Hearing loud pounding noises, Harumi woke up in a cold sweat. She looked around the room and saw that she was at the Monastery. She was confused as she remembered falling asleep at the Royal Palace but she was quickly pulled away from those thoughts when the loud pounding noises continued.

She got up from her bed and walked towards the door. She opened it and walked through the hallways of the Monastery, still feeling confused about how she had gotten there. Another loud pound made her have her guard up, in case anything happened.

She walked out to the courtyard and looked at the large Monastery doors. A bright orange light shined through the gap between the doors every time whoever was outside banged on it. Harumi cautiously walked towards it, asking.

"Um... Who is it?"

No one answered. With shaky hands, she reached for the door handles only to be met with a strong gust of wind once the doors opened on their own. She opened her eyes and saw a serpentine slithering towards her, making her yelp in surprise.

"W-Who are you?! What do you want?"

The serpentine had flames on either side of her head, showing that she had some sort of fire power like Kai's element. The serpentine pulled out a naginata from her back. A scroll was attached to it.

The serpentine spun the naginata in their left hand while shouted out, "Revenge!" And that's when the serpentine pointed its staff at Harumi. Her eyes widened as the staff created a ball of fire that was fired at her.

Everything went white and a new scene appeared in front of her as if she was a spectator. She saw fire serpentines marching and a giant snake made of fire was behind them. It hissed at her as she watched it.

The next thing that flashed in her eyes was a castle. An ice castle. Inside the castle, a man sat on the throne. He was wearing samurai armor. Most of his body was covered, including his face, but his eyes were visible. They glowed a familiar blue glow.

Beside him, there was a woman. She was standing up beside the throne. She wore a silver, metallic headpiece and an icy blue slash across her face which held a scowl. Her pure icy white hair was tied up in a high ponytail. She was wearing armor on some parts of her body, but she was mostly wearing a detailed ice white clothing with an icy cape behind her back.

Her sight went back to the fire snakes but they were holding banners with a fire symbol. She noticed the place as Ninjago City and the civilians were running away in fear for their lives. The fire serpentines were marching in perfect sync.

Lastly, she saw a dragon that looked like it was made of ice flew in the sky. Then it started towards a village. It attacked and froze everyone that lived there. Everyone was encased in ice. After that, she saw the ninja encased in ice, which made her gasp. Their weapons were scattered around the place.

While the rest of the ninja's whole body was trapped in ice, Lloyd's head wasn't but he was unconscious. The freezing temperature from the ice was most likely the cause of that. But that was beside the point, she was worried for her boyfriend.

That was when his head jolted up, "Rumi! Wake up! We need you! Please... Hurry!"

And that was when she woke up from her sleep. It was morning and she was still in her room at the Royal Palace. She noticed that she wasn't on her bed, but on the floor. She looked around and saw luggage around her.

That was when she remembered that she was packing. She finally finished her Empress duties and was going to move back into the Monastery today. She must've fallen asleep while packing. Fortunately, she was mostly done and there were only a few items left that she needed to pack.

She had a few suitcases, around 5 to 8 since she was about to practically move houses. Of course, the Royal Palace still belonged to her and was still going to be taken care of since the guards and servants still lived there, but it won't be her main home. The Monastery was her main home.

She groggily got up from her spot and arched her back to stretch. After noticing how messy she looked, she decided to take a shower first and then continue packing. Once she was finished taking a shower, she checked the time, it was 8 a.m.

She still had time to pack before the Bounty arrived to pick her up, so she went back to packing. Since she'll be living with the Ninja again, she changed into her new ninja gi that was delivered to her a month back for her to use when she moved back in with them. She tied her hair up in her bun that was held up with chopsticks instead of using her golden headpiece.

Her makeup was casual, not as crazy as her kabuki makeup. Just a red-orange color for her lips and eyelashes, but her lashes weren't as crazy as her old ones, it was the standard/middle-sized ones. Her face had a very light blush and that was it for her face.

Unlike Nya, she still likes wearing some makeup instead of none. Though Lloyd insists that she looks naturally beautiful without makeup, she prefers to wear it.

Once her packing was done, Master Wu and PIXAL picked her up on the Destiny's Bounty. Harumi gave the new Master-at-Arms the position of being the temporary owner when she wasn't at the palace. At the times she visits, she's still the legal owner. He's just the manager of the place while she's gone.

She questioned PIXAL and Master Wu on why Lloyd didn't come. They said that he and the other ninja were preparing something. She was kind of disappointed that Lloyd didn't come, but after hearing Master Wu and PIXAL's explanation, she was fine with it.

When they arrived at the Monastery, Master Wu and PIXAL helped Harumi bring the luggage inside the building. They helped her unpack and showed her to her new room. She thanked them after they helped her get settled in.

Afterwards, she decided to look for the Ninja. She decided to check the relaxation room, but as soon as she opened the door, confetti exploded in her face. Turns out, the Ninja were preparing a 'Welcome Home Party' for her.

The whole relaxation room was decorated for her welcoming party. They did an incredible job with the decoration. She was mostly happy because now, she could be with Lloyd again. That whole day was mostly spent on the celebration.

Lloyd gave her a gift which was something she didn't but should've expected. The present box was wrapped in metallic jade green wrapping paper with a dark green bow. In size, it was a very long box, so guessing the content inside was difficult.

She opened it and her eyes widened at the gift. A katana and a bo staff, but not just any regular weapons, they were made out of jade. Lloyd explained that he asked Kai and Nya to help him make them. It made sense since the Smith siblings' parents were blacksmiths, only made sense they Nya and Kai would also be good at making weapons using their fire and water.

She thanked Lloyd by giving him a kiss. Somehow, while they were kissing, Lloyd managed to tuck a green rose in behind her ear. She didn't even notice it but Lloyd complimented her by saying that she was a rose in every way possible. He said, and she quoted.

"You're effortlessly beautiful, but dangerous if not handled correctly. That's just one of the things I love about you."

She was flattered by his words. Again, she thanked him and complimented him back.

"Thank you. You know, Lloyd... You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You're my light in a sea of never-ending darkness."

His face visibly flushed as his cheeks started turning red. He was clearly flattered by her.

On that day, according to Harumi's observation, the Ninja looked 'out of shape' because of how they lost most of their muscle and how they didn't do any training that day. Yes, she spent most of that day with her friends and boyfriend, but she took her spare time to train in the courtyard.

She asked Master Wu to help her get back in tip-top shape. She told him that she still trained but couldn't do as much as she could because of the royal duties. He understood and started helping her get back into shape again.

With each day that passes, she started to notice the Ninja's new daily routine. It's mostly wake up, play video games, eat and drink, relax in the hot tub, and go to bed, vice-versa. It was the same thing every day, and the thing that surprised Harumi even more was the fact that Lloyd had also gotten lazy. It was surprising because he was the leader of the group.

The last few months, they couldn't visit each other because Harumi's schedule was cramped, so they only kept in contact with each other through mail or by calling each other, video call if it was possible at the moment.

Finding out that Lloyd went soft, it was a weird thing to see. Anywho, Harumi would join in their daily activities sometimes. On occasions, she would join in playing videogames and/or join them in the hot tub, with permission from her sensei, Wu, of course.

Until she was back in tip-top shape, she only joined the Ninja, if she could even call them that anymore, for an hour or two before going back to training with Master Wu and PIXAL would join her sometimes. They liked to spar to test their skills against each other in a playful way.

Then, nighttime came. She's been living in the Monastery for a month or two now and she kept having the same ice, fire nightmare every night. It was different each time but it was the same people and serpents. And one night, it just got too freaky that it scared her enough to wake up in a cold sweat.

She knew that it was just a dream and it wasn't real but she couldn't help herself from wanting to have company. With a deep, shaky breath, she got up from bed. Grabbing her pillow, she opened the door. It was still dark, around midnight or so.

She walked across the hallway until she found the room she was looking for. She knocked on the door a couple of times. She heard movement inside the room before the door opened, revealing a drowsy Lloyd.

Once he saw the person that knocked on his door was Harumi, he instantly looked awake.

"Rumi? What's wrong? Did something happen? Someone broke in-?"

Harumi rolled her eyes in the middle of his ranting and smacked her lips onto his to make him stop fretting. She felt him kiss her back and after 10 seconds, she pulled away. Lloyd was quiet, which signaled her that he was all ears to hear her out.

Inhaling and exhaling, she plainly said, "I had a nightmare..." She bit her lip.

"A nightmare?" He raised a brow, leading her inside his room. She nodded at his question.

Lloyd sat on his bed, patting on the spot beside him. She positioned her pillow beside his and laid her head on it. He also laid down on the bed but then he turned to look at her. When she didn't look back at him, he frowned and used his hand to make her look.

After she didn't answer and just stared at him, he knew something was wrong.

"You seem to be having a lot of those lately. This is probably the fifth time you came to my room this month." He gave her a warm smile, "Care to tell me what it's about?" He asked.

She looked at him with a trusting look, "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Of course."

With a sigh, she looked up at the ceiling. "My nightmares... They're different but at the same time, they contain the same people. It's always the city on fire then it comes to a castle made of ice. At times, it just gets too scary for me that I have to come to you for comfort." She said that while snuggling into his chest more.

He blushed at her gesture but he reached his hand out to stroke her hair in an affectionate manner, which made her purr in content. He smiled before replying.

"Don't worry, Princess. I love you. And I'll protect you no matter what. That, I promise with my life."

She nodded before looking up at him with a teasing smile, "I appreciate your commitment but... How are you supposed to do that when you and your friends never train anymore?" She stroked his chest teasingly.

He laughed lightly and playfully nudged her shoulder, "Oh, shut up."

She laughed, "I kid, I kid... But seriously though, you guys barely train anymore. What's up with that?"

He shrugged, "We're just... recovering from our previous battles. We're resting."

"Okay," She buried her head in his chest, "If you say so, Lloyd."

He smiled and kissed her forehead, "Night, Rumi."

She giggled, "Night, Lloyd."

She sighed in content, inhaling his natural scent that she dearly missed. He was committed to her, that was the one special thing she got from this conversation. She was happy to know and hear that from Lloyd himself.

She felt Lloyd wrapping his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. She smiled to herself before hearing him mutter, "Love you, Rumi..."

Harumi inhaled and exhaled before she replied, "Love you too." She murmured before deciding to add, "And I'll protect you no matter what as well. I can't imagine a life without you." She whispered.

Luckily for her, Lloyd heard as she heard him chuckle in amusement, "I'm happy to know that you're committed as much as I am."

She shook her head playfully and sighed.

"I promise to protect and love him for all my life. That, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, I promise with my life." She vowed in her head.

Then she fell asleep in his arms, and this time, unlike earlier, she didn't get the nightmare after falling asleep again. That, at least, made her have a peaceful sleep this time.