Lyra gazed at her new room. It was a bit smaller than her old one, but she didn't mind. The walls and floors were made of wood. In the corner, there was a simplistic queen bed with light indigo sheets, a pale purple comforter, and a diamond-patterned, grape-coloured bedspread. Her new purchases were neatly stacked on a wooden table in the corner, minus her phone, which was in her pocket, and her tripod and music stand, which were tucked away in the closet.

The best thing about it was that it was soundproofed. All the rooms in the Destiny's Bounty were, because the ninja often stayed up late playing video games or training when Sensei Wu just wanted to sleep peacefully.

Lyra glanced at her flute and trumpet cases. They were her favourite instruments and the only ones she felt like bringing from the island. She considered playing one of them, but decided she should probably tell people she was moving in, first. She was pretty sure only Nya and Sensei Wu knew.

Just then, she heard a knock on her door. She rushed to open the silver doorknob.

Lloyd stood there, his adorable green eyes sparkling. "Sensei told me you're moving in."

"Yep." Lyra grinned at his excitement. "Everything's unpacked already."

"Perfect. I know you've seen most of the Bounty already, but do you wanna official tour?"

"Of course!" 

Lloyd grasped her hand, intertwining her fingers with his. Lyra felt the usual warmth creep up her cheeks. She looked up and was met with his soft gaze. His kind green eyes still held that unrecognizable emotion, that layer that she'd never seen in anyone else's eyes before.

They walked out of her room, still holding hands.

"That's the training room," Lloyd said, pointing to a room with a closed door. "We train on the deck more often than we train in here, but we use it sometimes."

He opened the door. The room was a bit bigger than Lyra's bedroom. There were training dummies and punching bags piled up in the corner, and weapons strewn across the wood floor.

Lloyd quickly closed the door with a fake laugh. "Sorry, guess we forgot to clean it."

"I've done that before with Sky," Lyra admitted, waving a hand in dismissal.

"The next room is the video game/chill room." Lloyd slid his hand out of Lyra's, opened the door, and bowed, beckoning Lyra in. "M'lady."

He offered her his arm and she accepted it, giggling. She tried to ignore the rush of heat that ran through her entire body at the prospect of being so close.

"This is much nicer than the training room," Lyra noted as she scanned the area.

There was a huge teal couch in the middle of it, facing a large flat screen T.V. The T.V. was on a stand with many shelves underneath it. On those shelves were things such as remotes, video game controllers, video game consoles, and device chargers. Armchairs and rocking chairs were spread across the room.

"It's our favourite room, so we're more inclined to keep it tidy," Lloyd explained.

They turned around and went through the door. Lloyd's arm was still around Lyra's, much to her delight.

"That's the laundry room," Lloyd pointed to a small room at the end of the hallway.

"Oh, can I go quickly put a load in?" Lyra asked. "I'm on my last hoodie right now."

Lloyd nodded, and Lyra darted back to her room, grabbed her entire backpack, and ran back. She put the clothing in the washer, then frowned at the row of different detergents they had.

"Everyone has a different preference," Lloyd said. "Here, you can use mine."

Lyra took the half-full container, pouring a bit in. It was green, because that's just how Lloyd was. "Thanks. I really gotta go and get my own soon."

"No need. You can use mine as long as you want. Now, shall we?" he offered his arm again with a grin.

Lyra smirked back and took it. "We shall."

They went on to the deck next, which was by far the most interesting area so far, in Lyra's opinion.

"So, the training equipment goes under the floor when you're done with it?" she confirmed. At Lloyd's nod, she sighed. "This ship is so big, I could get lost in it."

"Says the palace girl," he teased, a sparkle in his eyes as he nudged her. 

Lyra rolled her eyes, though she couldn't suppress the grin that made its way onto her face. "Touché."

Lloyd turned to leave, but was stopped as Lyra dragged him back. "Wait..." she hesitated, not sure if she should ask what she wanted.

"Yeah?" Lloyd sent her a boyish smile that had her knees weak.

"D-do you think I could try the course?" Lyra cursed herself as she stuttered. She never stuttered. What was with this boy?

"Of course!" Lloyd beamed. "Lemme show you how--"

"I wanna try by myself, first," she interrupted. "Seems like cheating to do otherwise, y'know?"

"Ok, then." Lloyd sat down, unlinking their arms in the process. "Good luck! This took me two months to master. Also, we aren't allowed to use powers."

"Oh..." Lyra glanced at the course again. It seemed to be just a few basic poles to avoid. Maybe she shouldn't try this without a demonstration. But she was too far set on it to stop now. "Whatever. If I fail, I fail, right?"

When she got within three feet of the course, it came to life with a whir. She gaped at the wooden poles and floorboards, which now resembled treadmills, except much, much scarier.

"First rule of being a ninja: never let your guard down," Lloyd called. Lyra didn't have to turn to know he was smirking. "Actually, that's the second or third rule. The first rule is to never quit."

Lyra shook her head. The ninja trained with this? She didn't even know how you were supposed to beat the course, much less how to go about doing it!

"Ninja never quit," she repeated, before running headfirst at the course.

Two poles swung sideways to block her path. Surprised, she ducked under them, only for a punching bag to hit her left side. She staggered back, disoriented, then got hit in the back with another pole.

She fell to the ground and rolled away from the two. She looked down and gulped as a trapdoor opened up and she began to fall.

Lyra managed to grab onto the side of the floor and she dangled there, one hand swinging below and one holding her up. Her legs kicked the empty space below them, trying to find anything solid.

"Hey, Lloyd?" she called.

"Yeah?" Lloyd voice responded, sounding much closer than before.

"Are you allowed to use weapons on the course?"

"As long as you don't break anything, yeah. But how--"

Lloyd was cut off as Lyra unsheathed her dagger with her right hand and stabbed it into the floor above. She pushed it down into the ground as far as she could, then pulled herself up until she could push herself onto the ground with her left hand, which was still holding her up. She collapsed on the floor, then, remembering she was in the middle of the course, stood up and sheathed her Jade Blade.

A training dummy appeared out of nowhere and tried to hit her with a dull, wooden sword. She jumped on top of it, then grabbed onto a horizontal wooden pole suspended in the air nearby. She swung back, grasping onto it tightly, and used her momentum to fly at another training dummy nearby.

The dummy must've had motion sensors, because it swung around, and, with a boxing glove, it punched her.

Lyra went flying. She flinched, ready to hit a wall, but was stopped by two arms.

She looked up at Lloyd in surprise, who quickly lowered her to the ground and took a swift step back. He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away, cheeks as red as Lyra was sure hers were. "Told you I should show you how to do it first. I've never seen someone get that far on their first try, though, so good job."

Lyra opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come out, so she closed it.

"Anyways, wanna go to the kitchen?" Lloyd asked. "Pretty sure we have some Froot Loops left, if you want some."

The unfamiliar words made Lyra unfreeze. "Froot Loops? What are those?"

Lloyd gasped and put a hand to his heart. "You've never had Froot Loops? Now that is a tragedy."

Lyra blinked, staring blankly. "Are they a kind of fruit?"

Lloyd shook his head at her naivety. "No. They're much, much better than any type of fruit you've ever had."

"Well, then, what are they?" Lyra asked, bewildered as Lloyd steered her toward the kitchen. "They wouldn't be a vegetable, right?"

Lloyd scoffed. "Never in a million years."

He opened the door to the kitchen. It had a white tile floor, brown cupboards, gray countertops, and off-white, extremely tall walls. There were two silver fridges in the corner, and a white mini-fridge by the door.

Lyra watched Lloyd climb up on the counter to retrieve something from the cupboards. Yes, they were so high up that even Lloyd couldn't reach the top of them.

That means I can't reach them, either, since we're around the same height, Lyra absent-mindedly thought.

Lyra hadn't even realized she knew that until she thought about it. She generally didn't pay attention to height when things like death were happening around her. Lloyd was at most 5'10"/178cm, which would only be about half an inch taller than Lyra.

She liked that, though. She found it fairly annoying to constantly look up at someone. Of course, she was sure she wouldn't have minded if it was Lloyd she had to look up at, but it was nice not having to crane her neck to see his pretty eyes.

"These are Froot Loops!" Lloyd announced, jumping off the counter with catlike grace, a red cereal box in hand.

"Those look like rainbow Cheerios," Lyra deadpanned as she peered closer at the side of the box. There was a toucan on it, for whatever reason.

"Yeah, but they have sugar! And sugar just makes everything in life better," Lloyd claimed.

Lyra shrugged. She may as well give it a try.

Lloyd handed her a bowl, a spoon, and a carton of milk. She placed everything on the counter and opened the box, which was only half-full. She poured the round, colourful cereal into the bowl, then added the milk.

"Good, you put cereal first," Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief. "If you didn't, I might've had to kick you off the ship."

Lyra frowned. "What's the point in putting the milk first? Then the cereal will splash."

"Jay does it to annoy us."

"Weirdo." Lyra paused as a delectable scent drifted to her nose. She moved closer to the bowl, inhaling deeply. "Oh my goodness."

"Good, right?" Lloyd grinned.

It carried the strong smell of vanilla, as well as hints of citrus, berry, and cotton candy. Basically, it was the best thing in the entire freaking world.

"Is there a Froot Loops perfume?" Lyra murmured, eyes lidded in bliss. "I need this in my life."

Lloyd shrugged. "I bet if you eat enough of it, the scent will enter your bloodstream."

"No one can smell your blood, though, so it'd be useless," Lyra pointed out as Lloyd let the way to their dining room, which was connected to the kitchen by an oak door.

"Except mosquitoes," Lloyd said as they sat down. At some point, he'd poured himself some of the colourful cereal, too.

"Well, I'd prefer not to be targeted by those, so I guess I'll have to limit my intake," Lyra murmured. She shoveled a spoonful of the Froot Loops into her mouth, then froze.

"Best thing you ever tasted?"

Lyra didn't reply. They tasted even better than they smelled. It was like there was a rainbow in her mouth, no matter how ridiculous the idea seemed. She gulped them down then quickly replaced them with another spoonful.

"I'll take that as a yes," Lloyd chuckled.

As Lyra ate, he stared at her. She didn't take much note of it until she was done the cereal--which happened within five minutes, because it was so good.

"Shoot, do I have milk on my chin?" Lyra frantically wiped a hand on her face, checking for any remains of her lunch.

Lloyd shook his head, seeming to come out of a daze. "Sorry, no. You're just..."

Oh, did I eat too quickly? Lyra panicked. I'm sure that was pretty fucking unladylike of me.

"Sorry," she squeaked. "I didn't mean to, it was just so good, and--"

"Incredible," Lloyd breathed. The emotion was back in his eyes, yet amplified tenfold.

Lyra stared at his eyes, trying to register what he'd just said. She must have imagined it. She had to have imagined it, because there was no way a guy with eyes that were currently shifting shades in the flickering light thought she was incredible. She was just...Lyra, plain and simple. Not exactly unspectacular, but definitely not incredible.

Lloyd's eyes widened, and he clapped a hand over his mouth. "Oh, shit, I meant--"

The door slammed open. Lyra jumped out of her chair, turned, and unsheathed her daggers.

Kai and Jay stared blankly at her. The latter's hands were held up in surrender, while the former didn't seem to understand what was happening.

Lyra lowered her Jade Blades. "Whoops, sorry."

Jay nodded, hands still raised in the air. "Right. So...incredible reflexes, scary stare, aggressive when needed...remind me again to never get on your bad side."

Lyra flushed as she sheathed her weapons. "My bad."

"What are you guys doing here?" Lloyd asked. "Weren't you working on a project or something?"

Kai shrugged. "We took a break."

"Nya told us Lyra moved in, so we decided to formally welcome her," Jay explained. There was an unnatural glint in his blue eyes.

"Don't you dare," Lloyd seethed.

Jay and Kai grinned.

"Um...don't you dare what?" Lyra asked.

"Well, there's this little initiation thing we do, every time someone moves in with us," Jay explained. "You just gotta beat any one of us in a fight. You can take as long or as little as--"

Lyra unsheathed her daggers again, then ran up to him. Jay, stunned for a second, managed to move out of the way, but she held her left Blade out to the side of him, so he couldn't escape.

Her hands glowed, and she ordered the particles to almost enter his eyes. Enough for him to be temporarily blinded, but not enough for it to hurt that badly. Probably. Hopefully.

Thankfully, her theory was proved true. Jay cried out, not in pain but in confusion, as his surroundings were replaced with a bright purple light. Lyra pinned her right Jade Blade into the fabric above his shoulder and forced him back into the wall. He tried to get free, but the dagger planted into the wood held fast.

Lyra placed the other dagger to his neck, for good measure. Not the blade side, of course, but the flat side.

"Holy," Jay whimpered.

Kai and Lloyd burst out laughing. Zane, Nya, and Cole, who must've been behind Jay and Kai when they first walked in, joined them.

"I think that's initiation over, no?" Lyra confirmed with a smirk.

Of course, if this were an actual, fair battle, she totally would've lost to Jay, a boy who'd been hardcore training in different martial arts and weapons for about three years. But it wasn't an actual fight--or a fair one, as Lyra had abused the element of surprise--and, since he was caught so off-guard, she'd beaten him.

"Welcome to the Destiny's Bounty," Kai answered her, hand up for a high-five.

Lyra shot him an unimpressed look. "Did I pass the initiation or not?"

"After saying that, you did," Lloyd said. He was still chuckling a bit.

"Yeah, now let me see, please," Jay whined. "What will I do if I never get to look at Nya's beautiful face again?"

The girl in question blushed and looked away, hiding her face with her short black hair.

"Well, when you put it that way," Lyra relented, absorbing the purple particles and unpinning Jay from the wall.

"Can't believe you did that," Jay muttered, rolling his shoulder with a wince. "So unfair."

"You just said not to get on my bad side not even five minutes ago," Lyra deadpanned. "You must have a pretty bad memory."

"Well, I thought you'd choose Nya," he admitted.

"And why is that?" Nya demanded, putting a hand on her hip.

"Yeah, Jay, why is that?" Lyra had to pinch her thigh to keep herself from giggling as she watched the poor, short boy stumble over his words.

"I--well--girls," he murmured. His eyes widened as he realized what he'd just said. "I mean, I thought you'd want to fight her because, honestly...she's badass. I mean, so are the rest of us, but she's on a whole 'nother level of badassery." Jay gave her a twisted grin. "You, too, I guess."

Nya's face turned redder than her brother's gi.

"Thanks, I think?" Lyra questioned. "But no, I wanted to fight you because you were right there and your face looks very punchable."

Jay didn't look surprised. "I've heard that one before." He held up a hand to high-five Lyra. "Thanks for not actually ruining my perfect face. Can't go around marring my boyish features."

Lyra high-fived him, then jumped as a current of electricity passed through her hand. She glared at him. "You shocked me!"

"It's just payback, Lyric," he said with a faux sweet smile.

Lyric? she wanted to ask. Is that a nickname? I've never had a nickname before. Huh. She definitely didn't dislike it.

"Well, Jay..." Lyra trailed off, realizing she didn't know his last name. "Blue?" she guessed.

The uproarious laughter bursting from the ninja and Nya told her that his last name was not, in fact, Blue.

"His surname is Walker," Zane informed her.

Lyra quickly recovered. "Well, Jay Walker, consider us even." She frowned. "Wait, your name is Jay Walker? As in...jaywalking?"

"Yup," Cole confirmed with a grin.

"That's even worse than Jay Blue!" she cried.

"Thanks a lot," Jay muttered as everyone laughed even louder. "But anyways, since you passed your initiation, I formally welcome you to call the Destiny's Bounty your home for as long as you wish."

Lyra grinned.

Home.

Despite only being there for a few short hours, it felt more like the home she was searching for than anything else she'd ever experienced.

~*~

"No! Zane," Lyra groaned. "Can't you at least let me win out of pity? Because it's my first time playing?"

The ninja, Nya, and Lyra were situated on and around the big teal couch in the video game room, in the middle of a Super Smash Bros tournament. Lyra was pretty sure she was losing. Probably because she'd never played before.

She'd chosen Palutena as her "main," whatever that meant, simply because she was very pretty, to the point where Lyra knew she'd have a crush on her if she actually existed. Apparently, she was fairly strong, too. If she was played correctly. Lyra barely understood the controls, so she definitely wasn't playing her correctly.

Who knew video games could be so complicated but also fun? Can't believe Father never let me play them.

"If I always go easy on you, you'll never get better," Zane replied.

"This is my first time ever playing a video game," Lyra reminded him. "It's not like I'm gonna be good at it!"

"You're actually doing really good, for this being your first time," Lloyd complimented.

Lyra blushed and looked at him, only for her eyes to be dragged back to the TV screen as her poor green-haired character got thrown off the stage by Jay's Mega Man.

"And...that was my last life...or stock, or whatever," she sighed. "Thanks a lot."

She handed her controller to Nya, who had been waiting for her turn for over thirty minutes, and they watched as Zane and Jay fought to see who'd win the first match. Kai was cheering on Zane, and Lloyd was cheering for Jay. Meanwhile, Cole was sulking in the corner of the room, muttering about how Lyra, a first-timer, had beaten Zero Suit Samus.

Lyra left the couch so Nya could sit down. She made her way behind it, standing beside Lloyd. He handed her a few dry Froot Loops, and she quickly took them before any of the ninja could steal them.

Because apparently they stole food from each other. For no good reason other than to be annoying. Which was...well, annoying.

"Thanks," she murmured, stuffing a bit in her hoodie's pockets and eating the rest.

"No prob--"

The ninja and Nya erupted in cheers. Lyra jumped, startled, then turned to see that the fight was over. The screen said:

#1
Zane.

Beside it was Zane's character--Wii Fit Trainer--in a victory pose. Underneath, it showed:

#2
Zappy_Zap

Mega Man, Jay's character, was underneath. Beside it, the screen read:

#3
Lyr1c

Palutena was directly under those words. Lyra didn't know how to change her username to Lyra, as Jay had helped her set up her controller, but she didn't really mind it.

#4
Cole_is_b3st

Zero Suit Samus looked dejected on the screen. Lyra almost felt bad for Cole, who was wearing the same expression on his face.

Almost.

"Zane is the winner!" Nya announced. "Next round starts in 10 minutes! The players are as follows: Lloyd, Kai, Nya, and Cole. Lloyd as Young Link, Kai as Pit, Nya as Inkling, and Cole as Zero Suit Samus. Starting the timer...now!"

She pulled out her phone and pressed a button. Probably to set the timer.

Lyra gasped as the ninja all rushed out of the room. The only ones left were her, who was stunned and half-frozen, and Lloyd, who was laughing at her expression.

"It takes some getting used to, but eventually all the chaos will feel natural," he promised. He grabbed a few more Froot Loops and offered them to her. "I was very confused when I first joined the ninja, but now it's home."

Lyra accepted them, a small smile present on her face. "Thanks."

Home.

Hiii hruuu

Word count: 3.6k

Just a short lil chapter for today

QOTD: What's the longest you've gone without sleep (and why)?

A: About 24 hours. I was with my friends and we were having a lot of fun and I didn't feel like sleeping. I regretted it later, though, because it was absolutely exhausting.

Please do comment and/or vote (especially voting if you liked the chapter) because they help give me motivation to write this more often!

Please remember to drink water, eat food, get an appropriate amount of sleep for your age, and overall take care of yourself<3

~Aspen