Jay's POV

"I know a fraction of your power is back, but you should still try to do this regularly. Your spine isn't used to the full impact of gravity on your body, so your spine has been compressing at an alarming rate," I explain to Gravis as he hangs from a bar that we put up. "Do several sets until you can't hold on anymore."

He gives me a nod, and I walk away towards Nya. She is glaring and quickly explaining something to the master of light who is standing under an umbrella. "How's everything going over here?" I ask with a smile once I get close enough.

"Paleman refuses to stand out in the sun even though I explained to him that increasing light absorption will speed up his recovery, but he refuses to sunbathe," she huffs, directing her words more towards him than towards me.

"I have sensitive skin. The last thing I need is to get a sunburn because you two arbitrarily decided to make me lie in the sun," he turns his head away from Nya with his nose in the air.

"Well, I've done research on vengestone, and I've found that the best way to speed up the power restoration process is to try to lessen the physical impacts that not having them does to your body. Without powers, your light intake has been significantly decreased, so by sunbathing, you'll lessen the strain of that absence while also stimulating the bodily processes that deal with light, both of which aid your recovery," I say, explaining the same concept that I've elaborated on with nearly all of the elemental masters that we've been trying to help.

Before we can attack Aria, we need the elemental army to be back at top condition. Utilizing the results from the research I've done on myself, Nya and I decided that we'd spend today trying to help them speed up the process of regaining their powers.

"I don't take orders from anyone other than..."

"Shade has said before that my orders are as concrete as his," Nya cuts him off. "Lather yourself in sunscreen for all I care, but I want to see you out there, soaking up the sun within 10 minutes or it's going to be a bad day for you," Nya juts her finger towards a reclining chair that we carried out for him before walking (nearly stomping) in the other direction.

I can't fight the small laugh that escapes me. "Just listen to her. Read a book or something while you do it," I give him a pat on the back before I make my way over to the seating area where Nya went. She's sitting at a table by herself, swirling a ribbon of water as she rants quietly to herself. I plop down beside her, and she consolidates the strand into an orb.

"Despite people talking back, we made it through everyone but Shade. That's pretty good," I try to cheer her up, but she just flops back in her chair.

"Why don't they listen to me, Jay? I feel like after everything that's happened, they should have more respect for me," she talks with her hands, moving them quickly as she talks.

"I have no idea. If I were them, I'd worship the ground that you walked on for breaking me out of that prison. Even without that, you have seniority over nearly all of them. Besides, you already know that I feel like you should be the master of the elemental army. The fact that they don't is...wow," I rest my cheek in my palm as I talk to her. Her eyes soften.

"I'm not trying to steal the army from Shade," the idea makes a small smile appear on her lips as if it amuses her.

"Oh I know. I'm just saying that I think you're more qualified than him. Tracking down the elemental masters of creation, discovering how electricity works without lightning powers, and saving the elemental army are quite the resume builders," I watch as the remaining anger fizzles off of her, her nose cutely scrunching up as she smiles.

"I did do that, didn't I?"

"All while looking phenomenal too, well I guess you always do so it's not like it has to be said, but I still wanted to..."

She presses a finger against my lips, "Thank you."

I stare into her glowing eyes, and it's as if the air around us becomes hypercharged. My skin hums in anticipation. Her finger that was on my lips drifts downwards, slightly tugging on my lower lip as it passes, before it traverses to my neck and down to my collar bone.

She pulls back, and within seconds, the moment is gone, the buzz in the air untraceable. She puts her head in her hands and lets out a muffled wail. I place a hand on her back and rub circles over the fabric of her shirt, trying to keep a frown from dominating my face.

After about a minute, I sigh and stand up. "I should probably make sure the others are up. Everyone had a late night last night."

As I turn to walk away, her hand wraps around my wrist, her unwavering grip locking me in place. "Don't go, I just..."

"Last night was a mistake. We shouldn't have..."

"Jay..."

"I just don't understand how you can be so torn," my chest is tight with disappointment and confusion as I look at her. "Does he really make you feel the same way that I make you feel?"

She sits in silence for a while, looking off in the direction of his tent. "Things are complicated. I have to think about it."

"You don't need to think about it," I snap, shaking my wrist out of her grip. "This whole time, you've been trying to reason through this situation and find a way to avoid your actual feelings on the matter cause you're afraid of breaking someone's heart."

"I don't want to see either of you hurt..."

"We both already are, Nya," I tug at my hair. "With each day that goes on, my heart breaks more and more, and it's torture knowing that the woman I want more than anything else isn't as sure about me as I am about her because if it was up to me, she'd be my fiance right now," I scrub my face when I'm done, and my skin turns hot. I've said too much.

When I peek out from in between my fingers, her wide, brown eyes meet mine. Her chest rises and falls slowly as she takes deep breaths in and out.

"Please forget I said anything," I fold my hands in front of me, forcing myself to not hide. "I'm gonna go this time."

I turn to walk away yet again, but this time, she doesn't stop me. She just sits there, unable to speak, as I go anywhere but here.

---

Seliel's POV

"You know, you're Ninjago's #1 greatest criminal right now," I lightly laugh as I brush my wet hair out in the mirror. Instead of hogging the whole bathroom, I've decided that doing as much as possible in mine and Cole's room is way better. Even though I wish that I had my vanity with me so that I could sit down while getting ready, standing in front of this full body mirror isn't bad either, especially when it gives me a view of my soulmate flopped across the bed since he's been ready for a while now. He went out on a morning run, got some training/sparring in, ate breakfast, and showered before I even woke up. Then, by the time that I was out of the shower, he was already ready to go.

He rolls over and sits up to look at me. "I know you're on bad terms with the king and prince, but I still wanted them to like me," he sighs. "Oh well, hopefully they won't hate me once this whole thing is over."

"Well I don't care what they think," the rage slowly prickles inside of me. "They were willing to sell me off, never believed anything that I said, and forced me to take so many classes that I hardly had free time. Leaving the castle with you allowed me a taste of freedom and respect. Plus, I can actually interact with some of the people living in Ninjago now. The elemental army treats me with so much care."

"I'm glad that you're happier here, Princess," he stands up, shifting his neck from side to side before walking over and snatching my brush out of my hand. "I'll take that."

"I need to finish brushing my hair," I state matter-of-factly as I look at his smile in the mirror.

"I'll finish brushing your hair. You always had maids taking care of you before..."

"You're not my maid though, you're..."

"I can still want to take care of you," he places a quick kiss on my cheek, and I fight to keep my giddiness managed, forcing a little giggle down my throat.

"I suppose," I let a small smile escape. "You're always taking care of me. What can I do for you?"

"I enjoy it. I like seeing you happy," he twirls a strand of my hair around his finger.

"You didn't answer my question," I cross my arms.

"Stay out of trouble," he states before adding, "I also enjoy getting surprised by sweets."

I can't help but laugh, a lightness crashing over me. "You're unbelievable. You know, I was quite surprised when I learnt that you are a softie."

"Oh?" he raises an eyebrow, clearly amused.

"I mean it's a contrast to your appearance, you know. Like on the outside you look like you could lift this whole ship and not even break a sweat, but you're actually quite the romantic. You really never dated before me?" his hand grazes my neck as he grabs the next section of hair. Shivers cover every inch of me.

"Nope, I was waiting for you. I guess my strategy was flawed since I was hiding up in the mountains and couldn't have found you if you didn't come to me first, but still. Kai's attraction to anyone else practically died once Skylor was born (even though he hadn't seen her yet), so I was betting on that. I didn't know that the same thing had happened to Jay before he broke up with Aria, but it did. Zane didn't mention any big change like that happening to him, so mine was probably closer to his than theirs. I was up in the mountains, so there was no one to be attracted to," his laugh fills the room with warmth.

"What about Lloyd? I ask.

"I don't know. They're around the same age, so there was never time for that to develop, and besides, they practically always knew that they were soulmates anyways," he shrugs.

"Did you ever feel anything for them – minus Princess Harumi of course – before you found out that they were your teammates' soulmates?" I ask, letting the little nagging voice in the back of my head creep in.

Cole furrows his eyebrows. "Why do you ask?"

"The three of them are easily the most gorgeous women I've ever seen. Their grace seems so natural and organic, too. I just..."

"Oh trust me, Skylor's whole thing is not natural. She had to train so hard to get her queenly act down. Rumi isn't extremely graceful either, but don't tell her I said that. I'd say that PIXAL is the most effortlessly regal since she's a rule follower, but still, there was work put into it," he shakes his head. "And no, I was never attracted to them. It was so far away from me that I don't think it even registered to me that I could be," he chuckles at this. "I always knew that I wanted to end up with my soulmate, and I knew that when I met her when she was older, I would feel it."

"And you did?"

"I was doomed the second I saw you in that hall when I was assigned to be your guard," he finishes brushing the last bit of my hair before placing a kiss on my cheek. He wraps his arms around me, pulling my back against his musculature. The ease that I feel while in his arms is unlike anything that I've ever felt before. No one could ever hurt me here.

"Tell me about it. I was dreading getting a guard, but after I saw you, I had to pretend like I was still upset with it for a while..."

"Oh of course."

"...but on the inside I was thrilled, especially when I saw that we had a conjoined room. Oh my gosh, the little scenarios I created were insane," I cringe a bit thinking back on them.

"Now you have to share what some of them were with me. It's the rules," he states before resting his head on top of mine.

"No! They're going with me to the grave. You were already given a treat by knowing they existed," I shake my head.

"Well in that case, I won't let you go," the pride leaks out of his voice from the idea.

"Jokes on you, I don't want to be let go." I tease in response.

"Then I will let you go," I can practically see the proud smirk on his face.

"Fine," I sigh, "So when I was lying in bed, I would imagine you walking into the room, shirtless and all. You would always start with 'Princess, I can't hold it back any longer. I'm in love with you.' You'd then go on this whole spiel about everything that you loved about me (I hate to say that I had this committed to memory for a bit and would constantly make tiny alterations to make it better) before you'd kiss me and then do...other things to me..."

"I can't believe you're embarrassed to say what after everything that's happened, especially after last night," the vibration of his laughter presses up against me and makes my cheeks heat up even more.

"It's different! These are fantasies that I came up with when I thought that I had no chance," words fly out of my mouth in an attempt to defend myself which only makes him laugh more.

"You know what?" he says, dipping his head down so that it's right beside my ear. "If we ever go back to the castle, I will recreate that scene just for you. How does that sound, Princess?"

A/N: Hi everyone! I feel like this update took WAY longer than it should have to produce whoops. I got into summer laziness mode and couldn't stop haha.

Thoughts on the chapter? The next one will be the start of a nice Kailor and Nade (Shya?) double date.

Alright, I'm about to go into a Dragon's Rising rant, so anyone who hasn't watched it (I've watched all but the last episode) turn back now! I don't want to spoil for you (and please don't spoil the finale for me)

--

--

--

--

Alright, so I actually think the idea of the merge is super cool, and we all know that I support the ninja being spread across the map and having to be found. What I do NOT support is making the show about two random kids instead of the ninja. I understand they're trying to phase in some new characters, but WHAT! Why did it take so long to see a single ninja in the present timeline? I don't care about these kids PLEASE I just watch for the ninja. 

Speaking of the ninja... WHY on earth have Cole and Jay not shown up yet! Like I understand wanting to space their arrivals out, but other than Nya's one brief comment (that I did appreciate since I thought the writers were going to COMPLETELY neglect their relationship), WHY is it still acceptable that they're missing. The ninja that I know went into sad mode any time one of their teammates was gone/lost, and now they seem low key unphased by the whole thing??? Like yeah they seemed a bit excited during their reunions, but not excited enough. It has the same energy as Kai's reaction to Nya's death being so low key in Skybound it's just EXTREMELY OOC in my opinion.

Speaking of the lack of effort, they were literally at THE CLOUD KINGDOM where they could find information on ANYTHING EVER such as WHERE THE OTHERS ARE! I was so mad when Nya was literally only looking for stuff on merge quakes like yes I know that is a problem but do you know who could help you with it? YOUR LOVER AND YOUR OTHER TWO MISSING TEAMMATES GOSH! Nothing made me more mad than them just totally pretending like the answers weren't in front of them. I know they had the whole "the cloud kingdom lost its power" storyline (I wasn't a fan of the cloud kingdom nerf but it wasn't the worst thing that happened), but STILL I bet they have the information on it, and yet they used their time with the "Lloyd picks his boogers thing".

Final point, but I also HATE Wyldfyre (I think that's how her name is spelt I don't even know). Her personality bugs me to no end (I know that's a me problem but still). Every time she talks I die a little inside (no shade on her va it's a her thing)

However, just to be clear, I do NOT hate the show. There are definitely some cool aspects, and I'm totally enjoying the world building. I LOVE the dragons (they're so cute!) and I want them all as pets haha. I just feel like the show made what should be the main dish (the ninja) and made it a side dish when the kids should have been the side dish. I definitely don't hate Sora and Aaron (I don't know how to spell their names so if it's wrong so be it), and I think they would have made great side characters, and even if they made them reach PIXAL status of involvement I wouldn't have been mad. My problem was just that the ninja got demoted in their own show (minus lloyd) and that doesn't sit right with me. I know that it's a spin off, but still.

Rant over. What are your thoughts on it (if you watched it)?

Thank you all so much! Don't forget to like, comment, and share with your friends!