Haven is known as affectionate towards England and England to Haven. But the two seem very well together. The pairing was well known throughout certain websites.

No, not really. I googled Haven x England and all I found was things from the OC creator's youtube channel and Deviantart. 

Haven/Germany

Germany does like Haven, Haven doesn’t know that though and just continues to be friends with him

...Germany was mentioned once, why is she pared with him?

Haven/Japan

Japan has some feelings towards Haven as they spend a lot of time together watching anime, Haven doesn’t mind Japan

That is not a deep relationship.

That's it, apparently. This OC is just as bad as I remember. You guys know how I feel about made up country OCs. They interfere with canon, and usually end up as sues. I'm out for now. 

~Kat

[bartallenisbae]

The Winchester sister

It was 2000 in beecher illinois around august around 1:00 am and John Winchester left his two son’s at home to go to on a demon sitting that was talked about around illinois. He just killed the damn demon and was dying for some beer. He entered a bar that was filled with a few people. He sat and was about to ask the bartender for some whiskey until he saw a young blonde girl with bright blue eyes and freckles with tight tank top and short short’s around the age of college.She was putting some college assignment it what looked like away in a binder. John asked the bartender to get him to whisky’s and brought them to the young college woman “Hey darling mind to have a drink with me” He asked in his scruffy south accent. She smiled and nodded “Sure I mean what could happen” He smiled and sat next to her and gave her the whisky “What’s your name darling” He asked and took a sip of his whisky “My names valentina rye but my friends call me val“ “Wow darling what a gorgeous name, I'm john winchester” He said with a flirty smile,she blushed and took a sip of whisky and asked  “So where do you come from, illinois doesn’t really have that thick a country accent as you do” Valentina asked with her whisky half gone, ‘damn the girl can drink’ john thought impressed that such a beautiful young girl could drink that fast. “Well darling I’m just driving by before I leave tomorrow” He said with a smile while he put his hand on the young girl’s knee.Valentina looked down and saw his hand on her knee,she could feel herself getting intoxicated and honestly felt needy for some physical man contact,she smiled and took one last sip of her whisky and grabbed his collar and put her lips on his lips.After a few minutes of making out they separated their lips to catch their breaths “Want to sneak in my college campus and have some fun there” Valentina asked trying to catch her breath. They snuck into her campus,She needingly took his shirt off as she was just in her bra and short.He took off her pants and threw them off. He was wearing jeans and no shirt as he attacked her neck with kisses. Valentina’s room was filled with loud moans and skin slapping skin. Valentina woke up at 8:30 to find herself alone wearing no clothes and covered with hickies and herself being covered by her bed sheets and her room smelling of sex.

  4 weeks later

Valentina was freaking out,she has been puking all the time for weeks now,she was 10x more tired than usual,and she has been having migraines and has even fainted a few times when she was with her friend’s. She was in college and was going to graduate soon so this was the worst time to have something happen and since she was going to college for a nurse degree she understood that her symptoms were either from horrible illness or...pregnancy. After a college class She went to a drug store and bought a pregnancy test and went to her college campus. She asked her 2 friends to be there for her,she explained that she met a man and had a one night stand and might be pregnant . They were all waiting for the test,it said to wait a half hour. While they were waiting they all hugged her and when the timer was up her friend jean went up and saw the test “oh val I'm so sorry” she showed her the test that had a positive on it. “Are you going to abort it” her other friend nya asked  “ what no of course not,he/she is not an It he/she is a living baby, every girl I've met that have aborted have cried of regret after” Valentina said with anger that her friend would even ask.

It was june 23 2001 and Valentina was in labor,in the hospital screaming bloody murder “ok miss rye you need to push one last time” she pushed just wanting the pain to go away, she heard a cry,a baby cry.the doctor smiled “it's a beautiful baby girl miss rye, would go like to see her” he asked thinking she was going to be glowing with happiness but she wasn't “no please I just want her to go to the adoption center” she said looking away from her child “are you sure,don't you at least want to look at her” the doctor said pushing her child to her while she still refused to look “ I said no,she needs a better life than what I can give her,if I see her I will fall in love with her more just please take her away before I change my mind” she said with tears.

It was 2009 and Amanda cayce was 8 years old,blonde with bright blue eyes and freckles. She running with her 10 year old “brother” James in the forest playing hide n seek in the night. She saw a bush with berries on them and ran to them. She was about to eat one when her brother stopped her “ Amanda you can't eat those,they are poisonous” he said trying to explain to her “ but James I'm hungry” she whined “then let's go see if dinner is ready” They leave to go home to their mom going through a cornfield.Amanda felt like she was being watched and so did her “brother”. Jame’s took her hand and pulled her closer to him in case his being watched was right. Amanda felt something breathing on her neck then she screamed as she was pulled by her foot and dragged.Her “brother” screamed her name and ran to her chasing her and the thing that was pulling her. She was stopped being dragged and was just laying on the ground with the beast on top of her smelling her. The thing growled “winchester”.Amanda was scared and confused,Why did the beast say winchester. The beast turned and Amanda heard footsteps of other men.The beats ran off leaving the young frightened girl. Her “brother” james ran to her and made sure she was ok and they walked home not saying anything,trying to understand what just happened.

It was november in 2011 and Amanda was 10 years old sitting her parents.She was curious why her parents called her alone to talk to her. Her mom put her hand on Amanda’s shoulder “Amanda you understand that we love you and would do anything for you right” her mom said trying to break something to her “Well yeah of course, um are you two ok” Amanda said kinda scared on what’s going on “Amanda *sigh* we aren’t your...parents” Her dad said with a sad face. Amanda was shocked “WHAT...are you saying that I’m...adopted” They both nodded and hugged her.

It was 2017 and school was over for the summer and Amanda was 16 and she got her license. She found out her parents name from her birth certificate.Her parent’s names were Valentine rye and John Winchester. She was shocked of her dad’s last name,it was what that monster glowed at her. She found a lot about her father being part of a conspiracy but not much else,but found a lot with some two guys named sam and dean winchester or something and found enough about her mom.She was able to find that she was a nurse and where she lived and found a picture of her and Amanda couldn't believe how much she looks like her mom,she was able to find out that she lived in michigan was married a Zeke bultema and had two other kids,a 8 year old boy and a 6 year old girl.To be honest Amanda was really sad,her mom looked so happy in the picture with her family.Would she be upset if she saw her. Amanda was able to convince her adopted parents to let her travel to meet her real parents. Amanda was going to find her mom first and find sam and dean winchester and ask if they new where john winchester was and hopefully they knew. After a few hours of driving with her babe(thats what she calls her car) Her car was a 1963 Corvette StingRay and she worked with everything she got to get her babe,she was able to buy it from her adopted grandpa and she never let a crumb of dirt or food touch her car.After driving for hours,she finally got to her mom’s house. It was in the suburbs and it was pretty nice and large for a suburbs house. Amanda slowly walked up to the house and hesitated to knock.She knocked and waited with anxiety.A 8 year old boy with blonde hair and green eyes opened the door “Who are you” He asked curiously with a smile on his face “Um hi I was wondering if your mom was here” Amanda asked praying that her mom is here so she didn’t have to wait for her so she could finally meet her. The little boy nodded “yeah, come inside she is just making cookies you can have some if you want” Amanda couldn’t believe how innocent that child was as she entered the house following the little boy “Asher who was it” a sweet lady’s voice asked,oh so that’s his name. Asher and Amanda entered the kitchen and Amanda saw the older replica of her putting cookies on a cookie tray not noticing her in the room “Mom it’s some girl that asked to see you” Her mom looked up and froze,wait did she recognize me, no that can’t be I mean a lot of people have someone similar looking Amanda thought with nervousness. A 6 year old brown haired girl with blue eyes and freckles that looked like a young brown haired replica of her skipped between Asher and her and sat looking at the cookies “Asher I told you to stop letting strangers in” Her mom said finally,Amanda regained her breath after realizing that she held her breath for too long “So sweety what do you need to see me for” Her mom asked completely unaware about what answer she was going to get “Um actually can we talk somewhere else like in the tv room or anywhere” Amanda asked not wanting her related brother and sister “Sure”.They walked to the living room and Amanda nervously fidgeted with her hand’s “Um I...ok so this is hard to say but...I’m your daughter” Amanda said looking into her mom’s eye’s. Valentine froze with her eyes not blinking for a few seconds,She hugged Amanda and Amanda could feel tears falling into her shirt “oh gosh I should have known you would want to see me,you are as curious as I am,I’m so sorry I just wanted you to have a better home than what I could give you” she says crying when a brown haired man with green eyes man with a business suit walks in and sees his wife crying and hugging a random girl that looked just like her “Asher take jewel outside,mommy and daddy have to talk to this young girl” Valentina said with tears still falling down her face, the two kids went outside with worried faces as they left.The man still had no idea what was going on,he walked slowly to his wife “Val, who is this whats going on” he said clearly confused “Zeke do you remember that I...had a child before I met you and I sent her to the adoption center” she asked trying to control her tears. Zeke nodded and after a few seconds his eyes grew “Is...is this her” he asked his wife, she nodded and finally stopped hugging the blonde. After a few hours of talking they came to an agreement, Amanda would stay with her adopted parents after she traveled for the summer but her real family would still go to special events(Val and zeke both offered her to stay with them but she loved her adopted family and knew they were scared that she would leave them for her real family and would never want to forget them), and they would wait to tell Val’s two other kids that Amand is their older half sister until they were older. “This is a um...hard question to ask but...who is my dad and how did you get together” Amanda asked while she was on the couch with Val and zeke on the other three seated couch,Val looked away regretfully and zeke put his hand on her shoulder “Amanda your dad and me met when I was in college, i was at a bar and finished a college essay when he offered me a drink and after talking for awhile and we ended up having a one night stand, and after a few weeks I realized I was pregnant with you, his name was john winchester” Val explained to her daughter.

After a few hours later Amanda hugged her mom and left to find the closest she could find to where her dad was,Dean and sam winchester, They were last seen at colorado in a hotel. After hours of driving singing to rock, eating hamburgers and PIE, and cleaning babe she finally got there. They went to a new hotel then the one she heard about when she left her mom's house but it was a few hours away and she didn’t traveled that far for nothing.She finally got to the hotel,she went to one of the worker’s and asked for the winchester’s room number and she was givin it,Amanda couldn’t believe how easy the lady gave her the room number honestly she was hoping for better security. ‘Room 22’ ‘room 22’ she kept repeating in her mind until she got to the room,she took a deep breath and knocked,she was able to hear two wait in the room talking then she could see someone look through the window of their room then a tall man with long brown hair and brown eyes opened the door and looked really confused on why a 16 year old blonde haired girl was at his brother and his room, She smiled and sam couldn’t help but think she looks familiar “Um Hi i’m Amanda, Do you know a John winchester” she asked as a more muscled man with dirty blonde hair and green eyed man was behind him. The tall man looked still confused and concerned and turned to look at his brother for if they should lie or not. His brother nodded approval for sam to tell the young girl the truth. Sam turned back to the girl “Yeah, why ask” he asked “Well, I was wondering if you could tell me where he is, you see I...ok so um.. I’m his daughter” Sam and dean and castiel eyes grew,sam looked around to see if anyone else was there and grabbed Amanda’s wrist,she gasped from surprise.  When she was inside dean grabbed both of her arms and said in a ruff intimidating voice “What did you say” Amanda was hardly ever scared even as the man held her down like this “I said john winchester is my blood dad alright now chill, you guys are acting like I said hitler is my dad or something” Amanda said in a sassy tone while getting dean's arms off her arms. The winchester boys were in shock that this girl actually claimed to be their half sister basically “No that can’t be,My dad didn’t sleep with other women often” sam asked moving his brother “well apparently one of the times that weren’t often he forgot a condom and got a college girl pregnant” She said mad that they didn’t believe her. Sam and dean turned to talk to each other. *Whisper* (Dean)D- “This can’t be I mean she doesn’t even look like him” (Sam)S-”She does have dad’s ears and head shape and his attitude when he was young  and she has his smile and this isn’t the first one night stand dada had” D-”Fine lets just get castiel over here and he could tell if she is telling the truth”. The two boys turned to the girl and sam said “well if you are telling the truth then you wouldn’t mind our friend seeing if you're lying”  “Fine”. Dean prayed to castiel and after a minutes he should up “Hello” castiel appeared behind dean “Cas stop doing that can’t you just appear at the door” Dean said after being scared “Wait how did he do that” Dean and sam ignored her “Cas we need you to  tell us if this girl is really our sister” dean commanded dean as usual,castiel nodded and walked to her,Amanda took a couple steps back confused on what this man was doing she was stopped by a wall as castiel put one of his fingers on her head.After a few seconds castiel turned to dean and sam “This girl is your half sister”

[didjaputyanameinthegobletoffiyah]

The one where Lloyd was bored

This is for that anon who sent me the prompt, I know I kind of went off into angst land a little bit but I hope you like it! _________________

Alright he admitted it. Lloyd the green ninja of prochepy, the one who had the power to defeat the overlord (no matter how much it hurt) and has helped save ninjago many many times. Was completely and utterly board.

   He had tried to hang out with the ninja but the last time he had seen Zane and Jay it looked like they were fleeing from an overpowered training bot. Cole was cooking and no one wanted to get into the middle of that. Nya was off with Skylor and he was almost positive if he interrupted Nya would somehow find away to get itching powder into his suit again. Even if he was wearing it.

   That left Kai.

  “Lloyd?” Speak of the devil and he shall spear.   “Why are you on the floor?” came the slightly surprised question from the red ninja.

   “Didn’t you hear? Its all the rage now a days. Then again. You are getting on in years” the blonde teen smirked at his older friend. Or was it child? Lloyd was still confused about that. Huh imagine that. Being confused about your on age. Lloyd closed his eyes attempting to turn his thoughts away from wandering down that path again. He was fine, really he was.

  “Oh I see how it green bean.” Kai narrowed his eyes at the little green monkey he called his brother. “Fine I guess I’ll leave you here as I go on an amazing adventure without you.” Kai turned his back watching for Lloyds reaction from the corner of his eye.

Lloyd popped one eye open. Glancing warily at their resident hothead with growing excitement.  “What kind of adventure?”

Kai grinned slightly, he had him. “Oh you known Just a little bit of friendly competition. You,me. The dragons and the sky.”

“…loser buys noodles at Skylors place?”

“Do you even have money?” The spikey haired ninja raised his eyebrows at Lloyd.

“Possibly, but it doesn’t matter anyways. Since I’m going to win.” Lloyd responded as he stood up. Now to the untrained ear it may sound like he was arrogant. But he knew Kai. He knew the way he would struggle to adjust his dragons acceleration to match the wind force, or how sometimes his dragon would breathe fire in front of his opponent. That’s not to say that Kai didn’t know every trick Lloyd had up his sleave as well.

Forming their dragons was one of Kai’s faviorte things to do. Calming your mind and watching your soul take form as a dragon was an energy fix like no other.

As they took off in the sky Kai made sure to subtly look out for Lloyd. While he trusted him with his life, Lloyd did still struggle with maintaining his dragon and they didn’t need another incident like last time.

Lloyd breathed in the harsh air as it tore through his lungs when they spiraled downwards. Up here in the clouds it felt like nothing could get him. Morro couldn’t reach him and the nightmares could try as hard as they could to tear him down but he was to high up. Where the expectations of the world couldn’t touch him. Up here he felt… free.

Kai grinned seeing his brother like this. Recently they had been worried. Lloyd thought he could hide it but they saw. They Saw the way his eyes dimmed when he used his powers. Surprise hidden in there. As if he expected something else to come out. Saw the way he flinched every time the wind picked up. Or how he would suddenly pale when a fan ran up begging him to tell the story of how he defeated his father all those years ago. But looking at him,as they raced to the ground at breakneck speeds. Playing chicken to see who would pull out first. Kai knew he would be okay. It may take sometime but Lloyd could heal, and they would be with him every step of the way.

“Alright bud,” he whispered to his dragon. “Let’s finish this.“his dragon started to inhale deeply. Lloyd looked over eyes widening as he heard the sound and noticed the smirk that Kai’s lips had formed.

“Oh no you dont!” The Blonde laughed as he sped up in an attempt at avoiding the fire.

They returned to the temple with singed eyebrows and a grin on there mouths.

Sitting at the table with his family cracking jokes. Jay subtly trying to slide his food onto Zanes plate never noticing as Zane did the exact same thing. Cole digging into food only he could stomach. Nya had tried to get out of it by claiming sick but sensei Wu had suggested a special tea. That statement made her feel better real quick. Lloyd glanced around and knew, that while he may not be fine. He would be, eventually.

[eyeofthewolfe]

Evil Zane Chapter 6

The team returns to the Birchwood Forest as a last resort to save Zane...if they come up empty handed then Zane will have to be destroyed.

Prologue and Chapters 1-5: here

Chapter 6

 The heels of the green ninja sank ever so softly in the snow as the small party approached a birchwood tree that was about twenty times as thick as the others. The bright sun above them reflected off of the snow and the environment was blinding white and still, as if it was anticipating something to happen.

Jay, who was the only one in the party to have been at the tree home before, was looking around the clearing with fear struck in his eyes. “Jay, calm down- what are you afraid of?” Nya asked.

“Tree Horns,” Jay grumbled, and Lloyd could tell that he had bad memories of those creatures. “I don’t see any of them hiding, but that can change. We need to take cover.”

Lloyd glanced back up into the sky where the Bounty sat levitating. With the danger of giant woodland creatures, the forest was not a safe place for a giant flying ship. Cole, Kai and Misako were keeping watch from afar. Lloyd turned to assist his uncle.

“How interesting,” Wu mumbled to his nephew. “I fought in a great battle here, with your father by my side.”

“My father?” Lloyd asked. He always loves hearing Wu tell stories about the great Garmadon.

“Here was a disastrous battle fought during the First Serpentine War.” Sensei began as Nya and Jay slowed their speed to listen in. “We thought we had defeated the Anacondrai army but that was when Chen turned the elemental masters onto each other. After that-“ Sensei was interrupted with a loud clang.

Jay tripped on something and face planted into the snow with a soft crunch. Nya, Lloyd, and Sensei all burst into laughter as Jay spat out snow. “Very funny, guys,” He groaned before checking to see what he tripped on. Brushing away the snow, the team was surprised to see something gold and shiny hidden beneath the snow.

They all bent down and wiped the snow off of the giant object, revealing a huge robot with two shoulder blasters. Jay smiled, recalling his memory. “I remember this guy! Zane must have fought him when he ran ahead.” The blue ninja, with snow still on his face, turned to Lloyd. “This robot’s job is to scare away the Tree Horns. Well, it was, until Zane destroyed his control panel.” Jay pointed at the small rusted box on the back of the robot.

The gold metal was rusted and dull from sitting in the snow for years. Lloyd touched the metal gingerly, and he could feel the chill and lack of life in the steel. Finally, his eyes drifted to a symbol carefully carved on the back of the robot’s head. “That’s the same symbol that is on Zane’s chest door, right?” Lloyd asked, pointing at the marks. The team glanced down at the head, and Nya and Jay nodded.

Lloyd looked again at the robot, but this time he was suddenly blinded with a vision.

Instead of looking at the Tree Horn fighting robot, Lloyd found himself looking at Zane.

Lloyd flinched and gasped, falling backwards into the snow. “Lloyd are you okay?” Nya asked. The team looked at him with confused and worried looks.

Lloyd, panting, looked back at the robot, but Zane had disappeared. The image of Zane was burned into his mind: the dullness of his titanium steel, the rust forming in the cracks, the dents and deformities covering his body, his control panel on his back shattered and destroyed beyond repair, and his eyes that held no light.

Lloyd shook his head, pushing the image of destroyed Zane out of his head. “Nothing, I just thought I saw something move.” Nya helped the green ninja to his feet, and he brushed the snow off of his casts. “We should repair him if possible so he can continue to protect the home.”

Jay nodded in agreement. “I can see what I can do to him in the tree home.” He looked over to Nya and together they lifted the giant robot out of the snow.

A surprised look crossed Nya’s face. “For a giant robot, he’s fairly light,” she noted. Jay laughed. “He’s designed that way so he doesn’t sink into the snow.”

“Smart,” she said. Sensei chuckled as he opened the door to the tree home.

“Whoa…” Lloyd and Nya gasped together as they stared down the winding staircase to a circular bottom.

“Would you look at this place!” Nya exclaimed, her eyes lit up in excitement. Jay chuckled. “That’s what I said when I saw it.” He confessed. Sensei looked down and nodded, as if recalling a past memory. The team began to descend.

With a loud thud, Jay and Nya placed the large robot on the ground as Lloyd reached the bottom stair. The air in the tree was crisp but dusty and it was quite evident that the place had not been touched since the last time the ninja paid a visit. A bed that was perfectly made hid underneath the staircase, with a side table that held a filmy rag and a dust-covered picture frame. Lloyd walked over and lifted the picture up, sliding the dust off with his fingers.

In the frame was Zane with his falcon perched on his arm as he stood with a middle-aged Dr. Julien. Blinking, Lloyd suddenly realized just how old Zane was. “Zane’s been around for….a really long time…hasn’t he?” Lloyd asked, turning to the team. Jay was leaning over the giant robot while Sensei Wu and Nya looked around.

Wu nodded. “It would appear that Zane has existed for much longer than you all, possibly a good number of decades.”

“Decades?” Nya exclaimed as she picked up a wooden frog toy that was covered in dust. “Could he be older than you, Sensei?”

Wu laughed but didn’t respond. Lloyd looked back down at the picture, but his eyes drifted to the name on his casts again. The conversation he had with the young boy reappeared in his mind. Lloyd remembered what he had told Nelson- “Being a ninja isn’t easy because we deal with sacrifices and loss as well as battles and victory. You don’t have to be a ninja to do good things, you just need to do what’s right and to help others.” Looking at the photo, a sudden burst of determination surged through his body. He silently promised Dr. Julien that he would save his son and then sat the picture back down on the bedside table.

“Hey guys, check this out.” Nya called out as she rummaged through some blueprints at the main desk. “There’s blueprints for the giant robot we found…apparently it’s named the Guardian.”

Jay scooted in next to her and lifted another blueprint. “And this is one of the blueprints for Zane!” he exclaimed. Nya carefully inspected it, then gasped. “This is it! This is the software page.”

Lloyd looked over her shoulder. “Wow- there’s a ton of information on this sheet.” Nya nodded, but kept looking. Lloyd looked down at the table where another blue sheet caught his eye. Reaching around the girl, he took the paper and looked it over. “Woah,” he finally said.

“What is it?” Nya asked, looking back.

“This sheet is for the software of the Guardian,” Lloyd started, pointing at the lifeless robot. “But…” he continued, turning the page around. “It’s basically empty.”

Both Jay and Nya stopped and started to think. “That’s weird. That must mean that Zane’s software is more complicated than the Guardians’.” Jay concluded, and Nya’s eyes widened.

“There’s something more to Zane’s software that isn’t on this sheet. There’s a reason why Zane is much more complicated…therefore making him more-“

“More human!” Jay stepped in, and Nya nodded. “You’re so smart,” Jay gawked, and Nya giggled. “C’mon, we need to find more information on Zane.”

The three ninja began to dig through drawers and paper after paper, and Sensei Wu, who had no idea what just transpired between the three, just sat back and watched.

 _________________________________________________________

The cold winter wind played with Cole’s mess of black hair as he leaned over the banister and gazed at the forest below. The team had dug up a golden robot and disappeared into the tree about 15 minutes ago. Bored, Cole began to pick at the wooden banister; his mind was too unfocused and lost to think about his current situation.

“You okay?” Kai appeared next to Cole suddenly, causing Cole to flinch so violently he almost broke the banister.

“Kai!” Cole gasped for air. “You came out of nowhere like a-“

“A ninja?” Kai raised his eyebrow. “Haven’t heard that one before.”

The boys shared a laugh as they stared out across the Birchwood Forest. Kai cleared his throat. “I hope that they find an answer down there.” He spoke.

“Yeah,” Cole agreed.

“Cuz if they don’t, we are going to have to destroy Zane.” Kai continued.

“Yeah,” Cole agreed with a growl in his throat.

“And you would have to be the one to do it with your magic super strong fists,” Kai went on.

“Yeah,” Cole finally said after hesitation and a disgusted glance at the red ninja.

Kai nodded, completely oblivious of Cole’s disgust. “I can’t even imagine what you would be going through- knowing that if all else fails Zane would have to be destroyed by your own hands-“

“Okay, I get it!” Cole snapped. “I don’t need other people to tell me what I know.”

Kai fell silent. Cole, feeling guilty, took a deep breath. “Look, you are right. It’s a heavy burden knowing that I have the job of murdering Zane. I’ll never be able to look at myself the same way again, but at the same time if we just let him go then a lot of innocent people could get hurt. It’s not something to look forward to but it’s something that must be done.”

Kai nodded. “I know it’s hard, but you can’t look at it as murdering Zane. Zane has already been destroyed and the overlord has taken his place and stolen his face. You aren’t going to kill a friend, just have revenge on the enemy that killed Zane. Twice.”

Cole nodded, agreeing. “I just wish there was a simpler way, instead of turning him into scraps.”

Cocking his head, Kai went into thought. “Didn’t Jay mention something when he was sobbing his eyes out yesterday?”

Cole shook his head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t in the bridge at that point.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Good for you. It was a nightmare. I seriously can’t believe Nya dates that guy.”

“Kai, focus.”

“Oh, right.” Kai cleared his throat. “He mentioned something like…’if I had listened to him none of this would have happened.’”

Cole stood up straight. “Wait…do what?” Cole spoke in an excited tone.

Kai rotated his hands while he was thinking. “What was the word Jay used? Deaccelerate…retaliate…wait, no! Deactivate!”

Cole gasped, suddenly remembering that moment in the bedroom when he woke up to Zane begging Jay to turn him off. “Kai, that’s it!” Cole shouted. “We can deactivate him! Zane was going to take off his suit so I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere on his chest or back. All we need to do is to work together to keep him still and we can turn him off without destroying him!”

Kai’s face lit up. “We don’t have to destroy Zane in order to stop him? That’s great news!”

Cole opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the third team member left on board. “We have an unidentified incoming,” Misako called from the bridge. The two boys shared a worried look and then dashed up the stairs to the bridge.

“What do you mean, an incoming?” Cole immediately said as he walked through the doors.

“Is it Tree Horns?” Kai asked, looking at the bridge map.                                     

“No,” Misako replied to Kai pointing at the screen. “Tree Horns move in herds, and this object is moving by itself. But in the sky.”

“In the sky?” Cole repeated, looking at the map. “What could it be?”

“If I may,” PIXAL stepped in, appearing on the map screen. “The unidentified object isn’t…alive.”

Kai frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s a piece of technology,” PIXAL continued. “And quite a large piece too.”

Cole and Kai looked at each other. “You don’t think…?” Kai gasped.

Cole narrowed his eyes. “Zane. He found us.” He turned and dashed out of the room, followed by Kai and Misako.

They peered over the deck railing and searched for the flying tech. “There!” Kai pointed to the left. The team followed his arm and were startled to see-

“A dragon?” Cole exclaimed, more fascinated then shocked.

“It’s a robot dragon!” Misako gasped.

“A Techno Dragon!” Kai grinned, naming it. Cole shook his head. “Zane built himself a dragon, but why?”

“And how?” Kai added. “Zane’s never been that talented with engineering even though he is a robot himself.”

Eyeing the new threat, Cole narrowed his eyes. “That’s a problem for another hour. Now, we deal with Zane and his new pet.”

Within fifteen seconds, Cole and Kai devised a plan of attack. Misako took control of the ship and began to turn around as Kai flipped onto the railing and off of the ship.

The elemental dragon of fire roared to life and Kai took off towards the Techno Dragon.

A synthetic roar bellowed from the dragon ahead of him. Kai pulled his mask over his head and gripped the reins tighter. “I’ve got this,” Kai said, but there was a nervous quake in his voice. Kai wasn’t about to enter a fist fight, he was about to enter a dragon fight. Clenching his teeth, Kai yelled a battle cry and his dragon roared as they flew into the first impact.

Kai struck first. Breathing a huge wave of blue fire, the fire dragon aimed for the metal wings and then swooped upwards. Kai, proud of his tactic, glanced down to see the damage but was shocked to see that there was none. The jet black metallic wings seemed unhurt from the fire.

The fire dragon corkscrewed in the air then closed its wings and catapulted towards the metallic dragon. Kai willed his element to take over, and the dragon caught fire, transforming into a fireball missile. Kai narrowed his eyes and prepared for impact.

But to his surprise, the metallic dragon blinked, then vanished.

“What?” Kai exclaimed out loud and then stopped in his path downward. As the fire died down, Kai looked around nervously, but the dragon had vanished.

“That’s unfair!” Kai shouted. “You’re cheat-“

The elemental dragon screamed as a large object slammed into it and grabbed on. Kai, having a connection to the dragon, yelled in pain as well. Slowly, the Techno Dragon became visible again, and Kai felt the blood drain from his face.

The Techno Dragon was about three times the size off his elemental dragon, which he didn’t realize when he was flying at top speeds next to it. The metal was forged from a rare black metal and it had red detailing across its head and body. The eyes were blood red and purple, and the claws were shiny black and speared. The rider laughed, and Kai suddenly saw Zane in a new light.

On top of his titanium body sat a giant chest plate of black metal that matched his dragon. A blue techno screen crossed his eyes and a small headset piece extended from his right ear. A huge uncharacteristic grin was spread across his face and his red eyes glowed with despicable happiness. “Gotcha, Kai.” Zane snarled as his dragon clenched tighter, causing both the dragon and Kai to scream in pain again.

Kai panted hard, trying to ignore the pain. “Not..this…time….Zane!” Kai gasped each word like it was his last.

“And why is that Kai?” Zane asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because…I….have….something…you…don’t!” Kai spat, his vision starting to brighten in pain.

Zane frowned. “What’s that?”

“Allies!” Cole answered as he landed on the dragon behind Zane.

Shocked, Zane spun around. “How-“ Zane started, but was too slow to react. Cole grabbed the robot and chucked him off the dragon.

The dragon released the fire dragon and dropped to catch Zane, but the Bounty (which had snuck up behind the Techno Dragon) shot a missile towards the falling dragon. It hit the wing and the dragon roared as it was damaged. Everything catapulted to the snow below.

Cole was lucky enough to form his dragon as it all fell, but Kai was too much in exhausted pain to recover his dragon. He hit the snow with a thud.

Zane landed a few feet away, shaken but not hurt. The techno dragon landed last in a giant poof of smoke, fire, and snow. The nindroid stood and shook his head before looking over to see the smoking dragon. Zane tightened his fist in anger and through his new mask he activated the self-repair of the dragon on the wing. Steaming with rage, he turned to see Kai trying to stand in the snow a few feet away. Zane activated his ray gun and approached the fallen ninja.

Kai looked up, holding his side in pain. Seeing the threat, he tried to scramble to his feet, but couldn’t. Zane stepped on his chest and aimed for the shot, lining it up perfectly with Kai’s head. Defeated, Kai braced for the end.

In a sudden flash of black and orange, Zane vanished from Kai’s chest. Kai almost screamed in relief, and then fell back in the snow and passed out.

Cole and Zane tumbled in the snow for a few yards from the sudden collision. When they stopped tumbling, Cole tensed his legs and kicked Zane a few feet away before standing.

Zane stood as well and the two ex- friends glared at each other.

“How dare you come back,” Cole growled, his fists glowing.

Zane smiled. “How else am I supposed to enact my revenge if I can’t see you all again? Speaking of which, Cole- you look terrible. You should get some good sleep. Like forever.”

Cole narrowed his eyes. “Sorry Zane, but you can’t doctor me anymore. You lost that privilege when you turned evil.”

The nindroid laughed. “Looks like we have to settle this right now!” he demanded, shifting his body into a fighting stance.

Cole lifted his fists, ready to attack. “Let’s get this over with,” Cole murmured as he swallowed down the fear and dread that was forming in his throat.

The two ninja lunged at each other, each knowing that only one of them was going to leave alive.

[crystalgirl259]

The Flame and the Dragon Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Don’t Fall In Love

Bansha's teeth chattered loudly as she followed Morro down the alleyways, starting to regret her life choices. Now Banshaa would never question Morro, but he could tell he had completely lost his senses. Morro kept telling her that he needed Kai for his plan to work. He may be strange, but he was the best. But the man they were going to see was a child-broker, and he absolutely terrified her. A tremor of fear, not cold, rushed through her very being.

Her heart skipped beats radically each time she gazed at the all too familiar alleyway.

Morro kept insisting that he will have Kai as his husband and if he must take drastic measures to make him see sense, he shall. Bansha tried to speak up, but she flinched when Morro turned around and glared at her. Harsh green eyes burned with determination and desire. Bansha bit her lip to keep from speaking and kept her head down. She refused to look up when an all too familiar building came into view. The building where the Child Broker did his business, safe from the law, safe from anyone who would dare tell him otherwise.

She struggled to keep up with Morro's pace.

The Duke stormed up the steps and bounded on the door harshly, screaming demands to be let in from the heavy snow. A call that the door was unlocked was all he needed. Hastily, Morro turned the lock and grabbed Bansha, dragging the reluctant woman inside, out of the cold. The two of them stripped their soaked cloaks and took their seats in the two plush armchairs. Morro shook his dark hair, scattering the water from the melted snow everywhere.

Bansha took her seat and meekly kept her hands folded in her lap.

After an abnormally short wait, a tall man stormed into the room. He shed his own coat and hat and hung them on a nearby coat hanger, revealing a short mop of silvery-gray hair. His brownish amber orbs shone with annoyance, but with the pale laughter of a child. Banshaa shivered and kept her eyes focused on her lap. Morro sat up straight as the man took a seat behind the desk and sat with his hands folded in front of him.

"Good evening, Master Noble; thank you so much for coming out at such an hour to see us." He flashed a bright smile and spoke in a voice of fake appreciation. Master Noble's face remained neutral.

"Please don't try playing me, Morro; I don't appreciate being forced to leave my orphanage in the middle of the night." He groaned with annoyance. Expecting this, Morro removed a small sack from his pocket and dropped it in front of the man. Gold coins and jewels spilled from the opening. His eyes scrutinized the contents then returned to the duchess. "Alright, I'm listening."

"I can tell you're a man of simplicity, so I'll just get straight to the point, you're familiar with the Smith family correct? I believe your services were required after the unfortunate death of Ray and Maya?"

"My services were not required at all, both Kai and Nya were beyond legal age and were able to take care of Lloyd," He groaned, at the statement of the obvious.

"Well you see, Kai is far too selfless, God Bless him, he refuses to see that his siblings are holding him back from his potential, his future, and when I offer him his heart's desire, he refuses me."

"Oh really?" He cut the duke off and drew out the word in a mocking manner. "I heard of your arranged ordeal, are you sure it wasn't your decision to arrange an entire wedding on his front yard mere moments before you all but demanded he marries you?"

"It's his fault! If he wasn't so naïve, I wouldn't be forced to take such drastic measures!" Morro screeched as he jumped to his feet; enraged that he would speak so frivolously of his humiliation. Quickly, he composed himself and returned to his seat, clearing his throat.

"Not that this isn't humorous, Morro, but I fail to see what your failed courtship with Kai has to do with me," He joked playfully. Morro's fist clenched but he reigned in his composure.

"I want Kai as my husband, but so long as he believes his siblings are in need of his help, he won't leave them." He smirked. "You're aware of young Lloyd's health condition, correct? His chest problem? I heard his last attack caused his heart to nearly stop, such a sick child needs proper care, not to be a burden to his siblings who have no knowledge of medicine, don't you agree?"

"Lloyd is far from a child, under-aged, perhaps, but he's what thirteen? He'll reach manhood in less than three, four years, and both Nya and Kai know the remedy to soothe him, from what I've been told." Noble explained. "It would be a waste to put Lloyd in child care."

"Perhaps, but everyone knows Kai would do anything to protect his little family." He growled. "Even perhaps, make a deal to keep his younger brother from being taken away from Nya, if Nya was rendered unfit to care for him?" He asked as a sinister smirk crossed the duke's face. Banshaa's face contorted with horror as her eyes flew to her master. A shiver racked her entire body she gazed at the menacing smirk of victory on Morro's smug face.

"Perhaps, but then again there is also the problem," Noble replied, twirling a gold coin beneath his fingers. "From what I've been told, Nya and Kai have done a stand-up job raising Lloyd and makes more than enough to support each other; I doubt there is anything I could say or do that would convince the town taking Lloyd away from them would be in their best interests, and I do care for my reputation."

"Nya is unfit!" Morro shouted as he rose to his feet again. "Kai has been missing for almost two and a half months with no word of him, and not a week after they supposedly left for a trip, did she and Lloyd come screaming and pounding on my door in the middle of the night, ranting and raving about how their brother had been kidnapped by a dragon? A dragon, of all the ludicrous things!"

"What?" Noble frowned.

"It's been well over two months and all they have done is go back and forth in those woods and repeat this tale to anyone who would listen to them! Ask anyone! I thought they were only joking at first, which is why I waited so long to come to you, but now I'm convinced Nya has lost her sanity and she's spreading it to her brother!" He bellowed. Noble rose a brow at this new information.

"Really now? A dragon? Are you sure about this? I have heard rumors of people becoming lost in those woods, perhaps what they found was the old monarch's castle." He replied curiosity. "Of course, the monarch hasn't ruled nor had a regent in almost a hundred years so it must be abandoned by now."

"It matters not, the point is, if Nya is insane, she can't raise Lloyd correct?!" Morro snapped, slamming his fist against the table while Noble's face remained neutral.

"I suppose, but before I make any final judgments, I'd have to see for myself; are Nya and Lloyd at home this evening?"

"No," Banshaa said softly. Her body shaking and her eyes focused on the ground, knowing if she looked at him her voice would break. "We stopped by this evening to see, but their shop was closed, it looked liked it hadn't been opened in weeks, and there was only a sign on the door saying they would be going into another town to seek help, it did not say when they would be back."

"You see? Now she's taking Lloyd on a wild goose chase when she should be searching the woods for my fiancé!" Morro continued. Realizing that he was still standing, Morro cleared his throat and sat back down as a king on a throne. "Now do you understand my proposal?" He asked as a wicked satisfaction shined in his dark green eyes and his lips curled into a smirk.

"So Morro, if I understand you correctly, you wish for me to declare that Nya is an unfit guardian and threaten to have her arrested and Lloyd confined to foster care until he is deemed fit to live on his own unless Kai agrees to marry you?" Noble asked, then pinched the bridge between his nose.

"That is precisely what I mean," Morro smirked evilly. Noble threaded his fingers through his silver strands, his elbows braced on the table, and his face a mask of discomfort.

"Oh Lord in heaven, that's despicable, truly repulsive," He replied as his face vanished behind a curtain of hair until a low, maniacal chuckle escaped him. His face emerged shocking both Morro and Banshaa. It was the face of a mad man. "I love it!"...

****************

The next few weeks passed by in a blur of bliss for Kai. Winter had settled in nicely over the whole valley. Snow filled the world, deeper and deeper. The trees and gutters of the castle towers glittered with icicles. Windows glistened with frost, and the ponds and streams had frozen in sheets of ice. With the approaching frost, the house was busier than ever. Shade kept the staff busy gathering enough food for the winter months and enough coal and wood to keep the castle warm and alive.

Things had been going so great between Kai and Cole that the brunette thought he should get him a present.

The only problem was that Cole hadn't really shared his own interest with the teen, and that made Kai feel horrible. Cole knew what Kai loved most in the world were his books and all those stories. That was why the Dragon Lord had given him the library. That was what Kai chose in the end. He was going to give Cole a story. But not just any story, one written and illustrated by Kai. Kai hoped this would open more doors for him and he hoped that if he got to know Cole, they would find more things to say.

Kai vowed that one day he would reach him, there has to be some way.

He might have been a loner back in the town, but even Kai knew that everyone needed someone there for them, so Cole must need someone as well. If Kai got to know him better, he knew exactly what he would do He would read him stories from picture books, all filled with wonder. Magic worlds where the impossible becomes the everyday. They would find a mountaintop and some moonbeams to sit under, and Kai would lead because he knew the way there.

There was so much to discover, but Kai did it all the time. He could live inside bright pages, where the words all rhyme.

They would slay the dragons that still followed Cole around, and the prince would almost certainly smile as his dreams left the ground. He would read him stories about mermaids, kings, and sunken treasures. Kai knew a place, just a dot, too small to measure, and Kai will take him there because he knew the road. He would tell him stories about heroes who overcame their deepest despair, and hope that they put hope into his heart again and that Cole will cherish it every day.

Cole could find a better world and the strength to face tomorrow.

Kai was sure that if Cole knew the road, he would want to stay. Kai really hoped Cole liked his little gift. After he had sneaked into Cole's room and placed the nicely wrapped present on his bedside table, he left to go and find something to do. As amazing as this castle was, there wasn't that much to do when you're confined inside for the rest of your life. That was why he jumped at the invite Jay, Echo, Nelson, and Ronin gave him. They were all going to this frozen lake somewhere in the forest to do some skating.

Since they had all been working so hard, they thought everyone would enjoy some time outside.

Kai was a little worried about leaving the castle grounds, especially when he gave Cole his word, but they promised him it would be fine. They would only be gone for two hours at the top and Cole spent most of his time looking up in the towers or his room so he wouldn't even know they had gone. That managed to convince Kai, so he grabbed his winter clothes, some spear skates and followed the group to the lake. They rode their on Flame to get there faster. Eventually, they reached the falls, and Kai had to admit that the view was worth the hike.

Three separate streams of water were frozen in incredible, twisting pillars up the side of a cliff that was taller than the castle.

The basin at their bases was equally impressive, the water frozen in curling waves. All of the ice was a beautiful, glittering white that shone even with the sun hiding behind clouds. As soon as they reached the lake, they all got their skates on and started having fun.

"Eat my snow, Ronin," Jay laughed skating backward past him.

"Is that a challenge!" The competitive man grunted and kicked across the ice to gain extra speed. Echo flopped onto his stomach while Nelson did a large figure eight then did a few spins in the air. Kai leaped over Echo and swirled in a half-circle, then bent over to help him up. Across the lake, Ronin and Jay continued their race and from the childish teasing and roars of frustration, Jay was winning.

"Hey you two, are you going to do that all day?" Kai asked, using his hands to amplify his voice. The two boys turned to face him then crashed into the snow. The three remaining skaters burst out laughing; their fallen companions crawled out of the snow and shook their heads. Ronin removed his earmuffs and shook the snow-free from his hair. Jay just laughed like a kid in a candy store. None of them noticed the smirking eyes watching them through the darkness of the woods...

****************

Cole sighed in frustration as he listened to the clock ticking loudly. He had wanted to do something nice for Kai, so he got all dressed up and ordered Shade to make them the nicest, most spicy, romantic dinner he could. He knew Kai loved spicy foods and books. Hopefully, with this and the library, he and Kai could grow closer and closer together. Sure, they seemed pretty solid now, but it was better to be safe than sorry and strengthen their bond while he could.

After he was dressed and the food was ready, Cole sent Zane to look for the brunette, but that was almost an hour ago.

The castle and the surrounding grounds might be very big, but it shouldn't be hard to find the only human in the entire castle. He sighed again as the clock kept ticking, growing more and more impatient as the seconds ticked by. He didn't know why he was being kept waiting.

"ZANE!" He bellowed so loud it shook the entire castle. Within seconds, the white yeti burst into the room with a silver trolly with a whole tea set on it

"Alright, sir, hold on." Zane smiled as naturally as he could. "Such a brisk day, you look positively chilled to the bone!"

"Where's Kai?" Cole demanded, keeping his gaze out the window, not seeing Zane gulp nervously.

"How about a nice pot of tea, sir?" He suggested as he began to pour the warm liquid into a nice China cup. Cole said nothing as he took the tea and drink it all in one big gulp, shocking his servant for a second.

"A bit more tea, sir? Good for the heart, you know."

"No, thank you." Cole declined politely.

"Just a spot?" Zane pushed.

"No more."

"But there's always room for tea."

"I said no more!" Cole shouted as he whipped around to glare at Zane, now seeing how uncomfortable and nervous he looked. "Zane, are you trying to distract me?"

"No, sir." Zane denied and an awkward silence filled the room as Cole seemed to stare directly into his soul. "Are you sure you don't want more tea?"

"Enough! Where's Kai!?" He shouted and Zane sighed in defeat, knowing that he could never hide anything from the dragon hybrid.

"We can't find him, sir."

"What?!" Cole exclaimed, not wanting to believe it, but he knew Zane would almost never lie to him. "Leave me!" He ordered and Zane quickly fled the room. As soon as the yeti was gone, Cole grabbed the magic mirror. The mirror appeared as an ordinary mirror, silver in color, with intricate rose and vine decorations. An ornate lion-like creature encapsulated the handle of the mirror with its mouth. On the back of the mirror, there was a symbol that somewhat resembled a fleur-de-lis.

This magical mirror allowed its users to see anything he or she wished to see on its glass and in its current situation.

Ashamed of his monstrous form, Cole concealed himself inside his castle, with this magic mirror as his only window to the outside world.

"Show me, Kai!" He ordered and the reflective surface of the mirror was enveloped in a golden glow as an image began to form. It showed Kai with Jay, Ronin, Nelson, and Echo out in the snow with Flame. Cole's eyes widened in a mixture of sorrow and confusion, believing that he was running off. His sadness quickly evaporated into anger at the thought of Kai breaking their agreement. He vowed to bring that spoiled, ungrateful brat back, but there was a voice in the back of his head.

It was a voice telling him that Kai had abandoned him.

He should listen to his instincts as they have never steered him wrong or lead him astray. He should have listened when he first believed Kai would break his heart. The quickest way to break a heart, to make someone depressed and ill, was to get them all tangled up inside. The side effects could kill. If Cole must love someone, he may as well just love himself. He would never leave and he would find he got more rest and he would always feel as good as new.

His freedom was the most important thing.

He couldn't talk for hours, send flowers, write poems, or sing songs and dance beneath the stars that shine above. As soon as someone's heart rules their head their life was not their own. It's hell when someone was always there and it's bliss to be alone, and love of any kind is bad. Whether it be a dog, a child, or a cat, they always took up so much precious time, and to Cole, there was no sense in that. Love took the wildest heart and made it tame and emotions were a thing all great men overcame.

Cole knew he couldn't get attached to anyone or anything because there was nothing worse than things that cling.

He might turn to drink and he would never rest. He might end up mad, and looking like some poor demented dove. He could never fall in love. Cole suddenly let out a feral growl and left the room in a rage. He was going to drag Kai back to the castle and make him wish he had never broken their deal. As the dragon prince left the castle, he failed to hear the faint, hollow laughter of supposed victory as a shadow melted into the halls of the castle...

[crystalgirl259]

How to Train Your Dragonblood 3: The Dragonblood Alpha Ch6

Ed and Cliff shivered badly as they flew on Karloff's back over a half-frozen ocean in the middle of a snowstorm. The sun was almost completely set by now, casting the sky in a beautiful light and dark purple with a faded yellow. High above them were dozens of stars starting to appear through the clouds. On any other day, Cliff, Ed, and Karloff would have found it beautiful. But they were too focused and worried about Kai and Jay to think about it.

"He's just like his mother! She could never stay put either!" Cliff suddenly shouted in frustration at his son's stubbornness. When he first met her, Libber may have come off as a little awkward, but once he got to know her, she was strong and uncompromising and was always willing to stand up for those who were helpless. Jay was almost a perfect copy of his mother and most of the time Cliff loved it, but not today.

"He's just twenty, and a Viking; I mean there couldn't be the worst combination." "When I think of how stubborn and senseless you were back in the day..." He trailed off as his expression switched to a hopeless one. "Huh, now not much has changed actually.

"Ah, you know how he's like; he won't give up, and if Jay finds Iron Baron before we find him..." Cliff gulped in fear at the thought. He had already lost some of his closest friends thanks to that monster, he wouldn't let him take his son.

"Nothing can happen to your boy as long as Kai is with him; he's a Fire Dragonblood for crying out loud!" Ed tried to reassure his friend, but it did little to help the old chief. While he agreed that Kai was powerful and cared about Jay, he was more stubborn and careless than his son. Cliff was about to voice his concerns when he noticed something in the corner of his eyes. Below them, a crack in the ice was seen. Cliff noticed it and made Karloff fly back.

As they approached the hole in, Ed leaned on the side and grabbed the floating helmet out of the water.

Sitting back up, he handed it to Cliff who carefully looked at it. He looked back and Ed caught his concerned gaze. Cliff looked down at his dragonblood in determination and offered him the helmet to sniff.

"Find them, Karloff!" He ordered. Karloff took a sniff, memorizing the scent. The Metal Dragonblood growled and started beating his wings faster as they ascended, the storm still raging around them...

****************

It took a few minutes until Jay finally got back to reality. A reality that was getting crazier by the minute. First, he breaks tradition by saving and falling in love with one of the most dangerous species of Dragonbloods, then he loses his leg, and now his mother is back from the dead and living with dragonbloods. Why did things like that happen only to him? Right now, Libber was leading Jay and Kai through a maze of rock caves. While Jay struggled to keep up, Kai was easily able to navigate through the inner ice caves from his past experiences living in the nest for years.

"Ho-hold on! Wait just a minute!" Jay shouted as he chased after his mother through the caves, but he was steadily ignored. Libber swiftly jumped on the rocks ahead of him, motioning for him to follow.

"You can't just say something like that and run off!" He exclaimed angrily as he climbed on the rocks after her, noticeably slower and less gracefully while Kai came after him. "You're my MOTHER?! I mean what the– Do you- do you grasp how insane it sounds?!"

"She does kinda look like you," Kai called from the back.

"NOT HELPING KAI!" Jay screeched at him as they reached a steep slope that Libber climbed in seconds.

"Come quickly." She pressured the couple.

"I have questions! Where have you been all this time?!" He demanded as he attempted to climbs after her but slipped so Kai grabbed his waist and easily pushed him from behind. Jay felt his face heat up and this earned a round of chuckles from the brunette. It really wasn't easy to go through such terrain with a prosthetic leg. He had seen some of the people from Ninjago struggle and he had years of experience. Jay tumbled forward and got back on his feet right after to keep going.

"What've you been doing?! They said you were dead! Everybody thinks you were eaten by a..." He trailed off as they got out in an open, sunlit cavern where hundreds of different dragonbloods were flying around frozen structures covered in greenery. The sight brought gasped of wonder from both Jay and Kai. Kai was stunned to see such a peaceful nest. For most of their lives, he and Nya had been forced to join under that monster's rule and others were born there.

He would have never thought there was such an amazing place that was practically right next door to Ninjago.

As they step out, Jay and Kai glance at a group of baby Dragonbloods playing nearby. They both stepped back when a huge dragonblood flew right over them. Jay smiled at the multitude of dragonbloods flying freely in the open space. He got closer to the rim wherefrom above there was a creek running down the edge.

"Uh, Jaybird." Kai suddenly said and pointed up above them. Jay looked up and gasped when he saw the same Lightning Dragonblood hanging from the ceiling, his mother also holding it. The sapphire-colored dragonblood crooned as it tilted its head to look at them. Jay stared at the pair in shock. He honestly thought that he was the first dragonblood rider, yet here was his mother being so close to one. While a part of him was overjoyed that his mother was alive and well, a part of him was angry at her for being gone all these years.

He wanted to yell at her and tell her what it was like growing up with just a judgemental father and a disappointed village.

To make her feel as bad he felt his entire life. People might say he was being petty, but he didn't feel like that. But if she and the Lightning Dragonblood had a bond similar to the one he shared with Kai then there might be a chance for them to build bridges. His heart was still conflicted about this. Even though this place looked good he couldn't see what was so great about it to keep her away from her home, husband, and child.

"This is where you've been for 20 years?" Jay asked, not sure what else to say at the moment. Libber smiled and nodded as she observed him carefully, her face alight with happiness, hope, and a twinge of fear. Behind him, Kai sat down on a nearby boulder, seeing that this was a moment between Jay and Libber, not him. As he watched his boyfriend agonize on what to do, he was approached by a young Shadow Dragonblood. He chose to ignore the noirette and focused on Jay

"You... You've been rescuing them." Jay realized when he remembered what Clutch said about their fort being attacked. Libber looked around and nodded again. Jay was in complete disbelief as behind him the Shadow Dragonblood started nuzzling Kai in welcome. This caught the brunette off-guard for a second. After living with humans for five years, many of his friends and himself had had to force down their animal instincts. They didn't want to frighten the humans any more than they had.

Kai understood that the noirette didn't mean any harm, but he was worried that Jay might get the wrong idea and didn't want to upset the ginger-haired man any more than he was.

"You're not upset?" She asked a little nervously. Jay sort of was, but he didn't know how to tell her. His mother had been living among a dragonblood paradise while he had to put up with his father's disappointment and the villagers' mistrust.

"What? No, I-I don't know..." He stammered as Kai stepped away from the Shadow Dragonblood who watched him crestfallen. "It's a bit much to get my head around, to be frank; it's not every day you find out your mother is some kind of crazy, feral, vigilante, dragon lady." He chuckled awkwardly and Libber smiled sadly. Indeed, her ideas weren't welcomed. She could tell her son was heartbroken to hear how much happier she was among the beasts.

In the same way, Jay was more at ease on the back of his boyfriend.

With a quick look, the Lightning Dragonblood offered Libber a claw that she hooked her staff around and was lowered down, sliding on a wing. As soon as her feet touched the ground, the Lightning Dragonblood transformed into their human form. They were revealed to be a woman who was around the same age as Libber. She had long auburn hair kept in three separate braids behind her back and pale skin. She has a slim figure, but Jay could clearly make out some strong muscles.

She wore a midnight blue, long sleeve tunic, an orange belt, and black leggings that appear layered.

She had armbands and boots with spikes on the sides. She also had a few layers of cloth wrapped around her waist, with her left leg exposed.

"At least I'm not boring, right?" Libber replied as Jay looked around as an Ice Dragonblood in its dragon form bumped his shoulder and other young dragonbloods started coming over to look at them. They hadn't seen a Fire Dragonblood in years and the only human who was nice to them was Libber. He was hesitant to touch it but gave in when it continued.

"Well, I suppose there is that... one specific thing..." Jay muttered, not wanting to meet her eyes.

"Do you... Do you like it?" She asked as she approached him unsurely.

"I-I-I don't have the words..." He admitted, looking cautious and a bit hurt while Libber was acting like a fearful, untrusting dragonblood. But they didn't expect things to be fixed with a snap of the fingers. This was a very delicate matter. Unfortunately, Ninjago people didn't do delicate. Meanwhile, Kai was surrounded by curious dragonbloods. One dragonblood sniffed him down the clothes and then lifted him up with their bare hands. Kai was stunned as he found himself supported only by a stranger's hands.

"HEY! HANDS OFF THE MERCHANDISE YOU GODDAMN CREEPS!" He roared and they quickly backed off. Libber finally noticed the brunette and immediately got closer to him, hunching down.

"Can-Can I?" She whispered to her son, already seeing his bond with Kai. She had only caught a glimpse of a Fire Dragonblood when one attacked Ninjago all those years ago. She had been living here for about two decades and she had never seen a living, breathing Fire Dragonblood. Libber had feared that they were extinct. At Jay's approval, she crouched and dropped her staff.

"Oh, he's beautiful." She cooed as she lifted a hand for him to sniff then traced her hand through his spikey brown hair.

"Of course I am." Kai laughed along with her and nuzzled her cheek. Jay was little put off by Kai's actions, but he knew the brunette long enough to know he only loved Jay and he was prone to these animal interactions, whether he was in his human or dragon form, even though he mostly only did it in private with Jay and other dragonbloods. Jay was surprised to see his mother right in her element. She was still so beautiful as the pictures Cliff had shown him, and every one of her moves was graceful and fluid.

It spoke of years of trust and attention dedicated to the dragonbloods she had been living with.

It truly wasn't a big surprise to see her get along with Kai, an outside dragonblood, so easily. Kai watched them get along and smiled warmly, happy to see his mother and boyfriend becoming friends. Without realizing it, Libber stood on her knees and kept the brunette's head in her hands.

"Um... I'm sorry, but what's your name?" She asked and Kai chuckled.

"My name's Kai, and I've been dating Jay for almost five years now, he's a great guy." He replied with a smirk as he caught Jay blushing, only to freeze when he caught Libber's wide eyes.

"You're both dating?" She gasped as her eyes kept darting back and forth between the brunette and her son. Jay cast Kai an angry look, which made his fiery boyfriend wince, before looking back to her mother.

"Yeah... as Kai said, it's been going on for a few years now and we couldn't be happier."

"Yep, we've been talking about a summer beach wedding and a little cottage by the lakes for the grandkids." Kai laughed and was soon joined by Libber while Jay spluttered and stumbled to find any words as his face turned scarlet.

"T-That's not what's happening! I-I-I mean, we've talked a-about it but there's n-nothing set in stone, a-and things are t-tough right now and-"

"Jaybird, relax, I'm just messing with you." Kai sent through the link and Jay relaxed almost immediately. Libber quickly noticed the change in mood and it didn't take her long to figure out what was happening.

"YOU TWO SHARE A LINK!?" She screeched as if she had just been told everything she touched turned to diamonds and gold.

"You know what the link is?" Jay asked, but he wasn't that surprised. If she had been living with Dragonbloods for twenty years then she must know all their secrets and probably shared a link with one or more.

"Of course, many dragonbloods only share a link with people they trust and love the most; it's typically only shared with family members such as parents, siblings, mates, or children."

"Do you share a link with anyone around here?" Kai asked, eyeing a few locals still hanging around.

"Um, no, I don't; I've been living here for twenty years and I haven't shared a link like that with anyone, not even Wisp." She admitted, looking a little disappointed, gesturing to the Lightning Dragonblood she was riding earlier. "I'm so pleased and happy for you both that you can have something as special as that." She smiled as she wrapped her arms around her son and his boyfriend, which the couple happily returned.

"Thanks, Mom," Jay muttered.

"Um, Kai, if it's not too much bother can I please see your dragon form?" She asked, feeling very awkward asking. Kai chuckled lightly before he suddenly vanished a flash of red light and a dragon stood in his place. Libber didn't hesitate to look the red beast over, running her fingers over every scar and scale as her eyes burned every detail into her memory.

"He might very well be the last of his kind." She said without thinking.

"Thanks for the reminded." Kai thought as he trilled dejected. Jay glanced at his boyfriend and felt sorry for him. He wanted to comfort him but he wasn't sure if he was allowed to approach the Fire Dragonblood's side while his mother was inspecting him. He settled for sending the brunette as much love and comfort through their link, which Kai was thankful for. Kai then walked around her and butted his head underneath her arm for more attention.

He rolled on his back in her lap as she scratched him as inspected his neck, causing him to purr.

"Look, he's your age! No wonder you get along so well!" She gasped in delight and Jay smiled. Kai was in much better spirits. Libber was very nice and entertaining. It was quite obvious she would be since she was the mother of his boyfriend. They stood in front of each other again, Libber tipped her head up and down like Kai and mimicking his yelps of happiness. "How did you manage to meet such a magnificent creature?" She asked her son, not taking her eyes off Kai.

Libber's enthusiasm was infectious and Jay, Kai, and the nearby dragonbloods found themselves smiling and cheering.

When the couple registered her question, their smiles dropped and almost all the dragonbloods sensed it and took off faster than a Speed Dragonblood could blink.

"I found him in the woods; he was shot down and...wounded." He gulped, a little worried about how his mother would take the news about how he was the one who basically crippled Kai. When he said that, Libber frowned as she stood while Jay sheepishly fidgeted on the spot and Kai looked anywhere but her or Jay. She walked to a Water Dragonblood who was in their dragon form, missing their right back leg, and ran her hand down its jaw.

"Vapore lost her leg to one of Iron Baron's traps." She said as bent down to grab her staff and walked over to a Mind Dragonblood. "Interis got his wing sliced by razor netting, and this... oh, poor Theuros was blinded by a tree snare, and then left to die alone and scared." She whimpered as she carefully took hold of a Poison Dragonblood's hand and he leaned into her touch. Jay nodded along with her as he took a good look at some of the other dragonbloods perched around them.

Some were missing patches of scales, hard to see with their dark coloring, and others had tattered wings, no doubt from flying non-stop and whatever wound they gained from the traps.

He and Kai both stiffened, however, when she pointed to Kai's prosthetic fin.

"And what of this? Did Iron Baron or his filthy trappers do this atrocity too?" She snarled as her voice turned cold and hard as she gripped the leather and examined it and the couple instantly paled.

"Ooohh... hehe, yeah... Huh, well crazy thing is..." He gulped as he swung his arms awkwardly and walked closer to his boyfriend. "I'm actually the one who shot him down." He reluctantly confessed, only to receive a confused and angry look from his mother. "It's-It's okay though, he got me back, right baby?" Jay giggled as Kai shook his head happily in Jay's arms as he kept running his hands over his scales. "You couldn't save all of me, could you? You just had to make it even! So, peg leg!" He exclaimed and he threw an arm around Kai's neck and lifted his foot.

Libber was at a loss.

It really was the most obvious proof of the Gods' sense of humor. Her son condemned a dragonblood and in turn said dragonblood also crippled him for life. Now they love and depended on each other. Kai to fly and Jay to escape life. Kai suddenly shook him off and dove down between Jay's legs, throwing the human on his back as he laughed nervously. Libber, just as uncomfortable, got on her knees to touch Kai's snout again.

"What did your father think of your boyfriend?" She finally asked the second most awkward question for the couple.

"Uh... he-he didn't take it all that well... but then, he changed; they all did." He smiled as a crease of disapproval crossed Libber's face as she listened. "Pretty soon, dragonbloods from the nest came to live in Ninjago with everyone." Jay giggled lightly, still a little stunned at that fact, but his smile dropped when she shook her head.

"If only it were all possible." She scoffed and Jay's blood turned cold at his mother's certain doubt.

"No, really-"

"Believe me! I tried as well but people are not capable of change, Jay; some of us are just born different." She sighed as she sat up and looked at him and then at Wisp as Kai returned to his human form. Wisp suddenly took off to the sky to join the other dragonbloods. Libber sighed sadly as she remembered her last night in Ninjago. The sky was red and filled with smoke as a large Earth Dragonblood flew overhead. As it swept up, she remembered seeing a burning hall, the light illuminating the sky and revealing even more dragonbloods flying around.

Screams were heard and a giant torch was lifted.

"Ninjago was a land of kill or be killed, but I believed peace was possible." She told her son as she remembered the Earth Dragonblood falling down right in front of a charging soldier. As the man lifted his ax to kill it, he was stopped by Libber grabbing his arm. She believed that fighting would only make it worse. But it was a very unpopular opinion. That night was one of the worst raids the village had ever suffered and not only that but the Chief and his family very nearly died.

The Earth Dragonblood quickly go back up and flew away and the man looked at her with contempt.

As he ran off after the dragonblood, Libber looked at her house and saw a dragon getting in through the broken roof.

"Then, one night, a dragonblood broke into our house finding you in the cradle." She sighed as she visualized Wisp walking into the house towards a baby's cradle. As soon as Libber entered the room she reached for a sword near the door. She stopped, however, holding the blade up, when she saw the dragonblood playing with Jay with her giant claw. As she looked at the laughing baby and the dragonblood she lowered the weapon in amazement.

Kai cooed, thinking of his boyfriend as a cute, little baby.

Jay didn't know if he wanted to glare at him or bury himself in embarrassment as his face turned scarlet again.

"I rushed to protect you, but what I saw was proof of everything I believed." She smiled at the memory. When Wisp noticed her, the dragonblood accidentally scratched Jay's chin, making him cry as she turned around on the human, growling under her breath. Libber quickly took a few steps back, holding the sword up. But as she looked in Wisp's eyes, she let it go. This wasn't a vicious beast, but an intelligent, gentle creature whose soul reflected her own.

They looked in each other's eyes and a bond was born.

But then, an ax flew between them. The dragonblood retreated, howling as Cliff appeared, dodging its lightning, as he told his wife to run. Libber grabbed Wisp's wing but she shook her off and turned back to face her. Seeing her cornered, Cliff made his way through the flames to his son. She remembered his husband shouting at her to hold on like she was in danger. Once Jay was safe in his arms, the Chief looked back at his wife to see her being carried away by the dragonblood.

He watched through the hole in the roof as the dragonbloods flew further and further away from him and his crying son.

"You and your father nearly died that night, all because I couldn't kill a dragonblood." She mumbled, unable to look at her son or Kai.

"Runs in the family." Jay smiled faintly, starting to piece things together, as Kai pulled him into a one-armed hug for comfort. There were still things left unclear, but he shouldn't jump to conclusions.

"It broke my heart to stay away, but I believed it would be safer if I did." She finished and a blind man could all the years of pain and sorrow in her face and eyes.

"How did you survive?" He asked, fearing that Wisp had taken her to the nest then they both managed to escape that monster, but Libber suddenly burst out laughing.

"Oh, Wisp never meant to harm me; she must've thought I belonged here, in the home of the great Dragonblood of Creation." She beamed as they started walking closer to the edge. Down below, in a pool of water, was a huge, white, and gold creature with giant whiskers that looked like a beard and hundreds of long shining spikes jutting out from the back of his head and all over his back. Dragonbloods were flying around him and bowed down to him when they got close.

Kai's eyes widened when he saw the ancient dragonblood below them.

Creation was one of, if not the most powerful elements in the world; rivaled only by the element of Destruction and the mythical First Born. Many secrets remained about the true extent of this dragonblood's powers and abilities. Many believed it was just a myth. This white and gold dragon possessed the elements of Fire, Earth, Ice, and Lightning and could affect the physical world in ways that Elemental Dragonbloods couldn't.

"This is the Alpha species, one of the few that still exists; every Nest has its Queen but this is the King of all dragonsbloods," Libber smirked when she saw Jay and Kai's stunned faces at the sight of this giant, stunning creature. "With his icy breath, this graceful giant built a safe haven for dragonbloods everywhere." She smiled as she pointed with her staff at the ice-covered roof of the cave while they walked down.

"Wait, that's the ice-spitter? He's responsible for all that destruction?!" Jay gasped as he looked at the ice-covered roof.

"He protects us! We all live under his care and his command." She snapped, thinking he was being rude. Behind them, a group of hatchlings appeared out of the foliage and converged on a frightened and annoyed Kai. The Fire Dragonblood was only saved by Wisp scaring them off.

"All but the babies of course, who listen to no one." Libber laughed loudly as the babies flew around and hung on the King's face, unbothered whatsoever. The white and golden dragonblood rose and spun to look at them. On the hill they were on, Libber and Wisp bowed down as Jay looked at the giant's head. Even Kai felt intimidated as he crouched lower to the ground. The Alpha stood right in front of Jay, before transforming into his human form.

The Alpha was an elderly man with a long white beard.

He was wearing white robes and a conical straw hat with a tattered cape. He seemed to pull a long staff out of nowhere and walked over to them. Jay stood frozen as his mother, Wisp, and Kai was on their knees in a sign of respect. The ginger-haired man had never once seen Kai bow down to anyone, not even at the nest. This did little to ease Jay's worry as the old man came closer, examining Libber's son. His face showed no emotion as he scanned the young man up and down.

Jay gulped, getting ready to either run, beg, or just stay still as a statue.

All of a sudden, the old dragonblood transformed again and puffed a breath out that covered the two humans and two dragonbloods. Jay, being closer, ended up with his hair covered in frost before returning to his spot in the creek.

"Master Wu likes ya." His mother laughed merrily.

"Master Wu?" Kai asked as they get back to their feet, feeling like they could relax again.

"Yeah, that's his name." She replied as Jay shook his head from the frost and gasped at the impressive creature. "You must be hungry." She smiled at the couple.

"Ah, yeah, I could eat." Jay nodded.

"Same." Kai grinned as he and Jay held each other's hand.

"Good! It's feeding time." She said as she gently took her son's arm and guided them further into the sanctuary...

[aweebwrites]

The Green Ninja Pt.2

Warning: dark themes, murder, blood

_________________

“Where are you?” Lloyd called out on a sing-song tone, walking through the ruins of Ninjago City, knowing his friends were close by. “Hide and seek's over. Let's play a new game, hmm?” He says, looking around, stepping over the half of a body that was sticking out under the demolished building he recalled having fun collapsing earlier.

“That man interrupted the game on the Bounty so how about we settle things with a game of tag? I'm it and when I find you, I'll say 'tag! You're dead’!” He says then giggled madly. “You'll be so shocked, you'll just die!” He laughed harder, dragging the katana made of his powers along the asphalt, leaving a long trail of glowing, smokey green.

He would have killed them all weeks ago if that villain hadn't sent his insects to destroy the Bounty. Well, he's history now…

“Doesn't it sound like fun?” He says, looking around again.

His ear twitched before his eyes darted to his left where he caught a shadow dash behind one of the few intact buildings left. He lifted his left hand and blasted it with his powers, frowning once he saw it wasn't his friends but some other person he didn't care about.

“Oh. What a disappointment.” He says as he walked over to the woman who was still alive but appeared to have broken her arm during the blast. “You aren't even any fun.” He whispered, lifting the blade, even as the woman sobbed and pleaded.

“Lloyd! Stop this!” He grinned before jabbing the blade down, stabbing the woman in the neck.

“And where would the fun in that be?... Mother.” He says blankly, looking over his shoulder at Misako with a just as blank expression.

She gasped, watching the woman rudely dirtying his blade with her blood as she drowned.

“Lloyd… What happened to you?” She whispered as he pulled his blade free before slowly making his way over to his mother, a trail of red following him.

“What happened? I finally did what I wanted. That's what.” He says with a small smile. “I'm so very sorry it's not what you expected of me.” He says mockingly.

“What I expect doesn't matter. This isn't you Lloyd. You are good. You are the green-”

“Finish that sentence. I fucking dare you.” He says lowly, expression dark as he stood before her. “Don't call me that. I never wanted that title. I never want any of this. All I ever truly wanted was to be wanted. To be loved. But we don't always get what we want I suppose.” He sighed.

“What are you talking about Lloyd? I love you. Your uncle, your friends, all of Ninjago loves you. We all need you.” She whispered and Lloyd giggled to himself.

“You? Love me?” He asked between giggled before it turned into full blown laughter that stopped abruptly as he leveled her with a dead stare. “No mother. You never loved me. You love the Green Ninja, not Lloyd Garmadon. In fact, you hated him, didn't you? You left Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon in a school for bad children and walked away without looking back because you wanted nothing to do with him. You only ever cared about the green ninja. My whole childhood you were gone and you suddenly reappear when I'm the Green Ninja. You never once asked how was it like growing up in a place like Darkly's, never once apologised for leaving me all on my own, never once thought of or cared of the consequences of leaving me to grow up in a place like that.” He hissed bitterly.

“You know why-”

“Why you left. Sure. That would have been believable if it wasn't complete bullshit. The second you caught eye of uncle, you were gunning for his pants. Dad and I? We meant nothing to you. We were only there for your convenience.” Lloyd says then took a threatening step closer. “You know, more than anyone else, I fantasized killing you the most. All in very creative ways. But I had one way that felt the most satisfying.” He says, smiling sweetly as Misako stepped back as he stepped forward.

“Lloyd, please. Your father wouldn't want this.” She spoke, looking over his shoulder nervously.

“But didn't I tell you mother? We don't always get what we want.” Lloyd whispered, raising his sword.

He noticed the movement in her wide, terrified eyes and manifested another sword, ramming it through Zane's chest without looking back.

“Zane!” The ninja yelled as Lloyd looked over his shoulder at his wide, robotic eyes.

“Tag. You're dead.” He grinned before flicking the sword and it split him in two from the chest up, leaving him to fall as the light left his eyes.

“Damn you!” Kai yelled, rushing in  with the others closing in but Lloyd sent them all flying back with a pulse of his energy.

“Haven't learnt from the first time I see.” He says as he walked over to his mother, and picked her up by the throat, making her gasp for air. “And just so you know… I've always hated you.” He spoke with his sweetest smile before jabbing his sword into her opened mouth, the tip reappearing through the back of her neck, bloody as she went limp.

He dropped her as she bled out, turning to the 4 ninja and his uncle surrounding him.

“Tag's not as fun if you're all in range but who am I to judge?” Lloyd shrugged.

“You're sick Lloyd! She was your mother! Zane was your friend!” Cole yelled at him and Lloyd glanced at him.

“Misako was only my mother in name. And Zane? I don't particularly care for him. Or any of you really.” He says with a shrug and dropped his swords. “Ready to die?” He asked them and they glared.

Jay was surprisingly the first to attack, using his lightning to try and stun him but Lloyd dodged and gave him a sharp blow to the stomach that had him spitting up blood as he went flying. He threw up a shield to block Kai's fire and Cole's earth.

“Let's say I crush your throat and see if you can come back from that.” Lloyd suggested to Kai with a grin before hopping out of the way of Nya's water.

“You'll pay for what you did to Zane!” Kai yelled, blasting fireballs at him he easily blocked and dodged.

“Not so fast Cole.” Lloyd says, flipping over when he punched at him with his lava hand. “Hmm. I wonder…” He hummed, shielding himself from all three of their attacks before creating a new sword and made the shield disappear when Cole punched at it again, stepping out of the way before bringing his sword up, slicing his arm clean off.

Cole screamed as his hand was detached, returning to normal as blood stained the asphalt

“Oh? How disappointing. I was expecting lava. Oh well.” He sighed, ducking down and letting Kai and Nya's attack take them both out.

“What about you uncle?” Lloyd questions, standing as he walked over to Cole who was clinging to where his arm was, bleeding heavily.

He would most likely die from blood loss but where would be the fun in that?

“Ninja go!” Wu yelled, using his spinjitzu to grab Lloyd away from Cole, coming to a stop with a certain katana held to his neck.

Lloyd looked down at the blade to his neck then up at his uncle.

“Well?” He prompted, sliding his hands into his pockets. “You are going to kill me, aren't you? Go on then.” He says as the remaining ninja yelled at him to do it.

Lloyd could see the trembling of his hand, knowing that it wasn't just from old age.

“Go on uncle. Kill me. Kill your brother's only son. Kill your nephew. Kill the only family you have left.” Lloyd says, stepping closer so the blade was touching his neck, opening a thin wound that had a bead of blood rolling down his neck. “Do it. Put an end to the Garmadon bloodline, like you were destined to do.” He urged him.

Wu looked into dull, slitted red and green eyes, at dark skin, at pointed ears and teeth, at the black horns laid back in his hair and still saw his bright nephew. He couldn't. He knew from the start. Lloyd saw this and frowned.

“Pity. I was hoping you would.” Lloyd sighed and Wu looked sad.

“It's not too late Lloyd. Come with us and we will work this out.” He whispered to his nephew, lowering the sword.

“I have a lesson for you uncle.” Lloyd says, looking into the old man's eyes. “Not all enemies deserve to be redeemed.” He says and Wu's eyes widened.

“And not all of them want to be redeemed.” He whispered in his ear.

He walked away, towards Cole again as Wu looked down at the green blade that went through the left side of his chest. Lloyd… He collapsed, his blood pooling under him. Lloyd chuckled as screams rang out. It always had been such a fun sound. Why else would children scream while playing?

“You're almost gone Cole. When you get to the Departed Realm, tell my father he was wrong, would you?” Lloyd says, holding his sword to his chest as Cole breathed heavily.

He raised his sword then lowered- only to stop just above his chest. The sword slipped from his hand and vanished as Lloyd looked down at the sword through his chest instead. Kai's sword? Kai didn't have the guts. It must be-

“Tag. You're dead.” Nya hissed at him as he glanced at her over his shoulder.

He smirked.

“Well played.” He says before collapsing.

The blood pooling around him was pretty and warm. Lloyd coughed some up, tasting nothing as his senses faded. Oh well. At least he got to do something he wanted to do. His eyes went dull.

Die.

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(Eyyyy! So! Here's the requested part two. I know it's not what you all expected but I wanted a change in pace. The hero goes bad and gets redeemed is gold but not for everyone. So Lloyd. He has snapped in more ways than one. You can tell his state of mind really worsened the two weeks between the first fic and the second. He stopped seeing people as actual people a few days in and started seeing them as dolls, playthings even and well, why keep something around that wasn't entertaining? He felt suffocated by everything. First his past, what others thought of him and everything that he was denied then his insanity kicked in and it was both freeing and constricting. He just wanted it all to stop at some point. Lastly, the ninja. They'll not only be traumatized but people everywhere will lose trust in them and they'll scatter. Wu is dead, they fix Zane but his memory chip was damaged so he's not all there. Cole died from blood loss and Jay had to get stomach surgery. Although Nya knew she had to, Lloyd's death weighs on her. They all spend the rest of their days wondering what they could have done differently. Le end. Hope you all enjoyed!)