*the next day*

Jay's POV

I check my appearance in the mirror for the fifth time, feeling like Kai. I have to make sure everything is perfect. I have on a similar outfit to yesterday, another pair of black jeans, but instead of a white t shirt with a blue jacket, I only have on a blue t shirt. Additionally, I have a pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap.

Looking in the mirror, I notice the pink scar peeking out from underneath the sleeve of my shirt. Subconsciously, I pull my sleeve down to cover it. While my arm is fully rehabilitated, the scar on my arm is a constant reminder of the wound. I try to keep it covered at all times, but sometimes it's hard.

I leave the bathroom, walking onto the deck of the ship. It's still parked at the same spot it was yesterday. We had no place to put the Ultrasonic Rader on such short notice, and we have nowhere to be, so we decided to wait here with it. It also leaves us close to the city in case something happens.

Throughout the years, the view from the Bounty hasn't gotten any less spectacular. Everything seems so small from up here, and it's so much easier to see the big picture. Ninjago looks more united from up here.

"Jay, there you are!" at the sound of his voice, my head whips in his direction. My dad, the biological one, is looking over at me from the other side of the deck.

"Dad, I didn't know you were coming today. I thought you still had more scenes to film for your new movie," I admit, walking over and giving him a large hug.

"The cameras broke, so they sent me out to do promo to the movie instead. I thought it'd be a good idea to visit you in between interviews," he tells me, pulling me in tight. "How has everything been for you? I know I've been busy with my movie recently, but I'm still interested in everything that's going on."

"It's been good, really good, actually. The only bad thing that happened recently is that Lloyd and Kai broke their Ultrasonic Radar by putting bread in the compartment with the enguine," I tell him, making him chuckle.

"Those two never fail to disappoint," he laughs, waiting until his laughter dies down to keep talking. "Ed and Edna called and said you brought that girl you liked over to meet them," he tries to bring up, slyly.

"It's the one I talked to you on the phone about," I admit.

"And?"

"And she's my girlfriend now," I tell him. He claps me on the shoulder, proudly.

"That's my boy. You used advice from my book, didn't you?" he gives me a teasing smile.

"Cliff Gordon's Guide to Wooing Woman isn't actually my first place to turn to for advice," I tell him, but in a joking manner.

"Jay, I'm ready," I hear Nya's voice behind me, causing me to whip around. At the sight of her, all of the air escapes my lungs, my jaw going slightly slack. She's absolutely gorgeous. She has on a red sundress, accented with white flowers and cherry blossoms. Her hair is tied up messily, some hair draping in front of her face. Everything about her is stunning, especially the small smile on her face.

"Is this her?" my dad asks. I'm too captivated by her to get out a verbal response. Only a nod manages to come out.

"You never told me your dad was coming over," Nya says, a charming smile on her face. As she walks over, I notice the practical athletic shoes on her feet, making my heart warm. When Nya gets closer, a look of realization crosses my dad's face.

"You're Maya's daughter, aren't you?" my dad says, a smile on his face. He sticks out his hand for her to shake. She nods, shaking his hand. "You look so much like her. It's like deja vu."

"You knew my mom?" Nya asks, her curiosity piqued.

"Of course I did. She was one of my wife's teammates and best friends," he informs her, kindly. "She was one of the first of Libber's 'sisters' that I met, along with Lilly. It's so weird, you all look so much like them, your elemental parents."

"But people think we look similar, dad," I chirp in.

"That's because they didn't know your mother," my dad tells me before turning back to Nya. "It's great that you're back in Ninjago, even after all of this time. Hopefully, the rest of your teammates will follow in suit."

"I can hope," Nya says, her hands resting by her sides.

"Well, I'm going to get going. You two clearly have better things to do than talk to an old man like me," he jokes. "It was nice to meet you..."

"Nya."

"...Nya. I'll see you two some other time," I give my dad a brief hug before he takes the little ferry we made for the sole purpose of leaving the Bounty. He soon rides it out of sight and back into the ground where his limo is waiting.

"Ready to go on our date?" I ask Nya, linking my arm through hers. She smiles.

"Definitely."

"You look beautiful, by the way."

"Thank you. Seliel picked this dress out for me when we first came to Ninjago, and I thought it worked well," she tells me, giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

"So, where are we going, buddies?" suddenly, Kai interjects himself between us, wrapping an arm around both of our shoulders.

"Jay and I are going out on a date in the city," Nya picks his arm up from around her shoulder, letting it slack by his side.

"And while I'd usually be totally alright with that," he bluffs, "is it smart for two of us to go into the city, alone, when Ciara and Mara can show up at any moment? If they're attacking anywhere, it'll be the city, and the more of us, the better."

"But what if they attack the Bounty first? More of us should be there to defend it," I debate, moving his arm from around my shoulder.

"Nah, that's not going to happen. Power crazy people tend to gravitate towards power first," Kai dismisses me.

"Kai is right. I only know the vague plans since we were going to go into more detail once we got back, but I know the city is where the first attack is going to happen," Nya sighs, clearly not wanting to give up.

"Perfect. I'll go switch into my disguise," he walks away.

"Is it bad that I want to leave without him?" Nya asks, a small smirk on her face.

A laugh escapes my lips. "So do I."

---

When Kai walks back out, so do the rest of the guys. Cole is also in his disguise, a black hoodie and sunglasses, while Lloyd and Zane are in their gi's.

"Kai said that we were probably going to get lunch, so I was in," he shrugs.

"I am going to stay back with Lloyd to watch the Bounty," Zane tells us. Lloyd nods in agreement, his arms crossed in front of him.

"Don't have too much fun without us."

"Oh trust me, we definitely won't."

---

Lloyd's POV

I lie, sprawled out across the couch, a comic book in my hands. On the table next to me, there's a bowl of skittles and a water bottle. I take a handful of skittles, popping them in my mouth before I flip the page.

After we saved Ninjago from the Ovelord, Doomsday Comics sent me a giant box of comics as a present. So far, I've only been able to make it through half of them, but I've been making steady progress.

I'm interrupted when my phone rings from on the table. I groan, rolling my eyes and lazily grabbing it. When I see the caller ID, however, my mood changes. I eagerly pick it up,"Hi Rumi."

"Lloyd," she says happily. There's some rustling in the background. "I was wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner tonight. The Emperor and Empress are eager to see you again, as am I."

"I'd enjoy that," I smile, setting my comic book down to give her my full attention.

"Also, I think it's time we tell them," she brings up subtly. There's an awkward pause.

"You're sure? I don't want them to dislike me."

"Lloyd, if I'm going to have anyone for a boyfriend, the person who saved Ninjago is most likely the option they would prefer the most," she tells me, a slight giggle in her voice.

"I know you say that, but I've never done the whole 'meet the parents' thing before, especially not to an emperor and empress," I say, my nerves churning through me. However, the nerves turn to dread as the nausea appears in my stomach.

"This is my first time, too," she says as I start to get light headed. It feels like all of the energy has been zapped out of me.

"I need to go. Dinner isn't going to work tonight," I hang up abruptly as the world starts getting fuzzy around me. "Z..." I can only get the first letter of his name out before everything goes black.

---

Nya's POV

The four of us are in the back of a department store near the dressing rooms. We decided that it would be fun to go shopping before lunch, so we stopped by a low profile department store as to not draw attention. Surprisingly, no one has recognized the guys yet, but I know that by the end of the day, someone is bound to.

Right now, Kai is trying on clothing. We're playing a game where each of us has to create an outfit for the others, and they have to try it on. Whoever creates the best outfits wins.

The rest of us sit in the chairs in front of the dressing room. Jay and I sit on the two person seat while Cole sits in the individual one. Whenever anyone walks by, the three of us tilt our heads downwards.

"You guys have to be kidding me," we hear Kai say as he walks out. I have to cover my mouth from laughing. On his legs, he has a pair of tight yellow leggings, complemented with a blue, cropped tank top on his torso. He crosses his arms over his chest while Jay starts hysterically laughing.

"Having a fun time?" Cole chuckles. Kai scowls at him. While he isn't paying attention, Jay whips out his phone and takes a picture. When he notices Jay's phone is out, he glares at him.

"You better delete that this instant," Kai tells him sternly.

"Still enjoying the fact that you crashed our date?" Jay swings his phone back and forth in one of his hands, tauntingly.

"You're dead, Walker," Kai says, slowly approaching Jay. Jay jumps out of the seat and darts under the nearest rack. Kai follows in suit, rolling and diving under the rack. Kai chases Jay through the racks, weaving in and out. Since Kai has to continuously keep pulling up the leggings, Jay extends his lead.

Eventually, they get too far away to see, both of them staying low to prevent the other from seeing them. Both Cole and I are unaware where they are until we hear a yelp.

"You shocked me!" Kai accuses loudly, making Cole and I both sigh.

"Did not! I shocked in front of you to deter you from following. There's a difference!"

"There goes our cover," Cole sighs, standing up. I walk with him over to where the two are bickering. We notice some girls watching from afar, taking a video. The two of us walk in between Kai and Jay to create a barrier. "Give me your phones, both of you, and make sure you turn them off so this doesn't happen again."

"I didn't do anything!" Kai crosses his arms.

"Both of you blew our covers," Cole tells him. Kai turns off his phone and gives it to Cole.

"Make him delete the picture first."

"Oh come on, it's prime comedy," Jay defends himself.

"Jay."

"Fine," Jay says grudgingly. He turns his phone to us, showing him deleting the picture, before turning it off and handing it to Cole.

"Look. I'm turning mine off too, to be fair," Cole shows them as he turns off his phone. "Now let's go get food. I'm starving."

"After we buy Kai his new outfit of course," Jay teases. Kai glares at him.

"I hate you."

"Nah, deep down inside, you know you love me," Jay winks at him.

Kai trudges off, going back to the dressing room to change out of his outfit. The girls who are recording follow him with their eyes, but keep the camera on us.

"Guys," I say, gaining Cole and Jay's attention. "I'm guessing that's not a good sign." I gesture to the girls with my head.

"Nope, not good at all," Cole sighs. "We should go ask them to not post anything." The three of us walk over to the group of girls. When they see us walking over, they start squealing.

"Oh my god, Cole and Jay," one claps their hands together in awe.

"You guys are even hotter in person."

"Can you sign my face?" even through their statements and questions, they keep the phone pointed up.

"Can you all please not post any of the pictures or videos you took today until later? We really don't want to have the paparazzi following us today," Cole asks nicely.

"Oh, we've been live streaming, but we can turn it off," one girl offers. While I don't understand what that means, Jay mutters something under his breath.

"That would be greatly appreciated," Cole says. The girls quickly put down their phones. As they do so, Kai jogs over, back in his regular clothes. The girls all collectively squeal.

"We should probably leave before more people show up," Cole suggests.

"Too late," Jay sighs. I look in the direction he is, and a group of about 10 people, several boys and several girls, walk through the door, rushing over when they see the rest of the guys.

"Can I have a picture?" one of the girls asks Kai, jutting her phone in his face.

"Of course," he says, his signature Kai smile on his face. Soon, the people start swarming Jay, Cole, and Kai, requesting pictures and trying to touch them. They push me out of the way, squeezing their way between the boys and me. As the crowd grows, I get pushed further away until I give up. I sigh, moving away and sitting on a bench for when people try on shoes.

I pull out my phone to text Zane on what we should do. I frown when I notice his number isn't in my contacts. Since I'm typically always on the Bounty, I had no reason to get his number. I only got Jay and Kai's in case of an emergency, but that's not going to be helpful now.

"Great, just great," I mumble, groaning as I put my phone away. I watch as the crowd grows, and I lose hope that we're going to make it to lunch.

The more I look around the store, the more I recognize it. The layout, the dressing room, all of it is the same as it was nearly two months ago when I came here with my sisters. The memories make my heart heavy, and I sigh. I miss them now more than ever.

With them, I never was subject to harsh comments, and I never had to hide. Even during our time in Ninjago, to my knowledge, people didn't really know about us, we were able to be us. When we were here, we were able to laugh and joke around without the fear of being mobbed.

The crowd grows even further to the point where I'm on the edge of it again. Yet again, I get up and move. No one seems to notice me as I move all the way back to the dressing room. I sigh, crossing my arms and looking at the clothing around me.

"Why aren't you up front with the rest of the people?" A voice interrupts me. I look up, and the same man who was working at the cash register when I first came here is standing over me. His hair is still short, although his beard is slightly longer now. He's still lanky, but seems even taller than before. "Hey, you're one of the girls who didn't know what a boy was!"

"That's me," I sigh. "And to answer your earlier question, I wasn't really interested in swarming my brother and boyfriend."

"Wait, so you didn't know what a boy was, yet one of the ninja is your brother?"

"It's a long story," I say as an attempt to get out of elaborating.

"Is your friend with the pink hair still single, if she ever was?" he asks, curiously about Seliel. 

"She's not in this realm," I tell him, blankly. An expression of shock crosses his face.

"I didn't expect that," he drifts off in thought. "If she ever comes back, I'm still single, if she's interested."

"She's going to be back soon. If I talk to her, I'll tell her," I say, even though I'll most likely forget.

"Nya, oh my gosh, I was so worried about you," Jay crawls out from under a clothing rack, talking quietly. I notice that his baseball cap is missing, "Oh, am I interrupting something?"

"N-not at all," the guy responds, obviously star struck. "I can close off this area of the store in an attempt to keep the people out, if you want, mister lightning ninja sir."

"Thank you. That'd be great," Jay tells him kindly. He quickly rushes off, moving some racks along the way to create not only an actual but a visual barricade. "I was so worried about you. I couldn't find you anywhere, and then I was stuck in the glob of people, and I tried to search in there for you, but you weren't there, so I made a run for it and..."

"I'm fine, Jay," I reassure him. "I can handle myself, you know."

"I do know, but I didn't know if somehow Mara and Ciara were in the realm, and if they were looking for you to do the same thing they did to the others who went against them," he admits, fear clear in his bright blue eyes. I wrap my arms around him, pulling him close. The familiar prickle of electricity floods through me at his touch, drawing me even closer to him.

"They aren't going to kill me, Jay. I don't have an elemental heir yet, and I'm the only living holder of the power. Unless they forced me to give away my powers before they killed me, which is highly unlikely, they can't kill me without bringing down Ninjago," I reassure him, pulling his head back to make sure we make eye contact.

"You're sure?"

"100%," I place a chaste kiss on his lips, to which he responds my digging his face into my neck.

"Kai and Cole are still in the crowd. Once they get out, we can try to work our way over to the restaurant."

"I'm guessing that'll take a while," I estimate.

"Most likely."

"I don't mind. We can finally enjoy some time alone now," I say, gently ruffling his hair. He scrunches up his nose, letting out an adorable laugh, before digging his face back into my neck.

"Finally, am I right?"

A/N sooo, Lloyd passed out, and they have no way to contact the ninja cause they turned off their phones. That's a tough one

Also, Llorumi is together. I bet you guys didn't expect that one

Next chapter, the girls are back in Ninjago. How do you all feel about that?

Also, IM ONE FOLLOWER AWAY FROM 200. That's absolutely insane. Additionally, Enmity hit 10K reads! 

Thank you all for everything. You're the best readers ever