*1-2 years ago, during the Son's of Garmadon/Hunted era*

Nya's POV

"I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of shooting. It seems like we just started filming last week," I admit, leaning back on Harumi's couch. Skylor sits on the opposite side of the couch from me, her scarlet hair tied up in a casual ponytail. Harumi sits on the ground, folding origami swans with Pix.

"Tell me about it. It seems like just yesterday I was auditioning for the role of the Jade princess. Little did I know that I'd actually get the role and that my character would become one of the main antagonists," Harumi says in awe as the folds the paper. Creasing the neck again, she holds up her creation.

"A role that you've absolutely killed, by the way," Skylor adds. "The way that you carry yourself out there is amazing, really."

"I'd like to second that," I join on. "You play the broken, evil girl perfectly. It's as if the viewer can feel the pain that your character feels when you look at Lloyd."

"Speaking of how I feel when I look at Lloyd, he came into my dressing room today before I was going to leave. He...he asked me to be his girlfriend," she informs us, blush covering her cheeks. Her green eyes are glowing.

"You said yes, right?" Skylor checks.

"Of course I did. I've liked him ever since we filmed last season," she tells us, a large smile on her face.

"I am so happy for you," I inform her, genuinely. "Lloyd's a really sweet guy."

"And yet again, the show pairings prevail," Skylor states.

"What do you mean?" Harumi asks.

"Every time two people are together in Ninjago, they end up getting together in real life. First, it was Pix and Zane, then Kai and me. Kai and Nya's parents got together after playing a married couple, and now you and Lloyd," Skylor explains.

"Our theory is that due to our characters being based on ourselves, if the characters are compatible in the show, the actors usually are too," PIXAL backs up Skylor's statement.

"Granted, there's one flaw in the model, but we all know that it'll work itself out over time," Skylor looks over at me, giving me an innocent smile.

"Jay's one of my best friends, but that's it. I'm with Gabe, remember?" I state.

Skylor and Pix both raise their eyebrows at me. "No offense, but Gabe is a manipulative douche. Besides, you've kissed both. Who's the better kisser?"

"That's a loaded question," I cross my arms, trying to avoid mentally comparing the kisses from my boyfriend and my show boyfriend because when I have before, I've gone too far down into the mental rabbit hole. Gabe is so forceful, so abrasive, as if I'm just an object to him. Jay on the other hand...

"It wouldn't be if you thought that your boyfriend was a better kisser," Skylor points out. She takes a long sip from the water bottle next to her.

"Oh, and during Sky..." Skylor starts, and I immediately glare at her, making her stop talking.

"I feel like I'm missing something," Harumi says. Pix nods in agreement before holding up her origami frog, proud of her work.

"It's nothing important."

A bing fills the room briefly. Pix pulls her phone out of her pocket and smiles. "Zane, Kai, Cole, and Jay have arrived safely from their flight from the desert where they've been filming for the past month. Zane just texted me that they landed."

"Ooo, you guys get to film your reunion scenes tomorrow, correct? I wasn't given the end of the script to prevent spoilers and because I died two episodes prior, but Lloyd's told me some about it," Harumi asks. The three of us nod.

"It is going to be enjoyable to film."

When I feel my phone vibrate next to me, I pick it up. Turning on my phone, I see my home screen that's of myself and Gabe, him standing next to me at the premiere of a movie we both were in. It used to be a picture of myself, Skylor, Pix, Seliel, and the guys on one of our nights out, but Gabe made me change it.

I swipe on the notification that I got, and it brings me to my texts.

Jay⚡️: We just landed! Can't wait to see you on set tomorrow! It's been way too long.

I can't help but let the smile grow across my face.

---

*three months after the last day of filming Prime Empire*

Nya's POV

"I knew they told us that we had a lot of promo today, but this seems like a bit of overkill. If I have to answer 'Why did we not see Nya's avatar in the trailer?' one more time, I'm going to lose it," I complain as Lloyd, Jay, and I are all driven to the spot of our final interview of the day.

Seeing as Lloyd, Jay, and I are the three that lasted the longest within Prime Empire, they sent us off to do promotion together today. Kai and Cole went off together because both were killed off earlier in the season during the Speedway 5,000,000,000. Zane and PIXAL are also off together doing promo.

"Just wait up until the week of the premiere. We're going to be swamped," Jay brings up. "It beats being home with Walter though. Like, as a kid I thought that it was impossible for him to have fun, but now I know it."

"Walter has always been boring. Remember that time that we locked him in his office for 4 hours, and he didn't even notice?" Lloyd brings up. He's lightly laughing.

"That was hilarious! We raided the fridge, and he didn't even notice until the day after."

"Mr. Gordon, Mr. Montgomery, Ms. Taylor, this is your stop," our private driver rolls down the little window separating us. Our security guards sit in the front with him. The three of them get out, one for each of us.

"Thank you, Wilbur. Your driving was amazing today, pure s tier material," Jay pats him on the shoulder before climbing out. Lloyd and I follow after. Because we didn't announce where we would be beforehand, there's not a crowd waiting for us.

"You're still rating stuff by that tier list?" I ask Jay, amused. His hair is a curly auburn mess, his eyes glowing as usual as he looks over at me. 

"Of course I am. Your hair right now is pretty s tier, I must say," he tells me. A cute little smile is on his lips.

"You're a dork," I smile back at him.

"What can I say? I'm the proud king of the Nya Taylor hype club."

The three of us walk into the door, along with our security guards. Instantly, we're escorted to a studio on the third floor. A white table is set up against a neutral, black backdrop. Three plastic, white chairs are on one side of the table while an interviewer sits on the other side. When she sees us, she stands up, excitement evident on her features.

"Hello, I'm Abigail Jenson, an editor and blogger at Fresh or Sketch. We're ready to start whenever you three are," she shakes each of our hands individually. She seems a bit starstruck, her eyes not moving off of the three of us, and it warms my heart. Her hair is in tight, light brown curls cut so they sit right above her shoulders.

"I think we're ready now," Lloyd says for the three of us. Jay and I nod in agreement. The four of us walk back to the table, sitting in the white chairs. I sit on the left, Jay next to me, and Lloyd next to him.

She asks us the typical questions, such as when the season is coming out and what it's about. We take turns answering the basic questions, letting each other talk and adding onto what they say. It's when she gets into more unique questions that it starts getting fun.

"What's your favorite part of the show as a whole? What do you think makes it unique as opposed to other shows?" she asks us. An answer pops into my head quickly, so I say it first.

"I like how much the show is based around its' actors. It makes the show a lot more realistic and helps avoid the common fallbacks and cliches that many shows fall into. It helps preserve multidimensional characters because we're all multidimensional people," I answer easily.

"Kind of adding onto that," Jay starts after I finish, "I find it really cool that the show actually casts our parents as our parents in the show. Granted, our parents all had acting experience in some shape or form, like how Nya's mom had done some projects when she was a teen, and how Kai's dad starred in a kid's show when he was young, but it makes it look even more realistic. Of course my parents weren't available to film, hence why I'm adopted in the show, but Cole, Lloyd, Nya, and Kai all have at least one of their parents in the show as their parents."

"What are each of your favorite memories from the show?"

"I'll go first," Lloyd adjusts himself in the chair, moving forward. He brushes some of his blonde hair out of his eyes. "Before I joined the cast, I was absolutely in love with the show. It made sense, both my dad and my little brother, Liam, were in it. I was always confused why they named the character after me and not him, but I assumed that it was just a pun on 'Lord Garmadon', so I didn't think much about it. Then, when planning season 2, the producers called my dad up and were like, 'We have this really cool idea, but we need both of your boys to agree on it.' That initial moment of joy when I heard that I could be on the show, that's probably my favorite moment."

"I still can't believe they kept that a secret from the fans up until the episodes aired. I was so impressed," Jay admits before clearing his throat. "I've told this story dozens of times already, but it's about the actual planning of my character. I was initially supposed to be the master of wind/air, but everyone knew it was wrong. It just didn't match, ya know? So later on, Nya and I were hanging out at my house, and then she was looking at the pictures on the wall and saw a picture of me in a flash costume, and the whole idea of me being the master of lightning came to her. She suggested it, and I absolutely loved it, so we called up the show writers, and they loved it. The moment was just so cool, and now seeing how influential that has been in the effects and stuff, I personally enjoy it."

"For me, my favorite moment is probably when they told me that I was going to be a ninja. I always wanted to be one, but Nya didn't have an elemental power, so I was like 'alright, that makes sense', but then when they told me she actually did have a power, I was just so excited. I remember calling Jay right after the meeting and being like, 'Guess what? I'm a ninja now!'" I wrap up our answers for the question.

"Your fan base is very large and very dedicated, and everyone knows it. Have there ever been any of them that have especially stood out to you?"

"Ooo, ooo, ooo," Jay gets excited, wanting to be the one to answer. I smile watching my co-star get so excited. "There is this group of people in the fandom who absolutely adore Griffin, and when I say adore, I mean adore. I was added to the group chat they have, as were some of the actors who they had the follows of, and they genuinely get so excited talking about him. 

When season 9 came around, we kept it a secret that the other elemental masters were returning, so they had no idea that he was going to be in it. As a surprise, since I could tell just how much they loved the show, I got them all tickets to the season 9 premiere, and their reaction when Griffin came on the screen was one of my favorite things ever. They were even able to meet him there, which I'm happy about because they deserved it."

"I love the theorists, everyone who comes up with theories. Sometimes when I'm bored, I'll read through them, and even I'll genuinely start to believe them because they're pieced together so well and that are just so neat. I really like the ones that link Nya and Delara ancestrally," I admit.

"Now, before we end our interview, is there anything you want to say to your fans?"

"We love you all. Without you all, there would be no Ninjago," Lloyd says, blowing a kiss to the fans.

"Yeah, your constant support over the years has been absolutely insane! Hopefully Prime Empire meets your expectations, because it sure as heck met mine."

"You all are the most amazing fan base ever. We love you all!" I finish off the interview.

"...and the cameras are off. Thank you three for giving us your time," the man standing behind one of the cameras says.

"The pleasure is all ours. You all did a great job," I reassure them as I stand up from the white chair. Placing my hands on my lower back, I stretch out.

"Yeah, that interview was pretty fun. Do you all need us to stay for anything?" Lloyd asks, and they shake their heads.

"Great, it's pretty late, and I say the three of us go out to dinner together," Jay wraps one arm around my shoulder, the other around Lloyd's.

"That sounds great. I've been wanting sushi for months now, but Gabe won't eat it because he's convinced it'll poison him," I smile looking at the two of them. It seems like so long since we've been able to hang out. We're always so busy, and Gabe usually takes up all of my free time.

"I know I say that Cole is a party pooper sometimes, but Gabe really is the king of pooping on the party, I mean the guy..." Lloyd opens the door out to the hallway, and when we see who is waiting at the door, our eyes widen.

"Nya, you said you'd be done by 5," Gabe looks at me, his arms crossed. His brown, nearly black, eyes are glared, looking at Jay's arm draped around my shoulder. I shrug his arm off, his growing frown in my peripherals.

"Things fell behind schedule," I inform him.

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't think that I had to, considering I was going to drive myself home," I explain my thought process.

"Yeah, well I had a fancy pasta dinner set up for the two of us back at home, but when you were late, I gave up and ate it all, so it wouldn't get cold and go to waste. Then, I show up here, and he has his arm around you," he glares at Jay, telling me everything passive aggressively. "No good deed goes unpunished I see."

My heart is in my stomach. "Look, I have my arm around Lloyd, too. That doesn't mean I want to get with Lloyd." Jay explains, pulling Lloyd tighter into his side.

"Jay," I glare back at him, knowing that he's not helping. I look back at Gabe, my chest tight. "I'm sorry."

"You should be," he takes a step closer to me. "However, there's a way you could make it up to me back at our place," his hand runs up and down my arm as he looks down at my chest. My blood runs cold as a knot forms deep in my stomach.

"We should get going then," I say, not wanting to make him any angrier than he already is. He brings his lips to mine for a quick kiss.

He starts to drag me away, and I look back at Jay and Lloyd. "Raincheck?"

"Yeah, raincheck," Jay gives me a weak smile, and so does Lloyd. Both of them know that as long as Gabe knows where I am, we're not going to be able to hang out.

A/N Chapter 2 done! I felt motivated, so I wrote it (sorry Unanimity). I don't know how I feel about it, but hey, it's here

Any questions about the fic itself or how the show works?

Thoughts on the chapter?

Thank you all for reading! I'm so ready to get this book moving it's insane!