[Our Secret]

"What the fuck?!"

"Cole?!"

"Seliel?!"

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I would like to ask you that!"

She groaned. "Are you alone?" She asked, annoyed.

"Actually..." Cole awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of his neck, opening the door completely to reveal lots of curious eyes, now shocked ones, staring back into hers.

Seliel's eyes widened. She ran towards the door and forced all of them to walk inside. "Hurry!" She screamed as Jay seemed to walk inside in such a slow tempo that she needed him to walk way faster. After everyone was inside, she closed the door again and locked it.

Once they all were inside, they were greeted by a rather big room, decorated very comfortably. There was a big, dark blue sofa in the middle of the room, as well as a small coffee table in front of it. There was also a big counter with four barstools in the farthest corner. Behind the counter was a narrow table, on top of that a microwave, a coffee machine, a water heater and some basic kitchen utensils. A mini fridge was also next to the table on the floor.

Cole turned towards the angry Seliel who seemed to aggressively type something into her laptop. "What is this place?"

"Something you weren't meant to see! No one was!" She snapped, closing her laptop shut. She then sighed, rubbing her temples. "How did you find me? And was the door just unlocked like that?"

"We heard some noises coming from in here." Lloyd started.

"And yeah, the door was just open." Cole ended.

"They both failed?" Seliel was shocked, clearly, and opened her laptop again, continuing the aggressive typing.

"What do you mean?" Zane asked.

"I mean," She began without looking up from her laptop. "both the soundproofing and door lock failed again!" She sighed aggressively.

"What's wrong with them?" Nya asked.

"I don't know," Seliel whined slightly, obviously exhausted. "I really don't know what's wrong in the programming."

Nya then went up to her, looking over her shoulder. "May I take a look?" She asked politely.

Seliel looked up at her. "Sure." She then handed Nya her laptop.

The Water Master took the open laptop and then went over to the wall, sliding down and going to work.

"So... what are you doing here?" Jay asked.

Seliel sighed. "You might wanna sit down for this one." The others nodded and went up to the couch, everyone sitting down except for Lloyd and Kai, they sat down crisscross on the floor right in front of the couch, leaning against it. "Before I start explaining, we will have to wait for Nya to-"

"Done!" Nya exclaimed happily.

"Really?" Seliel turned around to see Nya walking towards her, then handing her the laptop back. "How?"

Nya pointed at something on the screen of the laptop which the others couldn't see and explained plainly, "Look, your mistake was that you set a timer, probably accidentally, which keeps deactivating your soundproofing. I deactivated that timer so that this place is gonna be soundproof 24/7. And the automatic door lock was just a piece of cake to reactivate. And no, Cole," She eyed him. "Don't you dare say something about cake now."

Cole closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes at her, whereas she smiled back.

Seliel put the laptop down on the coffee table. "Anyone wanna have a snack?"

Lloyd and Jay simultaneously lifted their hands. "Me!" They exclaimed together. The others snickered at their little childishness.

The girl smiled and suddenly disappeared in a cloud of gray smoke in front of everyone. The gang widened their eyes and opened their mouths.

"What the-" Lloyd started.

"So," A voice called out from behind the counter. "I have, uhh... ah, caramel popcorn, potato chips, candy canes, and a piece of strawberry cake." She looked at the shocked faces and chuckled. "So?"

Cole awkwardly put his hand in the air, eyes and mouth still wide. "I'll have the cake, please."

Jay did the exact same thing, only squeaking as he talked. "The chips for me, please."

"Anyone want anything else?" She asked, already grabbing the wanted items.

"I want the candy canes, thanks." Lloyd said.

Seliel then also grabbed the candy canes and poofed in a cloud of smoke again, then reappearing in front of the gang. After she gave everyone their wanted snacks, she grabbed a barstool and slid it across the room and sat down in front of the couch, facing the others.

"So..." Jay started, putting a single chip into his mouth. "You just did that."

Seliel chuckled. "I think I should introduce myself better. I'm Seliel Phantom, Master of Smoke." She smiled.

"Wait, wait, wait! Smoke? Wasn't that-" Kai started, but got cut off by Seliel.

"Ash? Yeah, it's a... a quite interesting story." After she looked at the questioning faces, she continued to explain. "You see, I'm his niece."

"How did you get his powers, though?" Cole asked before taking a bite of his cake.

Seliel took a deep breath. "Around five months ago, Uncle Ash got sick from all of a sudden and was rushed to the hospital. There the doctors said he was infected with a disease that... has no cure. He was told he only had a short lifespan left." She paused.

The room fell quiet. No one knew what to say. So they only waited for her to continue whenever she was ready. Then she began to talk again. "Uncle Ash and I weren't that close, but we still had a strong connection, so when he showed up at my parents' house and told us about the disease, I didn't know what to feel. Then he said that he wouldn't bear d-dying while still possessing an element. So he did something that I still can't really describe to me and when I woke up, I could disappear in a cloud of smoke and reappear somewhere else."

She took another deep breath. "After he gave me his powers, he gave me quick 'training sessions' for me to get used to his element and I did learn it quite quickly, actually. He told me to never tell anyone about my powers unless it's really necessary, and so I've kept it a secret that only me and my parents know about."

"If it's a secret, why did you just show us?" Zane asked softly.

Seliel looked at him. "Uncle Ash told me quite a lot about how he met y'all in the Tournament of Elements all those years back and the fact that he trusted you in beating Chen." She then turned towards Skylor. "Sorry, by the way."

"It's fine, really." Skylor reassured, smiling.

The new Master of Smoke smiled back. "Well, I know we've only met yesterday, but I feel like you guys are..." She stopped, not knowing how to say it.

"Your friends? You bet!" Nya chimed in, nudging her shoulder. Seliel smiled at her gratefully.

"I do not mean any harm and please don't get it the wrong way, but is the former Master of Smoke..." Pixal couldn't finish her sentence when she saw how Seliel's face turned really sad.

She nodded, looking down. Cole felt his own face turn downwards and handed Jay, who was sitting next to him on the couch, his cake and got up from the couch, walking up to her.

He pulled her into a side hug, not knowing how she'd react if it was a real hug. "It's okay." He whispered into her ear. When she suddenly got off of the barstool and wrapped her arms around his torso and dug her head into his chest, he realized she was silently crying. He immediately returned the hug and wrapped his arms tightly around her slender form, whispering comforting things into her ear.

In the meantime, Nya made her way onto the couch and sat down next to Jay on Cole's spot. Everyone in the room felt sympathy for their new member, however the fact that she chose to cry into Cole's chest was the thing that kept most of them smirking at him. When he lifted his head from hers and looked at them, he immediately regretted that decision and rolled his eyes. And the fact that Jay was eating chips as if that was popcorn was like the cherry on top. Skylor and Nya, who were sitting next to him, even took some chips and stared at Cole and Seliel while eating.

After a short while, Seliel pulled away and sniffed, rubbing her face with her sleeves. "Sorry 'bout that."

"N-No, it's fine, really. I hope it helped a bit at least." He avoided eye contact, feeling as though he was blushing a bit while scratching his neck awkwardly.

She smiled at him. "It did, thank you."

Cole then looked at her, also smiling. "You're welcome."

Then, everyone was quiet. It was very awkward, to say the least.

"Oh," Seliel remembered. "is it okay if y'all keep my powers to yourselves? I know that you got a bracelet or something with vengestone and I-"

"Of course we won't tell anyone, don't worry." Skylor chimed in. The others nodded, to which Seliel smiled.

"So," Lloyd began. "what is up with this place?" He gestured towards the room they were in. "Does anyone know about this?"

Seliel looked around, almost proud. "Nope, no one does. Except for you now. This room hadn't been used in ages, so when I found it about a year ago, I made it my little 'base' kind of thing."

"Ooh!" Jay yelled in excitement with a full mouth. He rapidly chewed and swallowed. "Can this be like our new special, super secret, awesome base?" He asked, giving her some puppy eyes. Then the others also looked at her with hope in their eyes, waiting for an answer.

Seliel looked at all of them, then laughed. "Sure, what else would we do, now that you know about this place?" Then she looked around in the room, a little frown appearing on her face. "But I think we should do something to make this place better. It's not really decorated for nine people."

"Pfft!" Jay waved his hand in front of him, gaining everyone's attention. "We could totally bring in some beanbags and chairs and stuff and maybe a bigger table where we all can sit at and maybe a TV with some video games, and ooh! Maybe a little trampoline for the corner, and-"

"Thanks Jay, I'm sure we can do something about all that except for the trampoline." Nya said as she playfully rolled her eyes.

"That's actually a really good idea, Jay." Lloyd admitted.

"I know." Jay smirked at his friend.

Seliel hummed. Then she went over to her bag next to the coffee machine on the counter and rummaged around until she pulled out a silver key. She went back to the others. "So... I would usually come here during breaks and whenever I have free classes, so I would just teleport through the door. The automatic door lock would always be active. But now that you guys are gonna be here as well, I guess you need something to get in. However, I only have one key." She showed it to them.

"May I?" Zane asked, holding his hand out to take the key. He then inspected it a little. "If it's okay with you, I would like to take this home to copy eight more of it for all of us."

"Of course." Seliel smiled.

"Guys," Everyone turned their gazes towards Nya. "if we're gonna make this a whole thing and hang out in here together, I'd say we install some security cameras in case someone sees us coming in or out of the room or tries to approach us."

Kai smiled at his sister. "That's a good idea, sis!"

"Oh my gosh, guys!" Everyone then looked at Jay who seemed to have another idea. "How about we make this place so cozy that we bring one of those little stovetops? That way, Zane can make us something to eat for lunch instead of that disgusting junk the cafeteria gives us!" He beamed, his eyes glistening.

"Yes!" Kai screamed, turning towards Zane.

Zane smiled at the fact that his cooking skills were so appreciated. "I don't see why not." Then he turned towards Seliel. "May I ask you what you've been making for yourself before we came? I saw a microwave and a water heater over there." He pointed behind the counter.

"Yeah, I usually either bring some leftovers from home and heat them up in the microwave or make instant noodles." She answered.

"We need cake!" Cole stepped forward. "We need lots of cake! I'm open for any flavor as long as it's delicious. And knowing cake, we can take any flavor." He said as if he was an expert, which he probably was by the way he knew his cakes.

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "You need help, dude."

"We all need help, Lloyd." Cole answered casually.

"Uhh, guys?" Nya spoke up. "Hate to break it to you, but the lunch break ends in less than five minutes." She put her phone back into her back pocket.

The boys groaned, whereas the girls rolled their eyes because of their behavior.

"What do y'all have?" Seliel asked.

They all took out their schedules. Jay smiled. "Nya and I have Dance class." He said in a sing-song voice while getting up from the couch. He walked over to his Yang and pulled her into a side hug, earning a glare from Kai which he returned with a smirk.

"Zane and I are going to the Book Club." Pixal said, smiling at Zane.

"Me too." Lloyd stated, earning surprised looks from everyone. "What?" He squeaked, shrugging. "I like reading."

"I'm gonna go to the Cooking class." Skylor leaned back.

"You too?" Cole asked her. After she nodded, he smiled. "At least I won't be alone there."

"But Cole," Seliel turned towards him. "aren't you gonna go to the tryouts with Kai?" She frowned.

Cole chuckled. "Yeah, but those were put over my Cooking class only for today. I'll participate in it from next week on."

Seliel smiled slightly. "That's cool 'cause I took that class, too."

The Earth Ninja's eyes glistened in happiness. "That's ama- I mean cool... that's cool." He gave himself a mental high five for handling that situation well... in his opinion.

She laughed at that. "Alright, I think we really should get going now."