this is not a tale of perfection
nor one of grace and certainty

this is a messy tale of tears
one of heartbreak and lost souls

this tale is of people breaking
but in this tale, the people will rise

no matter, no battle, no time
these people are breaking
and mending all over again

SHADOWS creep along the ground as the light disappears from the earth. Fraying rays of light filter between the leaves of trees and the expanse of clouds spread wide across the horizons. The sun falls and the darkness rises like clockwork ( it has been this way since we remember ) ultimately the night wins taking over everything in its path of corruption. Light shines with the new dawn as it fights to win its world back again. ( For this is how light and dark have coexisted from the time we saw fit — until the day we cease the imbalance of powers. )  It could be seen every day, at the same exact time, since the day she had arrived into this world.

She could feel the chill escape from her bones like the breezes that carry winter onward. Light twisting around her fingers and gracing her scarred knuckles with warmth. We welcome her into our embraces of tipping scales that are dipping like the tones of the choirs on the hills of the island.

She is a part of us.
           She always has been.

The concept of light and dark is one that conquers her thoughts. The fact that yin and yang ( the balance of good and evil ) can reside in a world where the shadows creep faster than the light can catch them in its glory, plagues her with inquiries. She cannot understand how it exists, why the world is the way that it is. Her most crucial question — that no one in her life so far has answered — is someone truly good, or are they fully evil?

The idea that there is a black and that there is a white troubles her fragile soul. She then demands for the sun to answer her troubles; she cries for the moon to hear her, for far more often than she knows does she ask — why does the gray exist if the light and the dark is not meant to mix?

And oh my darling, we whisper, she wonders over and over and over again, how does the universe expect one to live as the balance?

Abandonment is something Loralyn knows far too well. Too young to be tossed away so quickly from the people she was meant to call family. Not quite young enough to forget the ones who dropped her from their loving embraces. Only a young girl when she was sent away from everyone and everything she had ever known.

It was inevitable that hatred and confusion would grow in her heart at such a young age. We watched as it festered beneath her skin, spreading throughout her as fluently as blood pounds through one's veins. Eventually, when she grew too restless in her trials, we would soothe the painful daggers trying so desperately to eliminate the shields around her heart. We cannot allow her to break. Not yet.

It can not be explained how she still walks in the light. ( It was not in our plans for her to grow, to live, this way. ) How does one explain to a child that she is worth every breath that she takes when the very people she trusted for these answers, these confirmations, were the ones who tossed her aside? How could fury and chaos not grow in her soul when all she came to know was pain?

Being tempted by the dark is something that Loralyn always struggled with. Because the dark knows just how to mix with the light to trick the mind. Oh yes, the shadows can dance so beautifully with the rainbows. After all, it's all a trick of the eye.

Never doubt, the girl knows the light with every breath that she takes. But the dark can so easily slip into the mere seconds between the breaths as it confounds and torments her soul. A constant battle rages within her; every moment since that time only a few years ago since we turned away for a second and he broke her to pieces. There are only fragile things that hold her together now, keeping her with peace and from shattering any further.

Oh and we dread the days that she stumbles and pitches away from us, and we dread the day  — that we know must be coming oh so soon  — that tears away every last bit of her to nothing. And we torment ourselves every moment we watch her, knowing that at any second, it could very well be her very last.

And not a single one in her world even knows.

Not of her weights.

Not of her doubts.

Not of her struggles.

Not the worst of the things we could not protect her from.

We can only pray that we've done enough.

there is often something tragic found in balance. people at peace are never peaceful by nature. they are war-torn and traumatized soldiers of battles no one is bold enough to speak of any longer. they feel the scars and memories lingering.

there is something people do not understand about people. how they change like the moon through its phases, always the moon whether they are falling or blooming.

there is often something tragic in a person who reminds you of a moon. for they are known for secrets and pasts riddled with painful memories. but the most tragic thing about a person known as the moon, always the moon, is that they are never any person's sun.

and all that moon wants the most, is to finally be the one person someone most desires.

— katie

LORALYNN GARMADON
" oh yes, off onto the flying ship from the floating island to go help strangers stop my father from committing mass murder "

MASTER OF YIN AND YANG
" i was not made to keep idiots alive. my title is protector of balance not protecter of stupid "
THE BALANCE

( portrayed by roseanne park, ie rosé )

COLE BLACKSMITH
" you actually have cake "

MASTER OF EARTH
" i thought that my family was weird until master wu told us about his brother, introduced us to his daughter, and then we met your brother and I kind of lost my mind "
THE PEACE

( portrayed by cha eun-woo )

author's note

it's really fun to realize that my revival back on this app is coming with the literal first fanfiction i ever wrote remastered.

lego ninjago literally was my childhood and it was a family that at times literally raised me. lynn and i have been through a lot together and i'm so excited to give her to the world in all of her complicated glory.

if you can't tell from the blurb, i go into a few deeper, complicated concepts in this fic. it all revolves around my oc and her very interesting family as well as their history.

if you know anything about lego ninjago, then you should know that in the beginning we meet Master Wu, his four ninja mentees (Cole, Zane, Kai, and Jay), and Kai's sister Nya. next would be Lloyd, Garmadon, and Misako as well as a multitude of later/side characters. then you'd start learning of the complicated family tree involving the First Spinjitsu Master being Wu and Garmadon's father, then Lloyd being Garmadon's son, and Misako being Lloyd's mom but she's also in love with Wu 🧍🏼‍♀️. welcome to the fic that makes that even more complicated with Garmadon and Misako having twins: Lloyd and Loralyn, Wu having a daughter, Iris, and them all being a chaotic mess 🙌🏻

WARNINGS: this book will hold a few heavy and darker themes. of course, there's canonical romance and violence in the book but i do write in a bit more detail than the source material. there will also be scenes/mentions of abuse, manipulation, injuries, toxic family/relationships, death, and potentially more.

I never want to begin a book without giving a proper warning of what the book will contain in order to keep everyone comfortable!!

and now, I have to be sure to show my great love and appreciation for Rosie (Winter326). when we first met years ago I highly doubt either of us expected we'd be collating on a lego Ninjago series, but here we are and I couldn't be more excited!! thank you for supporting this idea that I've put so far behind me and helping to bring it back!! thank you for the constant love, support, and interest and passion in all that I do and for always being there in the ways it's mattered most. I can only hope that I've reciprocated it all at least enough that you know how much you and our friendship matter to me!!

with that being said, I also want to thank everyone who is here reading and interacting and supporting me!! it means the world to us little author's behind screens, and knowing that so many of you truly are my friends means even more to me than you know.

so let's get this show on the road, shall we 🫶🏻

DEDICATIONS:
Winter326 hecatespells CoraEx oneirataxia_girl -Mr-President- Karavelina storiez0