This chapter has not been proofread. I will come back to it and do it once I'm able to.

The moonlight shone brightly in the night sky. The few stars that were already there looked like a constellation of beautiful marks, all placed with precision and care.

Nya smiled. It was calm. It was quiet. It was peaceful. Even if it was for only a moment's time. She couldn't forget about her worries, or ignore them, but she could admit that they were there, which was a first.

She was sitting on the top stair in front of the monastery's gate, outside. She could have sat inside as well, but not being stuck in that mentally confining space was a relief she had been seeking.

It was breezy, so she had brought a thin blanket with her, already having guessed she would get cold the longer she sat out in the open.

The light blue, frizzy material hugged her body tightly, warming it up lovingly.

It was his blanket after all. It gave her the comfort she was currently lacking.

Her memories brought her back to a time where everything was better. Not easier, per se, but still more bearable.

Her family more or less in one piece, the threat easier to beat, the government not turned against them. That was a time she had not cherished, now that she thought about it.

She had taken it for granted.

Big mistake.

She missed those times now. How could she not? It was not like having your family ripped away from you was something everyone liked.

Nya's cunning ears detected a faint mechanical sound coming from beneath her. Someone either left the underground base or just entered it.

She didn't care about it, she only continued to focus on the few stars that were above her.

They looked very pigmented for beings that were uncountable miles away from her. She felt inferior when she looked at them, studied them.

A door opened behind her; Nya could hear it. It tended to squeak slightly when it was opened slowly. Someone needed to oil it, she thought.

A few seconds passed before the gate behind the sitting woman was pushed open. Nya didn't turn around to look at who it was.

The mystery person took a seat to Nya's left and also led their gaze up at the sky, looking at what Nya was looking at.

Finally turning her head to her left, Nya realized it was her good friend Skylor.

She wordlessly looked up again.

The two sat there, on the concrete stair, for a good few minutes before the redhead broke the silence.

"Dareth and I visited the guys earlier today," she began quietly, not straying her eyes away from the dots in the sky.

"I know," Nya answered after a long release of her breath. She watched as the air that just left her lungs swayed in front of her for a second before dissolving.

She had been made aware of the fact that Skylor and Dareth had gone to visit the five incriminated ninja to have a talk with them, judge how well their chances were to get released earlier than their sentencing was.

"They asked about you," Skylor continued, letting out unnecessary details to get to the actual point. "Well, Jay asked about you."

Nya's breathing hitched for a second as her heartbeat unknowingly increased by a few beats. Her eyes left the stars to look back at Skylor. She didn't say anything, she just waited for her to proceed.

"I told them the truth; that you're well physically and bad mentally."

Nya looked away again. She swallowed down her saliva to clear her throat while she chewed on the information carefully.

"That was very honest of you," she settled to say, looking ahead. The clouds had disappeared a long time ago so she was looking down the mountain and could even see a few smaller villages in the distance.

Skylor shrugged with one shoulder to indicate that she was aware of that fact but not really caring about it. "It's the truth, isn't it? Who am I to lie to them when I myself don't know a better truth?"

It made sense, yes. But still, Nya didn't know how to feel about the others knowing about her mental state.

"What did they say?"

"They were not shocked but still sad about it, I would say. I mean I know the impact their imprisonment had on myself, and I'm not even close to them like you are. I can't begin to imagine what you're going though right now, and I'm not going to act like I can relate to you because I can't."

"Don't say that," Nya said, trying to smile. It worked for a few seconds before it vanished again. "I know that there are some sparks flying around you and my brother," she said with a knowing tone, bumping Skylor's shoulder with hers, causing them both to sway to their left together.

They laughed. Genuinely laughed.

"Kai? Me? Me having sparks with Kai of all people?" Skylor asked, bewildered. "If you think I'm interested in a guy like him, then the bar is way below hell now."

"I thought that was an established fact already," Nya joked. Then she became serious again, the smile on her lips vanishing. "Are they okay?"

"I'd say so," Skylor answered. "Well, apart from the fact that they are not made for prison life. Cole said something about plotting something if he had to spend any more time with them," she chuckled.

Nya's smile returned. She kept quiet but let the smile stay for as long as possible.

Maybe talking about them was better for her than trying to escape talking about them and destroying herself mentally in the process.

"I know it's very tough for you right now," Skylor continued, getting to a point she could no longer avoid. "But I also know that you're all that Ninjago has left now."

"What about those new ninja? Ninjago seems to have accepted them quicker than anything else."

"Come on, we both know they're just off-colored Skittles that are craving attention desperately. Calling them the new 'ninja' should be a crime in and of itself."

That caused Nya to laugh.

"Jay is proud of you, you know."

Nya's laughter immediately stopped, her breathing stopping together with it. She furrowed her eyebrows and slowly began to shake her head. "I've literally done nothing successful ever since I came back. I'm neither helpful nor useful. How can he be proud of that?" She chuckled to deflect from her hurting feelings.

Skylor smiled softly as she looked back up at the sky. "You don't need to achieve something to get him to be proud of you. It's Jay we're talking about; he's head over heels for anything you do as long as it's you who does it. You could be breathing and he'd go 'that's my girl!' and show you off."

Nya opened her mouth to deny Skylor's assumptions but closed it back when she really thought about it. She couldn't help the smile that crept back up on her face.

"He also wants you to know that he'll support you no matter what happens," the Master of Amber continued.

"That's...great to know," Nya whispered, though it sounded like she was talking to herself rather than her best friend.

Skylor nodded as she stood up and stretched. Yawning, she gave Nya one last look. "He also told me to tell you that he loves you, but when was that ever up for debate?"

She turned around and opened the monastery's gate to step back inside. "You should come in when you're ready," she told Nya. "I just smelled something delicious coming from the kitchen on my way here, and I don't know 'bout you but I'm hungry."

After Skylor disappeared, Nya turned back to look up at the stars. There were more beautiful dots coating the dark sky, all of them telling a story she had yet to listen to.

"I love you," she heard Jay's voice say in the back of her mind, imagining how he could have sounded whilst telling that to Skylor earlier that day, when it was her visiting him instead of his own Yang.

Nya sighed. It was then that she realized she was back for a reason.

The others had taken a huge risk to get her back from the sea and were now paying for the consequences, and all that she was doing was sulking about her loss? The loss that she caused?

A determined expression settled on her face.

She was brought back for a reason.

Her hands formed into fists.

She was brought back for a reason.

She stood up and kept her gaze locked on the sky.

"I was brought back for a reason," she said to no one but herself. "I was brought back for a reason, and I will bring you back for the same reason. I promise."