*6 years later*

Nya's POV

"You're so going down, Chamille. Nya's eyeliner is on point," Seliel sticks her tongue out at Chamille as she reaches for the eyeshadow pallet on the table in front of us.

"Well, then you obviously haven't seen Skylor's mascara," Chamille smirks, putting the mascara applicator back in its tube.

Mother gave us the day off, considering she found out that some of the future guardians had started their training. Surprisingly, she wanted to let us rest before we started our especially extensive training. We're going to focus a lot on scenario training. Rocks are going to symbolize the gemstones, and we're going to fight two on two to try to capture it.

We didn't care about our training news. When we heard we got a day off, we were all excited. Skylor and I wanted to play a card game that Auntie brought back last time she arrived from Ninjago, but Chamille and Seliel ambushed us. They decided to make us the models in their makeup competition, something else Auntie brought us from Ninjago. Skylor and I are impartial to it, but Seliel and Chamille enjoy experimenting with it.

"People enjoy this? My pores are suffocating," Skylor resists the urge to wipe it off her face.

"Tell me about it. When I have a huge breakout tomorrow, I'm blaming you two," I point at both Seliel and Chamille. Seliel bites her lip as she works, focusing on blending my eyeshadow properly.

"Makeup only causes acne if it's not cleaned off properly after its on for a while," Seliel explains to me. "So this won't cause a breakout."

"You guys are lucky we love you," Skylor laughs.

"Agreed," I say in replacement for a nod. If I did nod, Seliel wouldn't be thrilled since she'd probably accidentally get eyeshadow somewhere other than my eyelids.

"Do you think people in Ninjago wear this all the time? If so, I'm even more glad I was born here," Skylor comments, scrunching up her nose.

Ninjago is the realm Mother and Auntie are from. We've never been there, but they've told us stories. It's a corrupt land where everyone there is evil. It's led by a royal family that functions as dictators. Everyone is miserable. The only thing they have better than us over there is that because they force everyone to work, they have products. Auntie gets those for us, so we have everything we need here.

Auntie and Mother, however, are not content in this realm. They want to liberate Ninjago. They want to be able to free Ninjago from this dark age, but they can't do it while Mother is trapped here. That's where we come in. We're going to help Mother out.

"Probably. I like it. It's pretty," Seliel smiles, giving my face several finishing touches. She lightly dabs some blush on my cheeks, using the brush to spread it out and make it look more natural.

"What do you guys think the guardians will be like?" I wonder out loud. I've tried to imagine them, but I can't picture them. All I can see is my family since I've never seen anyone else.

"Easy to beat," Seliel admits. Chamille nods in agreement.

"They're just starting their training now. We've been working our whole lives. This is going to be a blow out," Chamille explains her thought process. Skylor looks skeptical, her eyebrows furrowed.

"If it was going to be easy, Mother and Auntie would be more relaxed about it. We need to assume they're going to be at the same level, if not better, than us so we don't get too cocky. That's what fire masters are for. Gosh, I can't to wipe the smug look off her face," Skylor smiles to herself at the end before looking down at her right hand that's covered in scars from her burn 6 years ago.

When Mother didn't disinfect it, her burn ended up getting infected, especially under where the cuff was. We started to notice something was wrong when she got a fever. However, Mother told her to brush it off. She then started breathing rapidly all the time, but Mother blamed that on her being out of shape and made her do more cardio. It took her being completely mentally confused for something to happen.

When Auntie realized what happened, she was terrified. Skylor was stuck in bed, and while the rest of us trained, she fought to stay alive. Eventually, Auntie came back from Ninjago with antibiotics that saved her life. She was able to make a full recovery with an exception of the scars on her hand.

The experience made her mildly afraid of fire, which is expected, but also resulted in her holding a grudge against the master of fire. Skylor doesn't know her, but she reasons that if the master of fire didn't put herself in the position to fight us, then she never would've gotten burned, and the infection would never of happened. She displaces the anger she feels towards Mother for letting it all happen onto the master of fire.

"Has anyone else gotten the impression that Auntie and Mother hate fire masters the most? They talk about fire masters like they're the devil, get sensitive when talking about lightning and earth masters, and are impartial towards ice masters," I vocalize what I've observed.

"I've noticed that too," Seliel agrees. She takes a step back to admire her work before brushing a strand of her pink hair out of her face. "I'm pretty sure I won," she declares.

Chamille huffs. "No chance. Look at Skylor. That makeup is perfect."

"Girls! I'm here to drop off gifts!" Auntie calls, interrupting their little disagreement. She walks into the room, four bags in her hands. When she sees what we're doing, she seems shocked. "I see your Mother decided to give you the day off."

"Yep. Oh Auntie, which makeup look do you think is better?" Chamille asks, gesturing between myself and Skylor.

"This is a hard one. I'm going to have to go with Nya's. I enjoy the eyeliner and eyeshadow combination," she decides after a bit of thought. "I have one last errand to run, but I wanted to drop these off first." She hands each of us a gift bag. As usual, we open them in the order of our ages.

Skylor opens up her bag, and her eyes light up. "A new crossbow! Thank you Auntie," she rushes over and gives our aunt a hug. She laughs and hugs Skylor back.

"It's nothing, really. Now, Seliel it's your turn."

Seliel peaks into her bag, trying to guess what it is, before giving up. She opens it up and holds it in front of her eyes. "What is it?"

"Well, I know you really like hearing about the popular culture in Ninjago, so I got you what they call a 'gossip magazine'. They're made for teenagers," Auntie explains as Seliel flips through it.

"Why are some pages missing?" Seliel wonders, noticing that several pages have been torn out.

"Their government went through and ripped the pages they didn't like out of all the magazines. They didn't want the public to see it, so they removed them," she explains. "It's messed up; I know."

"Thank you," Seliel smiles, browsing through the magazine. Now, it's Chamille's turn. She pulls an elaborate pallet out of the bag.

"I'm definitely going to win next time with this!" she cheers.

Finally, it's my turn. I pull out the blue tissue paper, revealing the silver shimmer of what I've been hoping for. "It's the parts I need to finish my jet pack! Thank you so much Auntie!" I rush over and give my aunt a hug.

The day after Skylor got her burn, we lied about why we near the fire robot. It resulted in me working with Auntie on one of her projects, and I absolutely fell in love with inventing and building machines. It gives me something to do that's productive. Plus, it's so fulfilling to look at my finished work.

"You deserve it. You've worked so hard on it," she hugs me back. I take my spot next to my sisters, and she smiles at us. "All of you girls have grown up to be so strong and beautiful. I'm so proud of you four."

"Thank you, Auntie," Skylor responds for all of us as usual. She's the oldest, so she's naturally the leader.

"I have to run an errand real quick, but I'll be back soon. Can you guys prepare dinner tonight?"

"Of course."

---

Kai's POV

I sit across from my dad at our kitchen table. He's reading the newspaper he got when he picked up supplies this morning. His eyes are glared as he reads. He's completely focused on it.

"Is something wrong?" I ask him, taking a bite of my sandwich afterwards. He shakes his head.

"Nothing that should worry you," he gives me a small smile before looking back down at the paper.

I roll my eyes. "I'm sixteen dad! I can handle whatever you're looking at."

He sighs,"I just want to protect you."

"And I appreciate that, but I also want to know what you're always so secretive about," I push a bit more, trying to look at the page he's looking at. He places the paper down and looks at me. "Is it about mom? I already know she didn't die a peaceful death."

"I guess you're old enough now," he sighs, looking me in the eyes. "Your Mother was murdered, first degree. Her murderer was spotted stealing some stuff."

"Mom's murderer still hasn't been caught?" I feel rage flood through me, standing up. "We have to hunt them down and make sure they rot in jail! Where were they spotted?" I grab the newspaper off the table, flipping through in an attempt to find the article he was reading.

My dad sighs and grabs it out of my hand. I reach for it again, but he puts it out of my reach. "It's not that easy son. The police have been trying for years. Ciara is...different to say the least. She uses portals to travel between realms frequently."

"There has to be some way to catch this Ciara chick! Maybe we can set a trap, or maybe..."

"Did I hear my name?" I hear a dark laugh behind me. When Dad's face loses all color, I whip around to see an old lady leaning against the doorframe. Her eyes are a dark brown, nearly black, and her smile looks devious. "Oh look, the boy didn't die in the fire! I told Maya he wouldn't."

"You're the person who killed my mother!" I spit, looking around for something to attack her with. She laughs.

"Don't even try, little boy. I know Daddy Dearest hasn't passed the elemental torch yet, quite literally in this case," she stands up straight, walking over to a framed picture of Dad and me on the wall from my 8th birthday. "Birthday parties have always been so pointless to me. Why celebrate the birthed and not the birther?"

"What do you want Ciara?" Dad asks her, his jaw clenched.

"And he speaks!" she laughs to herself, scanning over the other pictures. "You two have lived a happy little life, haven't you?"

"Answer the question," my Dad raises up his fist, a fireball in his hand.

"If you must know, I came here because every morning, I wake up with a feeling in my chest. It's absolute hatred towards you. It's so distracting. Without you, everything would be perfect, but no, you had to poison Maya's mind..."

"You brainwashed her!" my dad raises his voice, shocking me.

"No, Mara and I showed her a better way..." she drifts off, losing focus. "Where is my knife?"

"Excuse me?" Dad snaps.

"The knife I used to kill Maya, where is it?" she pops her hip out before looking at my dad.

"Like I'd ever tell you."

"Oh, so stubborn. I bet your son is the same way. Kyle, go get me the knife," she instructs me.

"My name is Kai, and I'll never do anything for you," I cross my arms. She raises an eyebrow, seeming amused.

"As I said before, Kyle, go get me the knife, or else," she glares now. I hold my ground.

"As I said before, no," I mimic her. She seems in shock.

"Let's play a game," she suggests, slowly walking around the room. "Whoever brings me the knife wins. The loser dies."

Suddenly, a fire ball goes flying past my head and towards Ciara. Expertly, she ducks out of the way, laughing. It hits the wall, but since we fireproofed the home, nothing happens. "You've always been so predictable, Ray."

"Dad, go get the knife. If one of us is going to die, I can't have it be you," I look over my shoulder to tell him. He shakes his head.

"That woman has taken nearly everything from me. She's not taking the last bit of light in life away too," he informs me before walking to my side. He grabs a hold of my hand.

"Aw how cute," Ciara mocks us as my dad starts murmuring to himself. I'm confused at first, but as I feel a warmth start to come over me, I understand what is happening. I go to question him, but I stop when I realize he doesn't want Ciara knowing.

"Leave," I deadpan.

"Or what? You'll spit on me?" she teases. When my dad lets go of my hand, the warmth floods through me.

"I'm going to walk across the room. When she's distracted, hit her. Remember what we practiced on the lawn," he whispers before starting to walk across the room.

In preparation to hand over his powers, my dad would train me in the lawn. We would go over motions, and he tried to explain everything to me. While it didn't all make sense then, having the powers fills in the gaps.

"And what if I did?" I respond to Ciara like I would've usually.

"You'd be making a mistake," she tells me, but her eyes follow my dad. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm getting a glass of water," my dad shrugs.

Ciara glares at him. "I'm not dumb. What are you doing?"

Using this as my chance, I push the warmth down to my right hand. After several seconds of effort, the flame appears in the palm of my hand. With force as if I was throwing a ball, I hurl the fire at her. Although I was aiming for her chest, it hits her face, and she screams in pain.

"You little...," she starts to rush over towards me, one hand over the side of her face I hit. Instinctively, I grab the butter knife I used to cut my sandwich in half. I use my other hand to try to throw another fireball, but she dodges it. "You got one blow. You'll never get another."

She continues to charge me, continuously dodging my attacks. My attacks get increasingly sloppier, especially as I get tired, considering I've never used the powers before. While moments earlier I felt strong, I feel drained now.

When I try to hit her with the butter knife, she knocks in across the room. She grabs a hold of me and throws me into the nearest wall. I hit my head, becoming light headed, and slump to the floor.

"It was a valiant effort; I'll give you that," I attempt to get up, but I'm overcome with a wave of dizziness and immediately fall back down. Suddenly, I see her pull a sharp knife out of her belt. She smirks as my vision starts to spot. "It's been fun."

Behind her, my dad charges at her with a broken off chair leg in his hands. She shows no sign of seeing him coming until he's in her reach. In one movement, she drives the knife through his chest. He screams in pain and drops to the floor.

"I thought that would be more satisfying if I used the knife that killed Maya, but that was still fun," I hear her say. My vision starts to blur more and more, and I can feel myself losing my hearing.

"Dad..." I weakly mumble. I can see him break into a small smile.

"I love you, Kai. You made the past 14 years worth living."

---

"Life's not the same without you dad," I sigh, sitting on the grass in front of my dad's grave. He was buried a week ago, and none of it seems real.

"It hurts. I hurt. Everything hurts. You're the only one I had left. Now, what do I have? I have the shop, but I'm nowhere near the blacksmith you were. There's nothing for me anymore.

I miss you already. I miss how much you cared. I miss how proud you were when I made my first sword or when we were training on the grass. I miss how you still loved Mom so much, and it was clear to everyone. I have no memories with her, but you shared what an amazing person she was, and I feel like I knew her well. I want someone to share memories about you with," I start getting teary. I try to wipe away the tears, but they keep falling. Eventually, I'm full on sobbing.

"I can't handle it dad! I'm lost! I miss you. I'm filled with grief that just keeps coming. I watched you die, and I couldn't do anything about it. I've been replaying that moment in my mind over and over again, and it haunts me. I hate it. I hate her," I break, letting the overwhelming anger overtake me. "Why didn't you just let her kill me! It was supposed to be me, not you! You fought too hard to lose to her! I hate her so much! I hate her so much," my voice cracks at the last sentence. I pull my knees up to my chest and cry.

"May I join you?" I look up to see an old man with a long, white beard and a bouquet of flowers.

"Get lost old man! Can't you see I'm grieving!" I release my anger onto him, tears streaking down my face. When I realize what I did, my face softens. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. It's hard for a son to lose his father," the man takes a seat next to me, placing the flowers over my father's grave.

"Did you know him?" I ask, trying to wipe the tears away.

"Yes, he was like a brother to me," he answers solemnly. "You look a lot like him."

"That's what everyone said. They also said I acted a lot like him," I respond with a small smile on my face.

"Your father told me to give this to you if he died prematurely. We were planning on talking to you in a few months, but I think this will explain everything," he hands over an envelope. Scribbled across the front, in my dad's handwriting, is Kai.

Shakily, I hold the envelope in my hand. I open it delicately, pulling out a piece of paper. His messy handwriting is written all over it.

Dear Kai,

If you are reading this, it means I'm no longer with you and that Wu has found you. Don't worry, he is a friend of mine, if not my best friend. He wants to help you.

You're very special, Kai. We share the same elemental power, a trait very few people can say they have. There's something special about the elemental power of fire though, unlike most of the elements. It's one of the four elements of creation. When combined, they are powerful and can do great things.

I never got to fight alongside all of the masters of the elements of creation, but lucky for you, you have the chance. Wu talked to me, and when you all are of age, he wants to form a team of the four of you: fire, ice, lightning, and earth. Together, you guys will be able to accomplish anything. I hope you take the opportunity. I've always wanted you to, but this is your choice.

I love you, Kai. You helped keep me sane even since your mother died and your sister disappeared. You pushed me a be the best dad I could be. You were my favorite thing in this entire world. I'm so proud of you, and I'm already proud of all of the things you'll do. Please consider joining Wu's team. They can be your family now that I'm gone.

I love you so much,

Dad

I wipe my tears and look up at the old man sitting next to me with a warm smile on his face. He's staring at my father's grave, most likely replaying fond memories he has with him.

"I'm in. I want to join your team."

A/N Sorry this took a bit longer than usual. I'll try to post the next chapter quicker, but hey, this chapter is longer than usual.

Ciara is back at it again, but who does that shock.

So I posted this in my random thoughts book, but I'm going to post it here also. I ranked the Ninjago characters and put them in tiers depending on how much I like them/ think they're a good character.

It goes from my favorites, to my strong likes, to the likes, to the neutrals, to the ones I find annoying, to the ones I loathe. If anyone wants to do it, I have the link in my random thoughts book. Tag me in the chapter since I want to see rankings.

Thoughts on this chapter?

One of my favorite chapters in the series is in 4 chapters I'm so hyped to write it.

Someone is going to be introduced next chapter. Any guesses? 

Thank you guys for reading! Make sure to comment and vote