Aeria's POV

We were all sitting around the fire on the floating island of the Temple of the Airjitzu, letting our lanterns fly into the air when I felt a light breeze and heard a whisper,

Aeria...

"Huh?" I got up and walked to the edge of the island. Using my night vision, I looked in the direction of Ninjago to the museum, where I spotted one last green colored lantern by the entrance.

"Aeria?" Lloyd noticed me getting up and came to my side while the others didn't notice.

"I have to go uh..." I trailed off motioning to the museum. He nodded silently to show he understood and asked,

"How're you going to get down there?"

"I have my ways." I smiled before falling backward off the island and using the wind to make me fly above the ground and off towards the museum.

A few minutes later...

I had arrived at the museum and almost crashed into one of the support pillars, but managed to avoid impact, barely.

As I brushed myself off, I heard a laugh coming from inside the museum, so I ventured in through the broken-down door and made my way to the Hall of Villainy. All the statues of the villains had been destroyed when the others destroyed their foes' ghosts.

"Hey, Ari..." I heard from behind me. I turned around and saw my brother, Morro behind me, possessing his statue from before with the sword that had been in his hand on his back. For a few seconds, we just stood there, facing each other, not saying a word until the silence was broken with,

"You've grown up so much... I wish I could've been there for that."

"The ninja say it was because you were too busy trying to prove destiny wrong." I responded a bit coldly crossing my arms.

"Listen, I know you're mad at me for not finding you sooner but-" I interrupted him with a tackled hug, I held on tightly, afraid he'd slip away again and he hugged me back too.

"I missed you... everyday... and every day I was mad at myself for not being strong enough..." At this, Morro pulled me away and held my shoulders, looking me in the eye.

"Do not say that about yourself Ari, you are strong enough. I should've been a better brother and looked for you a bit longer before giving up."

I sniffled a bit before grabbing him into another right hug again that he returned.

"Ari... I've wanted to tell you that for so long... Ever since you were born..."

***

"Meet your little sister, Aeria." Young Morro was handed a little bundle wrapped in a purple blanket and, peeking out with wide black eyes and a strand of black hair streaked with a tiny bit of purple framing it, he saw his little sister's face.

"Hi there, I'm Morro."

And the little girl smiled and giggled while reaching for her brother's face.

***

"From the moment you could walk..."

***

"Come on, walk to your brother." Their mother gently urged Aeria as she stumbled around on her feet trying to maneuver her way to her brother.

"Come on, you can make it." Morro urged her as he reached his arms out to her. When she did manage to toddle over to him, she wrapped her short arms around his neck and fell asleep within seconds as if those few steps had completely drained her energy.

"She must really love her brother." Their father commented as he stood behind his wife and they held hands with smiles on their faces, "At least we won't have to worry too much about you two fighting when you get older."

"Not ever..." Morro whispered as he hugged his sister closer to him.

***

"Since before I promised I would always be there for you..."

***

"Wait up!" Young Aeria climbed up after her brother in a tree.

"Come on, slowpoke!" Morro teased her as he continued to climb up.

"I'm scared!" She cried out as she almost climbed onto a branch that had broken off and fallen out of the tree and she clung to the trunk.

"Almost there!" Morro climbed down to help his sister, "I got you." He assured her as they both climbed to the top of the tree.

"See! I told you the view up here would be amazing."

"Woa-oh!" Aeria, in her amazement of the view, had leaned forward too much and almost fell off the branch had it not been for her brother's quick reflexes in grabbing the back of her shirt. Soon after she was scrabbling to get back onto the branch and, as soon as she was brought back up, she instantly grabbed onto her brother and he hugged her close.

"Shhhhhh sh shh shh it's alright I got you..." Morro comforted his sister as she started bawling from almost falling down again, "I'll always protect you, no matter what."

"N-no m-matter what?" She stopped crying long enough to look up at her brother with large teary eyes.

"No matter what." He told her determinedly and he used his sleeve to wipe her eyes, making her smile up at him before she settled herself back onto the branch to continue watching the scenery below them.

***

"I knew you were going to be the best sister any brother could ask for, that you were going to do great things with your life, with or without me there..."

We stood in our hug for a few seconds longer before separating and I wiped my tears with my gi sleeve.

"OK that's enough crying for one night..." I laughed ruefully before getting back to the moment at hand, "Why are you still here? Wu told me you had gone back in here after you warned the others about Yang?"

"I was about to leave, when I remembered that I still had a debt to settle with you and with him." Morro nodded his head to the entrance of the museum, where I saw a blonde head quickly duck out of sight.

"I know you're there, Lloyd." I called out and he came out from the pillar by the door, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm sorry for eavesdropping, but I just had to make sure that Aeria was OK."

"I can't say that I blame you for being suspicious." Morro assured Lloyd as he walked over to the two.

"I would've appreciated a little heads up though so I could've flown with you here." I smiled at Lloyd before clasping his hand in mine and sitting him down next to me on one of the sitting areas in the museum.

"Are you two...?" My brother trailed off when he saw me and Lloyd's hands still holding.

"Uhhh..." Lloyd didn't know how to respond to that so I did,

"Yeah. It was him who took a chance on me when his team figured out that Pythor was trying to get to me for my powers."

"That snake!" Morro smacked his first down on the seating edge, making a few cracks splinter out from his fist, "And I let him get away unscathed."

"Hey, it's OK, I'm OK." I assured him as I put my hand over his fist and he loosened it to hold my hand.

"I was so worried about you when he told me you were alive..."

"We figured you must've gone to find Cole when you didn't show up for his warning." Lloyd explained to me and I nodded before explaining,

"I felt a shift when my lantern turned green in the Howling Woods and had a hunch it had to do with Cole fading away, so I went to Yang's temple, where you guys told me he was turned into a ghost in the first place."

"You still remembered the woods?" Morro smiled softly.

"Yeah, took me a while to open it again, but I kept it all this time..."

"Remember when we dug it out of the trash when that guy got so frustrated with it and he only needed to move one more slide?" We both laughed before I added,

"Technically I was the one to dive for it, but yeah." I pulled the box out of my jacket pocket and opened it to reveal all that was in it: the photo, the map, the pitch-black carved stone, and the small origami crane.

"Hey, what was the stone for?" Morro asked, pointing to it, "I don't remember putting that in there."

"According to Master Wu, it's a Chronostone, an enchanted obsidian carved with runes that are said to protect whoever holds it for one crucial moment in their lives." Lloyd explained before I added on.

"It transported me through time as a form of protection when I was about to be taken back to an orphanage I had been put in when I was taken from you."

"I guess losing you was just one thing that pushed me further into my rage..."

"The same rage that pulled you to want to take the Green Ninja name by force?" Lloyd asked carefully.

"Yes..." Morro looked away in shame before taking a deep, shuddering breath and asking us,

"Do you know why else I wanted to become the Green Ninja for?" Making us shake our heads at his question.

"When I heard about how the Green Ninja would be the one to save the Violet Ninja, I knew instantly that that was going to be you," Morro pointed to me, "and that maybe if I were the Green Ninja, it would mean that I could finally find you, but it didn't really work out huh...?"

"Fate had different plans for me, like to become Darkstorm's vessel."

"I'm sorry, who?"

"Ree's talking about me." Darkstorm's voice sounded from my mouth as my eyes darkened a bit to show her through.

"Woah!" Morro jumped back a little in shock before I returned to normal.

"I'm guessing that was her?"

"Yeah, she used to try to take me over, but we were able to come to an understanding; she only comes out partially during combat."

"And aside from being made of diluted Dark Matter, Storm's protective of Aeria and of the others, in her own way." Lloyd added in.

"I guess a lot's changed since I left the realm of the living..."

"I wish you could come back..."

"I know you do, but I made my choice a long time ago, it may have been the wrong one, but I'm glad you were given a chance to be better than I was." Morro placed a hand on my cheek and I leaned into it as I closed my tear-filled eyes.

From behind us, a faint light was seen growing on the horizon, signaling to us that dawn was approaching.

"The sun's gonna be coming up soon. I have to go." Morro pulled away and started to walk over to the pedestal where his statue went. Lloyd held my hand as they watched Morro get into position,

"I trust you'll watch over my sister, Lloyd?"

"To the end..." Lloyd gently squeezed my hand while smiling at me before my brother told me,

"When it's your time, I'll be waiting..." He raised his sword, gave us a wink and a smile, before the green glow around the statue faded, confirming that his spirit had left, hopefully in peace now.

"You OK?" Lloyd asked me as I sniffled and wiped a few stray tears away.

"Yeah, I'm just... glad I got to see him one last time..."

"Yeah... c'mon the others are probably wondering where we are by now." Lloyd and I walked out hand in hand as the new dawn started to rise on the horizon.

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