I let out a squeal before I could help myself, my hands jumping to cover my mouth as the Crystal Blade fell to the ground beside me with a thump.

Morro grinned awkwardly and made several futile attempts to smooth out his messy hair, his green eyes staring right into mine. Suddenly unable to control myself, I leaped forward and threw my arms around his neck, my heart pounding in my chest. He laughed, wrapping his arms around my torso, and I buried my face in his shoulders, and though the various twigs stuck in his hair prodded at my skull, I ignored them.

"Wait," Lloyd said, his tone slightly sour and reminding me that Morro and I weren't alone, "How do we know you're not the Shadow Knight in disguise? And how'd you escape?"

Feeling my face warm when I realized how weird that must've looked and how silly it was for me to have not considered that possibility, I quickly let go, backed away from him, and stared at the ground, uncomfortably aware of the stares on my back.

"Well, last year at the graduation ceremony, Zane was so kind to point out to me that Jay had played an E flat instead of an F," he said, "Good enough?"

"Oh yes, that did happen," Zane agreed, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wow, Zane," Jay muttered.

"Aww, don't worry, you were still good, I loved your performance," Nya assured him, and Jay grinned.

"How'd you escape?" Lloyd repeated, still skeptical, "And do you still have your powers?"

"Sadly, nope," Morro sighed, wringing his hands together, "As for how I escaped... it was this one Shadow Rider... he offered me freedom in exchange for my powers."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same person we ran into," Nya said bitterly.

"Wait, but doesn't the Shadow Knight want your blood?" I asked, "And also the one who freed us, he told me he was keeping you. Who even is this person, and how is he allowed to hold so much power? Wouldn't the Shadow Knight see him as a threat?"

"I honestly don't know," he said with a sigh, "I was released only a few days after you guys were, and as great as it would've been to have gotten insider information of some sort, I... don't know."

"What about Ruby?" Nya asked again, "Also, wait, let's go and sit down, you must be exhausted."

We all made our way back to the clearing around the fire.

"Oh, thanks," Morro said, taking a spot beside Zane, and Lloyd quickly took the spot next to him, "Um, so from what I've gathered from snippets of conversation, they're keeping her as bait at headquarters."

"Ruby as in the princess?" Skylor asked, her eyebrows jumping into her hair.

Morro only now noticed the girl, his eyes widening in shock as his head jerked around to face her.

"Yeah..." he said, his expression hard to read, "Are you... joining the team?"

"Yup," Skylor replied, beaming, "I hope you don't mind."

"Oh, of course not. You know, I'm impressed at how well you're handling this, I..."

Immediately the atmosphere tensed, though neither Morro nor Skylor seemed to notice.

"What do you mean?" she asked, and suddenly we were all avoiding one another's gazes.

"Um, you know."

Skylor leaned forward in anticipation, slightly frowning.

"What happened to Kai and Cole."

"I thought you guys got separated?"

"Oh, yeah, that's what I meant."

Her expression turned cold as her eyes narrowed further. "No, that's not. What happened?"

My blood ran cold, and I wished I could disappear or at least turn invisible. As much as I didn't want her to find out this way, I knew I wouldn't be able to bring myself to tell her anyway. And neither, it seemed, did the others, as we were all dead silent while Morro and Skylor stared at each other.

"They're... gone."

I couldn't physically look at her face.

"Gone?" Skylor's voice came out with a slight quiver, "You're... joking, right?"

There was nothing on top of me, but I felt as if a hydraulic press was crushing my shoulders and couldn't move. Head still lowered, my eyes flickered over her face, currently sporting a grimace-like smile, through my hair so that she wouldn't notice.

"It's... not very funny."

Skylor looked around the circle as if expecting someone to laugh and say they were toying with her, only to find avoidant gazes.

What felt like an eternity of silence passed.

A raspy whisper. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

I lowered my gaze again before Skylor could notice my staring. It was like the crickets had stopped chirping and the wind had gone still, and suddenly I was afraid to even breathe in fear that it would be too loud and draw attention to myself.

"We..." she whispered, seemingly mostly to herself, "We were... we were going to run away together..."

Nobody questioned that statement.

I dared myself to glance at her once more, and now she was fixated on the fire still flickering in the center of the circle, her lips slightly parted. Strands of flyaway hair fell over her face that she didn't bother moving out of the way. Then she sank to her knees with a soft thunk, her scarlet locks temporarily airborne for a fraction of time before falling back into place.

Other than that it was silent, and the only movement was that of the dancing flames, casting the bottom of her shadowed face in a pale orange glow. She dug her fingers into the soil, unblinking and so still that if I didn't know better I'd wonder if she was a statue. Skylor then pulled her hands back out of the ground and reached towards the fire, almost as if she was stroking the flames.

Then without another word or acknowledging any of us, she slowly stood back up and walked, or more like glided numbly back into the shelter.

We heard nothing except the sound of leaves being crushed under her weight, and it wasn't until at least thirty or so minutes later that everyone nonverbally agreed that it was time to get some sleep.

Naturally none of us wanted to go inside and join her, so the others ended up lying down beside the fire. It was my turn to keep guard, and Morro volunteered to stay awake as well and keep me company. They fell asleep quickly, but from the constant twitching present on their faces, I deduced that it definitely wasn't a peaceful one and found myself thankful for the fact that I had something to do.

As soon as I was alone with him again, all thoughts of Skylor completely vanished from my mind, and once again, I found it hard to look Morro in the eye without my entire face heating up. He didn't really say anything and spent a while going between looking around and stargazing, though he would shoot me a glance every now and then. Not knowing what else to do, I stuck my hands between my legs and began making popping sounds with my lips, hoping that he wouldn't think I was being a weirdo.

He was grinning at me.

I quickly stopped and turned away.

Suspecting that he was still watching me, I turned back around and sure enough, looked straight into that still-smiling face.

My cheeks began to burn and I stared into my lap, feeling his eyes still on me.

Morro coughed, and when I raised my head again, his expression had gone back to normal. Seeing that he now had my attention, he leaned closer, allowing the fire to illuminate more of his face. He looked ethereal.

"I... guess I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."

It took me a hot second to remember what he was referring to. Then I wanted to smack myself in the head.

"No, don't apologize... I should've," I mumbled, looking into his dark green eyes, "It's... been about a week since she was here and I just... couldn't get it out."

Morro sighed. "Yeah... but there were better ways for her to find out."

"I mean, if you didn't I wouldn't have said anything, if I'm being totally honest, so I guess it was for the best. Waiting longer would not have been... good," I admitted, my eyes flicking to and from his face.

He nodded slowly, then leaned down to pick up a small branch and tossed it into the fire. "So, care to fill me in on your plans? I wish I'd found you guys earlier."

"It's... it's fine," I said, consciously tugging at my hair and biting my lower lip, "We have a pretty bad plan and at the moment we just figured we'd be going to the North Tower first to destroy the power source then... I guess we'll go back for Ruby. But um... I'm glad you're back."

With a small smile, Morro placed his hand on top of mine and gave it a small squeeze, sending shivers through my entire arm. His touch felt warm and I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until now, or how much I longed for more until he let go.

"Me too Harumi."

I wished he would call me "Rumi" for once.

...

Skylor didn't speak at all the next morning as we began preparing breakfast. Nya kept looking like she wanted to say something to her brother's girlfriend, but every time she opened her mouth, she ended up closing it again within a matter of seconds.

Based on the dark circles under everyone's eyes, nobody had slept well that night. Zane handed us each a sausage on a stick to grill over the fire, all exchanges done wordlessly. Though Morro and I had talked a bit while everyone else had been sleeping, to my disappointment, there wasn't much conversation to be had other than summarizing everything that had happened since we separated, so we ended up staying silent for the majority of the night. As selfish as my desires were, especially in a time like this, I wanted nothing more than to curl up beside him and fall asleep with his arms around me.

With nothing else to do than wait for the food to be edible, everybody stared at the sausages sizzling on the sticks as the sauce dripped down into the flames below and the aroma of cooking meat filled the air. The look and smell of it should've been mouth-watering, especially since we had saved up the sausages specifically for today, but my five senses just felt numb despite the appeal, and it seemed the same could be said for the others. Nobody's expression changed when Zane gave a nod implying they were ready to eat, and nobody said anything about the breakfast being anything more than adequate when we were finished. They were delicious, of course, but there was no sense of satisfaction that came with eating them.

Then Morro cleared his throat, making the first human sound I'd heard for hours other than several yawns here and there.

"So... I guess we should bury the money somewhere and then leave? Luckily we don't have much stuff."

"Yeah," I said when the question went unanswered for five whole seconds.

He gave me a grateful smile and his eyes met mine, then I quickly looked away from him when I felt my face burn. Again. I wished it wouldn't do that.

Everyone soon began wordlessly destroying any evidence of having been there by scattering the firewood and disassembling the shelter. I couldn't help but be saddened that the morale was so low, especially since today was supposed to be the day we'd all been waiting for for weeks. Were we even ready for what was coming up? Only yesterday we'd been getting so excited then Morro had to show up at precisely the wrong time and accidentally dropped the bomb that we should've brought up long ago. Of course, I didn't blame him since it wasn't like he'd chosen to ruin everyone's spirits the day before we were going to the North Tower. Morro was probably regretting it already, and I could see his guilt from the way he acted the night before.

"Wait, maybe we should do it tomo―" I suggested just as Jay and Nya threw the last log of the shelter onto the ground.

"No," Skylor said flatly, staring into empty space with her eyes slightly narrowed.

Her voice had gotten considerably colder than before.

"I agree," Nya said, "I'm not letting the Shadow Knight play around any longer than necessary if I can help it. He's done enough."

"Okay then, that's settled. Let's go."

...

We buried the bag of money under a tree that Jay said he used to play trumpet under. Nya said he was quite talented and suggested that he perform for us once this was all over. The Lightning Ninja promised he would.

As Zane had predicted, getting past the Shadow Riders guarding the outside walls was pretty straightforward and we didn't have much trouble sneaking inside. I didn't remember how many times I'd rolled my eyes at the lack of any proper security. Either the Shadow Knight was losing control of them the way I had began losing control of the Sons of Garmadon or he was just that stupid.

I couldn't help but notice that on the whole way to the tower, Morro was deliberately avoiding getting near Skylor, as if she'd suddenly lash out on him if he got too close. Personally, I found it quite strange that he seemed so afraid of her despite the fact that he was fine with dealing with Nya and he shouldn't have felt guilty anyway, because he wasn't the one who had been holding the secrets from her. And based on my own experiences, Nya was objectively scarier than Skylor any day.

Maybe he was worried that she was bottling up her anger and would explode at any moment. That made sense, because she truly had become a completely different person from the girl I had known only a few days ago. While everyone else chatted amiably amongst each other, she walked a little off to the side with her head bowed, the scarlet hair hidden under a burnt orange hood and her eyes mostly on the ground.

I wanted to say something to Morro, but I couldn't figure out what.

"Hey Harumi?"

Feeling my heart skip a beat, I looked up, surprised that he was the one to talk first. "Yeah?"

"What do you plan on doing? After this whole mess is over. I know we've talked about what we're gonna do after destroying the source, but what about, you know?" He tilted his head slightly to the side, a playful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"I... haven't really thought about it," I admitted, unconsciously picking at my nails while trying to ignore the buzzing sword in my lap, "Um, what about you?"

Morro sighed. "I guess go back to doing random stuff and maybe getting a job. Kinda embarrassing to admit, but I'm currently unemployed," he added, then flashed me a smirk that made me melt.

"Are we... gonna go to the Departed Realm at all?"

"Good question that I don't know the answer," he replied matter-of-factly, running a hand through his hair, "Maybe if we can somehow get Eve to show up at some point we'd be able to pester her into giving us answers? I'm still not completely sure how this place works."

"Me neither," I said, "But... I mean, our situation isn't totally terrible, at least? And... this place is nice." Or for me it was. If it wasn't for me somehow magically coming to this place instead of the Departed Realm, I didn't think I would've ever met him.

"Agreed," Morro said, beaming, the corners of his eyes crinkling slightly.

My heart fluttered in my chest and I felt jittery all of a sudden. Since when had I started acting so dumb and silly and lovesick like all those teenage girls in rom coms? I always hated how stereotypical and basic they were and prided myself in that I didn't let my feelings for some person dictate my thoughts and decisions.

And besides, we'd only known each other for―

"We have arrived," Zane announced, pulling my attention towards him. Jay and Nya stopped their small talk as well and followed his gaze. Atop a hill in the center of the gardens beyond the palace stood a stone tower at least twenty feet in diameter and taller than a five story building with moss and ivy climbing its walls.

"Huh, there's so little people here," Morro remarked, reaching a hand up to stroke his chin, "Normally there's a lot more."

"What do you mean normally?" Lloyd asked, looking through the trees for any signs of people or Shadow Riders.

"I used to come here to see what was going on in Ninjago. There would normally be a lot of people just roaming around," he said, and I remembered him mentioning something about it.

"Intriguing," Zane said thoughtfully, "Shall we go in then?"

We all nodded in unison except Skylor, whose top half of the face was still obscured by shadow. The Crystal Blade responded by vibrating in my hand even more intensely than before as well as buzzing louder, and I almost told it to shut up when I remembered it was inanimate. Or, kind of inanimate.

"Wait," Morro said, holding out an arm to stop us just as we began to get up, "Just one more minute, I need to make sure. Shadow Riders could be hiding somewhere, and we can't risk being discovered."

"Okay," I said, and he gave me a quick smile, making me want to melt all over again, so I had to look away before he could see my scarlet face.

A few minutes passed as we waited for Morro to indicate that we could go. When he finally did, however, I noticed a black figure in my peripheral vision, but when I turned to look more clearly, it was gone. I waved it off as a trick of the light, yet Skylor seemed to have seen it too, because just as he prepared to emerge, she grabbed his arm.

And a wave of color shot through hers.

Morro turned around, his eyes widening, as the Master of Amber, seemingly in a daze, blinked, confused, then conjured up a flame in the palm of her hand.

My mouth fell open and I stared at him, only to see his expression turn from shock to a malicious grin.

"Whoops, guess I've been exposed."

With a swift wave of his arm, he sent everyone flying back with a gust of wind, making me drop the Crystal Blade. By the time I recovered, he had bolted off with it, leaving us with a swarm of Shadow Riders coming our way. 

A/N: HAHAHA who saw that coming?

omgomgomg we're in the final stretch now! Morro is back! Thoughts/predictions? 

Also, did anyone watch Barbenheimer? I really liked both of them and would love to discuss if anyone wants to! 

Thanks for reading/voting/commenting as always! You guys are the reason I keep this going, I love y'all so much and appreciate the support!