Sometimes, in life, making sacrifices meant a definite forever. There was no going back or backing out. "Done" meant "done", and "over" meant "over".

"Forever" meant "forever".

But for Jay Walker, those sacrifices had a completely different meaning. His definition of "forever" did not always have the same meaning.

He had been a ninja for close to a decade, and he had a lot of experience to carry around with him. Sometimes he wanted to have a switch, like Zane did, that could make him able to choose what to feel when. Jay tended to joke at the most dangerous situations. He knew it got on the others' nerves, but he couldn't help himself—joking was his way of staying sane.

Or insane, depending on what the situation exactly was.

He never had a basic display of emotions. When others would chuckle, he would laugh at the top of his lungs. When others were able to keep their tears at bay, he would cry after getting a paper cut. When others reserved their jokes and one-liners for the correct moments to use them, he would distribute them like chocolate on Easter.

Nya liked to call it his emotional outbursts. And she was spot on with it, too.

"Why the freaking freak are we not dead yet?" The question came out in one stream, almost as fast as his eyes searched the area around him.

The quiet land of Ignacia was just that—quiet. Too quiet.

The ninja had decided to take it slow, to make their efforts low-key. They wanted to blend it, thus why they were all currently wearing disguises. Sunglasses, hats, fake facial hair, all that jazz.

"I don't know," Lloyd answered.

The two were walking down one of the busiest streets in Ignacia, although even Ignacia's busiest street was not as crowded compared to Ninjago City's busiest street. Lots of markets and Mom-and-Pop shops were located on the sidewalks. Residents did their early shopping like they were not aware of the danger that lurked in the shadows.

"It's so peaceful here," Kai said, his voice booming through everyone's earpieces. "I almost forgot how great my patria is."

"Patria?" Nya asked, bewildered. "When did you insert that into your limited vocabulary?"

"He probably heard it once and thought he'd sound cool if he said it," Jay guessed.

"You guys are bullies." Kai faked a sniff. "I didn't hear it once. I've known its meaning for a long while. I just haven't used the word in front of eyewitnesses yet."

"Earwitnesses," Jay corrected.

"That's not a word, Jay," Cole argued.

"Shut up, Cole."

"Yeah, shut up, Cole," Kai repeated.

"Yo!" Cole exclaimed. "I was about to be on your side, Kai. Now I can't help but bully you together with your sister and Jay. You're dumb."

The volume of Kai's gasp caused his five teammates to flinch. "You're dumb, Cole! You're all dumb!"

"Hey! What did I do?" Lloyd said, his eyes locking with the brown ones of a stand merchant. The man quickly looked down at the tomatoes he was stacking, but Lloyd kept his gaze on him. Something was off.

Lloyd walked more slowly as they passed by the merchant's stand. Jay threw him a questioning glance but understood what was happening the moment he looked at the merchant. He, too, felt there was something just...off.

It probably meant nothing. But there was always the chance, no matter how small or how insignificant, that a person they kept their eyes on was bad.

The merchant, however, only sorted through his offerings. After finishing the tomatoes, he neatly placed eggplants into a display box, and when an interested couple stood in front of his stand, he tended to their requests.

"No, not you, Lloyd. Everyone else," Kai clarified, but that flew right past Lloyd's head as he shook his head at Jay. They walked at a normal speed again.

"And what have I done, Kai?" Zane asked, making Cole chuckle. The Masters of Earth and Ice were on the outskirts of Ignacia and making sure nobody was causing any trouble. They were also on the lookout for any suspicious activities by six certain criminals.

"No, Zane, I—" Kai sighed. "You know what, forget it. Have you found anything, anyway? Nya and I have not, and it's quite boring."

"I thought your patria was great," Jay accused, a knowing smirk on his face. Lloyd fist-bumped him.

"Jay," Kai warned, "thin ice."

"Did you say ice?" Zane asked.

When Kai began to count to ten, the others let out amused chuckles. Sometimes, when he got too agitated, Kai would count to ten and let the supposed calm wash over his body. Only now, he was doing it to amuse his friends, so much was obvious. The others could tell whenever he was serious.

The ninja had the first step of their unfinished plan set: Get the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu.

How? No idea.

The second step? Not established yet.

They would improvise after acquiring the weapon later on.

It was a matter of trial and error. And the only difference was that the error part could end with the death of the ninja. So trial was their only option, really.

But they tried not to think so negatively as they all advanced towards one destination: Four Weapons. Ray and Maya's blacksmiths shop on a gentle hill, overlooking the small village.

The ninja were expecting a fight until death fight, meaning either they were going to bite the dust, or the enemy. They were not able to come to a different conclusion.

So, since they knew the villains would cause so much damage and trouble, they decided to take their parents and their closest friends and acquaintances and bring them up to Shintaro, so at least they could be in safety, away from the inevitable future main action.

They wanted to start with Ray and Maya, then go to the Sea of Sands to get Ed and Edna, and lastly get Cole's father Lou, who Cole was certain was currently at his childhood home instead of being on tour. Misako was already in safety, and Zane did not have anyone close and dear to him to save. His friends were all he had.

Kai and Nya debated on whether or not the team should get new suits for this mission as they passed by a few old houses they grew up around. It was a weird feeling for the both of them, being back, but it was more welcome than unwelcome.

Both Smith siblings heavily disliked the dreadful feeling of nostalgia weighing down on them, making them go back in time and relive certain moments from their childhood.

"Tag, you're it!" little nine-year-old Kai yelled, tapping his seven-year-old sister's shoulder and immediately bolting out of the blacksmiths shop and onto the freshly cut green grass outside. The line between spring and summer was more on the imaginary side for him, rather a date set in the calendar instead of a sudden change in the weather.

The light breeze carried his giggles with the wind. His curious gaze locked with Nya's, who was just darting out of the shop and into his direction, a determined look on her young, soft face.

Jumping, Kai ran away, laughing, but also making sure his sister was behind him and not injuring herself. Nya tended to fall down quite a lot recently, so he always kept a close eye on her.

"Don't run too fast, kids!" Hilde, an elderly woman from their neighborhood, told the two, smiling as they passed her.

Kai and Nya answered her by laughing out loud, thrilled that they were noticed. They liked whatever attention they received.

"I'll catch you, Kai!" Little Nya exclaimed, right before she fell down on the sidewalk, having missed the boulder that sent her face-first onto the pavement.

Not a single sound came out of her, but when Kai noticed she was no longer behind him, he turned around, gasped, and ran to her side.

"Nya!" He sat down in front of her and checked on her.

Said girl was kneeling and looking down at her scabby hands, now dusty and dirty. Then she looked at Kai, her eyes wide but not a single tear in them. She rarely cried when she hurt herself.

"Oh, Nya," Kai said, standing up and helping her up. "You gotta be more careful. You always fall."

"No, I don't," she answered.

"Whatever you say, Sis."

The memory hit Nya before she could comprehend why, until she realized they were there, on that exact same pavement where she had fallen down all those years ago. She glanced down at the ground, noticing it hadn't changed a bit since she had last set foot on it.

A small smile graced her lips. When she looked up, she found Kai smiling back at her, and she knew he must have thought of the same thing.

Scary, how he could read her mind and know exactly what she was thinking about, what caused her to smile. Twins had a thing called twin telepathy. Did that count for two-year-apart siblings as well?

"Almost there," Kai said, looking at the far distance.

There, only a few houses away, was the home they had grown up in. The two grinned at each other, and before they needed to explain what they were about to do to the other, they started to sprint as fast as they could.

Whoever reached the shop first, won.

"No fair!" twelve-year-old Nya exclaimed, right after Kai stole her toasted bagel. "That's mine! You have your own!"

"Yeah, and it's still not ready and I'm hungry!"

Nya glared at him from across the table. Kai grinned back at her.

The two held their stares until the ding of the toaster startled them, indicating Kai's bagel was done. The toaster was in the kitchen. The two siblings were in the living room.

Their eyes met. Their bodies stayed still.

A silent moment went by before both took off running into the direction of the kitchen, their objective being to retrieve the bagel before the other could.

Everything was a competition in their limited household. They shared everything at the end of the day, but they always fought to be the first, to be on top, to be ahead. It was an ego game that both wanted to come out as the victor of.

"Ha ha!" Nya yelled when she entered the kitchen first and ran towards the toaster. She pushed down on the button that made the bagel, hot and steaming, jump up in the air.

Just as she reached for it, a hand reached around her body and grabbed the piece of bread before she could.

"Ha!"

"Hey!" Nya exclaimed, turning around to glare at her brother. "It wasn't even that far in the air! How did you catch it before I could?"

"It's called 'skill', Sis." Kai smirked. "One day you'll get it."

"But you already ate my bagel, and now you get the second one?" Nya scoffed. "What do I get?"

Kai ran out of the kitchen, screaming, "My fart!"

Nya instantly recoiled, hoping that was nothing but an empty threat.

It was not.

"Ew!" She pinched her nose, although she was not smelling anything yet. The rational part of her knew his fart would barely have a scent, but the more irrational part of her made her believe he stink-bombed their home and they needed to evacuate it immediately.

She bravely left the kitchen, nose still pinched, and walked into the living room.

"There you are. For a moment I thought my fart killed you."

"It might as well have. There's no way a bagel caused that."

"I'm a hormonal boy, Sis. There's so much more to my farts than just bagels."

Nya scrunched up her face, shaking her head. "Too much information."

"Okay, okay." Kai laughed and handed Nya a plate.

Her eyes widened. "How did you..." The bagel that was on the plate was fully toasted, cut in half, and topped with cream cheese and fresh avocado. Her favorite. "When did you do this? How did I not see it? I was just in the kitchen."

With a smirk, Kai made her sit on the rundown sofa and eat her breakfast. "It's a secret, Sis. And skill, which you lack."

"Loser!"

Nya's breath came out in short puffs but she couldn't care any less about it since she stepped on the shop grounds before Kai reached it.

"No fair!" Kai exclaimed. "You had a head start!"

"By, like, what, two seconds? You're just a sore loser." Nya grinned.

Kai ruffled her hair and smirked when she made a face and stepped away from him, fixing her bangs. As much as he valued the gel in his hair, she valued her styled bangs. She just never showed it as much as he did.

Her fierce gaze met his, but then her eyes focused on something behind him. A smile reached her lips, which meant only one thing.

"The boyfriend," Kai announced, without turning around to confirm or deny his statement. Jay's chuckle confirmed it.

"And Lloyd!" Lloyd himself added, his tone matching Kai's. "Why do we always forget about Lloyd?"

"Why are you talking about yourself in the third person?" Jay asked.

Lloyd shrugged. "Kai sometimes does it. I wanted to see the appeal for myself."

"There is no appeal," Nya said. "Kai's just weird."

Kai opened his mouth but Cole, who was approaching the four together with Zane, beat him to it. "Having a tea party without us? I'm hurt."

Jay looked down at his hands, then turned to Nya, picked up her hands, looked at them, before doing the same to Kai and Lloyd's hands.

"What are you doing?" Cole asked him, confused.

Jay looked just as confused. "Looking for the tea cups."

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now that we're all here, we can go inside. It hasn't been a minute since Jay joined us, and I already want to strangle him." He stepped inside the blacksmiths shop and glanced back at his friends. "It's way too early for that so come on, let's hurry up."

After the others walked inside, they quickly spread out to look for Ray and Maya. It was easier than to go into every room in a large group, and it was less time-consuming as well.

Kai walked into his and Nya's old bedroom, the one they had shared until they were fifteen and thirteen, until they met the others and abandoned their parents' shop to join the team.

He let out a sharp breath, his eyes scanning the room. Everything, from the finger paintings on the wall down to Nya's books on the shelf on her side of the room, looked the exact same as they had left it.

Of course, after their parents had returned from being gone, Nya and Kai had visited them quite a few times.

Kai already knew everything would look the same since everything had been the same every time.

But still, the feeling was bittersweet.

Rain. The sound of it, the smell of it, being in the mere presence of it calmed her down. Nya didn't know what it was, but something about the rain lured her it. She felt calm whenever it rained, like it helped her in sorting her thoughts. It cleared her mind. It cleansed her mind.

Kai, on the other hand, didn't like the rain. He didn't necessarily hate it, but he would always find cover the moment a raindrop touched his body.

He always had to drag his sister with him since she liked to stand under the rain, and in turn, get sick. But she never cared about getting sick or wet. She only enjoyed the cold drizzle down onto her body.

Usually, it was Nya who was the responsible one, but whenever it rained, it was Kai. He always had to make sure Nya wouldn't spend too much time outside and get sick.

"Come inside, Nya! I'm not going to repeat myself!"

He was, but Nya would rather not say it out loud. Instead, she closed her eyes and tilted her head up at the sky, letting the thick raindrops hit her face.

"Nya!" Kai warned again, from the safety of the blacksmiths shop. He didn't want to step underneath the heavy rain, but if she didn't return the next time he called out to her, he had to risk it.

"Nya Smith!"

"Okay, Mom," she responded, finally tilting her head back down and opening her eyes. Her clothes were soaked, they stuck to her body like a flesh suit. Her hair was glued on to her forehead.

The grass tickled her bare feet as she trudged back to the blacksmith's shop. Kai quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and led her inside, knowing she would get back out the moment he left her alone. There was just something about the rain that made Nya lose all of her basic senses.

While Kai sent her to take a quick, hot shower, he went to their bedroom to pick out her dry clothes. He sighed. Nya had two full sets of pajamas, and one of them was currently soaked. If she were to escape back out wearing her other pajamas, she wouldn't have any other to wear. And wearing street clothes to bed was uncomfortable for her.

In conclusion, Kai had to keep a close eye on Nya until the rain would stop.

This set of pajamas had cute little panda bears on it. It didn't match Nya's sense of style at all, but it was only meant to be worn inside the house anyway.

Kai sat down on his bed as he waited for Nya to come out of the bathroom, his brain already creating a to-do list for the next day.

1. Wake up, use bathroom, quick shower

2. Make breakfast (toast will do)

3. Wake Nya up, make her eat, send her to school

4. Open the shop

5. Forge new weapons

6. Do the laundry

7. Make dinner, try to get Nya to talk about her feelings, ask about her day

8. Get them both ready for bed

9. Repeat (optional)

<< play: 🎵 easy on me — Adele 🎵 >>

Kai shut his eyes and tried not to think about the fact that a fourteen-year-old boy should never have to worry about running a shop and doing all the work at home, like cooking or doing the laundry, all the while taking care of his twelve-year-old sister.

He was a child. He should have the right to be a child.

Instead of playing outside with the neighborhood kids and going to school, he stayed back and earned his family's money. That family included him and his sister, who he would do anything for. She was all he had left.

He didn't know where their parents were. To be completely honest, he felt betrayed and hurt whenever he thought about them, and more times than once cursed their existence—if they still had one. How dare they abandon their two children? How dare they put the burden of taking care of his sister on him?

He was a child.

He had been a child for fourteen years, and nine of those were taken away from him.

He sacrificed his education, missed out on the experience of going to school, just to be able to send his sister to school. She hated this and voiced her opinion on it more than enough times for him to understand her honesty.

She didn't want to go to school. She wanted to stay back and work, just like he did, because she knew it would be better for business with two sets of working hands instead of one.

But Kai would never allow it, and Nya knew that.

He wanted her to have everything he knew he would never be able to. He wanted her to go to school. He wanted her to be social, to have friends, and a happy childhood. He wanted her to succeed in life.

He wanted her to live the life he wished he could have.

Kai knew he was more to her than just a brother. They crossed that line the moment their parents walked out the door and never returned.

He was a parental figure for her.

"Kai, I need clothes!"

He snapped out of it and shook his head, his eyes taking in their shared bedroom and letting go of the utopian image of them and their parents sitting at the dinner table and eating dinner.

His hands grabbed her neatly folded pajamas. He stood up and walked over to the bathroom, knocking on the hardwood door. When the door opened by just a few inches, he quickly looked away and handed her waiting hand the clothes.

"Thanks!" she exclaimed, pulling her arm back and closing the door.

"You're welcome," he replied. "Now hurry up! Dinner is on the table already."

A loud, terrifying scream brought Kai back down to Earth, his heart dropping the second he realized it came from his sister. Cold sweat ran down his back as he sprinted down the stairs, his thoughts consumed by gut-wrenching scenarios.

Nya never screamed like that.

Only when she witnessed her family and friends getting hurt, but even then it was rare. Hell, she barely screamed when she herself was hurt.

Screaming Nya meant the end of the world, basically.

It wasn't long before Kai realized the scream came from his parents' bedroom, and suddenly he not only worried about his sister but also about his parents.

He did feel relief wash over him when he found Jay, Lloyd, and Zane in the room as well, meaning if someone broke in, Nya had backup.

Yet when he stepped inside the room, his head started spinning.

Blood. Red, runny, smelly blood.

Everywhere.

The bed was soaked in the recognizable substance. Bloody, streaky handprints were all over the walls. Puddles of red were all over the floor. The closet was open and the clothes were all over the room. The family portrait that was usually hanging above the bed was torn into pieces, and when Kai looked at it more closely, he could see that all four faces on the picture were scratched out.

No bodies, Kai realized. His parents were not to be seen anywhere, and there were no indications as to where they were.

He turned around and looked at his sister. She was in Jay's arms, her sobs shaking her body. She was crying so loudly, so uncharacteristically loudly, yet the ringing in Kai's ears became louder, drowning her out.

Cole was saying something. When did he get there? Zane's mouth moved, but Kai couldn't hear him. Why was his mouth moving when he was not speaking? Lloyd came closer to him, but why were there three of him? Kai couldn't remember Lloyd being a triplet.

He stumbled back, right before Lloyd could catch him. His head felt light, airy, empty. But then it was heavy, like he was carrying a brick for a head.

All three Lloyds said something to him at the same time.

But Kai didn't listen. He turned around, fell to his knees, and vomited.

<<<>>><<<>>>
I was still a child
Didn't get the chance to
Feel the world around me
I had no time to choose
What I chose to do
<<<>>><<<>>>