Pacing around with his hands clasped together behind his back, the old man's thoughts consumed him entirely, even through the loud yelling coming from the people around him.

He didn't know what to do, what to feel. His five students, one of them being his own nephew, were currently locked away in Ninjago's most protected prison, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He wanted to feel sad about that. Heck, he even wanted to shed some tears for his imprisoned family members.

But he couldn't. Something inside of him wasn't allowing him to feel sad.

Because due to their commitment, they were able to bring back the one they had lost a year ago.

Wu could remember her departure like it was yesterday. The tears, the emptiness, the hopelessness. He could feel all of those feelings vividly, still.

And now, he didn't feel those ugly feelings anymore.

Yet he was still feeling empty, knowing his boys were miles away and behind bars.

He forced himself to snap back into reality. Then he sighed upon seeing his female student, who was about to jump at one of the prison guards and possibly skin him alive.

"Nya," Wu said, his voice showing nothing but exhaustion.

Said person turned around, livid. She looked at him, waiting for what he was about to tell her. And by the looks of it, she already knew what was coming.

"I know you're frustrated right now, but threatening a police guard won't help our case."

"Does it look like I care?" Nya exclaimed at him before turning back to the guard. "Look, I know this is Krypterium, and I know it has to be guarded and protected at all costs. Heck, I used to be one of the people turning felons into prisoners! But you need to understand where I'm coming from."

"Ma'am-"

"No! You will hear me out now! I was gone for an entire year, and the second I'm back, I'm not even allowed to see my family?! How come everyone else can visit their family in here but I can't?"

The guard rubbed a hand across his face. "I've already told you you can't visit them. I didn't make that rule, Miss Smith, I was only told to make sure you don't set a foot into this prison."

Nya's eyes bored into his soul as she was trying her best to hold herself back from strangling him.

"You think you're all that, don't you?" she asked the guard while squinting her eyes. "You like telling me off. You like seeing me get so worked up about the fact that I'm not allowed to see my family, don't you? Well, let me tell you, mister," she said, crossing her arms. "My brother, my significant other, and three of my best friends are in this facility. If you think I'm going to cower in fear and run away because of you or this stupid regulation made against me, then you're wrong."

"Look, ma'am, if you're interested in picking a fight with any of us, let it be with the mayor. He was the one setting up this rule and I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about that," the prison guard told the furious ex-Water Ninja patiently.

Upon noticing how Nya's hand was curled up into a fist and shaking out of pure rage, Wu stepped in-between of her and the man before looking at the tired-looking guard.

"I apologize for her behavior. It's just that she hasn't seen her friends in so long that she can't wait any longer," he informed him politely. He had to be cautious of his choice of words since he knew Nya's fuse was easy to blow up.

Without waiting for anyone to say anything else, Wu quickly pulled Nya away and led her away from the gates of Krypterium.

When they were far enough away, Nya pulled her arm out of his grasp and huffed, taking a quick glance back to the prison guard who was looking back at her expressionlessly.

"What the hell, Wu?" she asked, turning back to look at her master.

He, however, sighed as he kept looking forward. "Nya," he said. "I know you're angry-"

"Yes, and that is exactly why-"

Wu managed to shut Nya up with only one sharp look thrown into her direction. Cutting him off in the middle of his sentence was something he had always hated.

"I know you're angry right now," he repeated, "and rightfully so. And you are allowed to express your feelings, but please refrain from expressing your feelings to a police officer and guard who, at least at the moment, has more power than you. Than us. We need to be patient about this."

"But how?" Nya's voice came out strained. "I couldn't even give them a last hug. I could barely even talk to them, Wu. Once I came back, they immediately got arrested. The first real time I actually saw any of them was in that stupid court room. And even then, I had to sit in the back and watch them get taken away!"

As the two kept walking away from the place their family was kept in, Wu decided to conclude that the whole situation they were in was taking a huge toll on Nya already.

Losing her powers forever was one thing, but losing her family?

Even though they were said to be set free in five years, Nya could hardly imagine actually living her life without her boys in it for a big part of it.

"We'll need to be patient and wait it out. I'm sure something is going to happen anyway."

Nya stopped her long stream of thoughts to look at Wu in surprise.

Once he noticed that, Wu gave her a shrug. "Don't look at me like that, you know I'm right. The ninja are locked up, which villain wouldn't want to take advantage of that?"

Nya slowly nodded, taking in the information. "You know, you've never said anything like this before. It was always 'it's okay' or 'no villain is worth losing yourself for.' What happened to the old Wu?"

"He's been long gone," the old man mumbled under his breath, making sure his student wasn't able to hear a thing. Or at least understand a thing.

Nya, although knowing he said something quite important, decided to leave the topic to focus on something more important.

"So, when do we put the plan in motion?"

Wu turned back to look at her in confusion. "What plan?"

"You know, the one where we sneak inside the prison, find the guys, and make an awesome escape?"

Wu sighed. Of course she would suggest a breakout. This was Nya after all. Shaking his head in slight disappointment, he opened his mouth. "We will not break them out, Nya."

Said girl stopped in her tracks and looked at Wu like he had gone crazy. "Why the hell not, Wu?" she exclaimed angrily. When he only puffed out some air instead of answering her, she got even more frustrated and angry. "No, please enlighten me. I want to hear the reason why even you don't want me to see my family."

"Because they all knew exactly what they were doing and are now paying the price for it. They aren't being framed for committing a crime, Nya. They actively became criminals."

Nya tightly squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists. She knew that every word he said was the truth, but she just didn't want to accept that as an explanation.

Wu kept walking as he called out, "Now come on, let's go home. We've had a long day. Pixal is making some ravioli, and Misako is joining us for dinner."

Was that supposed to make her feel better? Because all it did was remind her that she wouldn't go back home to her loved ones.

— — — —

"Could you please pass me the salt, Nya?"

Lloyd's mother's sweet yet impatient voice brought Nya back to reality as she visibly snapped out of a bubble only she knew the contents of. She nodded at the older woman and grabbed the white salt shaker, sliding it to the other side of the table where Misako caught it and gave Nya a smile as a way of thanking her.

Nya smiled back at her, but while she did so, she couldn't help but notice how forced it felt.

The dining room was very quiet, not how she remembered it to have been a little over a year ago. It didn't feel as lively as it once did.

Everything still looked the same though. All the furniture was in the same places, all the kitchen utensils were still scattered everywhere, even the potted plants looked the same.

It was only the people who were missing that made the difference.

"I talked to Lloyd earlier," Misako announced, hoping to spark up a conversation in the quiet room.

"How is he?" Wu asked her.

She nodded as she quickly swallowed her ravioli to give him an answer. "He said he was as okay as the circumstances allowed him to be. Apparently Cole got saltier, Zane got more monotone, Jay is still mute but spoke a few words today to tell Cole to 'shut up,' and Kai caused a scene over an apple."

Although she wasn't participating in the conversation, Nya was still listening in on it. A small smile bloomed on her face upon hearing what the guys had been up to. Causing a scene over something as simple as an apple was pretty typical of Kai, she had to admit.

"They will get over it eventually," Master Wu chuckled. He then turned to Pixal. "Have you managed to build a connection to Zane yet?"

Nya's ears perked up. "Connection?"

Wu gave her a very faint smirk as he leaned back into his chair. Stroking his long, white beard, he held deep eye contact with his student.

"You didn't really think I would sit here and wait for five years to come and go, did you?"

"No way," Nya whispered. "You've been planning to break them out without telling me?" Her expression changed from shock to hurt as she crossed her arms and huffed. "I'm hurt, Wu. I thought you were better than that."

Wu slowly raised an eyebrow at her antics. Acting like that wasn't usually Nya's thing, so he assumed that she must've adapted to the lack of drama in the room from her Yin and subconsciously did what Jay would've done in that situation.

"Nobody's breaking anyone out of prison, Nya. I just want to be able to communicate with them whenever I want to," he explained shortly. He watched as her expression changed, her whole mood disintegrating. He hated the fact that immediately after returning to Ninjago, Nya had to experience loss (not in the form of death but almost equally as painful).

He wanted to help her but there was barely anything he could do, really.

"I've lost my appetite," Nya muttered, looking down at the half-full plate that was sitting in front of her and honestly looking very appetizing. She rested the silver fork in her hand down next to her plate and slowly pushed her chair back, her energy draining just as fast as her mood was.

Without sparing the others a glance, she stood up, turned away, and walked out of the room.

"The poor girl's probably blaming it all on herself," Misako sighed.

"She most definitely is," Pixal agreed. "She has been tense ever since she returned and she hasn't smiled once. This is not the Nya I remember."

Wu gave her a concerned look as he began to stroke his beard again, a habit of his he had picked up many years ago whenever he was deep in his thoughts. He was starting to worry about Nya's mental state. This entire situation was taking its toll on her, and he didn't like that one bit. He needed her to be on her best level of performence, knowing that any villain could attack at any moment. Sure, Ninjago had its new heroes now (who he was less than happy about), but Wu knew that it was only a matter of time until they would openly show a big flaw of theirs that wouldn't be redeemable to the public eye.

Only a matter of time.

"I have been unsuccessful," Pixal stated, bringing Wu back to the table he was sitting at. His questioning gaze caused her to explain what she meant. "I have not been able to build a connection with Zane, I mean. It seems like Krypterium has upped its cyber security program since it has become very tricky for me to get in."

"Have you at least gotten into that?" Wu asked, hopeful.

Pixal slowly nodded while quickly checking it. "Yes."

"What can you see?" Misako asked her.

"I can see about five guards. They are standing against a wall in a line." She furrowed her eyebrows. "I cannot seem to hear anything though, the audio must've gone lost."

"Very interesting," Wu hummed.

— — — —

Her bedroom was supposed to make her feel less out of place. It was the same bedroom she had stayed in for the past few years, so it was supposed to make her feel anything other than sadness.

Then why was she feeling sad?

The white duvet covered her cold body completely, leaving her to bask in the warmth she had longed for, yet she was still feeling some sort of coldness somewhere in her body. Her window was closed, but that didn't matter all that much because it was warm outside anyway.

She felt alone in the huge bed. Granted, there was no one else in the bed, thus why she felt lonely.

There was a body missing next to hers that was the cause of her emptiness inside.

Nya clutched the blanket tighter as she allowed herself to turn to the other side which made her eyes lock onto a family portrait that had been taken around two years ago.

She could remember that day quite vividly, still. The picture had been taken less than a month after capturing and imprisoning Aspheera, a fierce (and rather obnoxious) snake empress who was very keen on keeping her revenge act intact.

Nya let out a small groan at the thought of Aspheera. She was supposed to be a villain they had once fought, not someone who was brought back and was now possibly roaming around Ninjago freely.

She should probably try to track her down to capture her again, yet Nya could not find it in herself to get up and work for the city when it was quite literally against her coming back.

She was a petty woman.

A knock on her door interrupted her string of thoughts. Although she didn't call the person on the other side inside, the door opened, revealing her good friend Pixal.

"May I enter?" the young nindroid asked timidly whilst eyeing the Water Ninja, who was still wrapped up in her bed-burrito form, warily.

Sighing, Nya sat up and allowed Pixal to enter her room. "What's up, Pix?"

"You are feeling unwell," Pixal stated bluntly and sat down on Nya's bed. "I came to have a conversation with you that allows you to talk about your feelings. You keep a lot to yourself which is not healthy when done on a regular, frequent basis."

Nya rolled her eyes. She leaned against her headboard as she wrapped her blanket tighter around herself, only letting her head poke out. "I don't need to have a hearty, touchy-feely conversation about my feelings. I'm perfectly capable of going on about my day without breaking down every two seconds, thank you very much."

Pixal's eyes softened when she noticed the huge wall Nya was putting up. It wasn't her intention for that to happen, but since it was Nya Smith she was talking to, it was highly expected. There wasn't an easy way to talk to Nya, but there was always the I talk about my problems first and guilt you into talking as well route.

It wasn't a pretty route, and many people actually hated taking that route, but when it came to Nya, it was mostly the route to take.

"I miss my friends," Pixal began, already picturing the guys in her head. "It has become very quiet around the monastery, and I do not know how to feel about that."

Nya immediately looked away from Pixal, too scared to let her watering eyes show. She thought it was ridiculous that by even the mention of the boys, she was getting emotional. Sighing, Nya shrunk further back into her little nest and got ready for Pixal's continuation.

"I miss having to hear and witness the ruckus that went on whenever the guys fought over who got to play a video game first. I miss working on mechs with them, training with them, watching television shows with them, reading Wu's scrolls with them — although they did always find something else to focus on while Wu was reading," Pixal chuckled. "I miss their company a lot." With a small sigh, she ended her short monologue.

Nya's eyes darted back to the female nindroid. Although she knew that what Pixal said was sincere, she also knew that a certain other nindroid had left a bigger hole in her shared heart.

Nya knew the pain her friend was feeling because she was currently experiencing the same. She missed her brother and her closest friends a lot, too, but the absence of her boyfriend was a harder pill to swallow, especially knowing he wouldn't be in her life for five years.

The couple had always dreaded a day like that. Frankly, they hadn't imagined that one of them would have to go to prison, but they had spoken about the high chance of one of them, or both of them together, passing away sooner or later. They were living very risky lives, it was expected for them to not make it out of a mission alive one day.

"Don't you dare think any of us is going to die, Nya," Jay had said, his demeanor and tone stiffening.

"You and I both know we're not gonna live forever, Jay," Nya had responded with a sigh.

"I know, but we won't die on the battlefield, I promise you that," he had promised. Then he had looked off into the distance with a small smile on his face. "I would imagine us to be old, with gray hair and lots of kids and grandkids. We would both die together, in each other's arms, and the cause would be all natural, probably of old age. Hopefully of old age."

"I miss them too," Nya told Pixal finally.

After realizing she wasn't making any effort to keep going, Pixal asked, "What do you miss about them most?"

Nya knew what Pixal was trying to accomplish and just let her be since she was too tired to argue with her or possibly lose the last friend she currently had that was living under the same roof as her.

"I miss their chaotic selves the most. How they could fight over anything but somehow turn it into a game of Who blinks first, loses or chase each other around in the monastery without any bad or hurtful intentions. And I hate to admit it but I miss how their bickering and shouting would wake me up in the morning."

Both girls laughed, picturing a scene like that in their heads. They didn't even have to really think about it since those days weren't rare in the monastery.

"Pixal," Nya said, earning a nod from her friend. "Do you really think they're gonna be gone for five years? I mean, I'd been gone for one and I can't even imagine what all of you must've felt, but that times five? I don't even know..."

"I am not sure," Pixal replied, breaking eye contact to look away from the fearful expression Nya wore on her face.