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Chapter Text

The Oni had been defeated.

Kai could swear it felt like eternity since the battle against the 'Sons of Garmadon' then, followed up by the Oni, just their luck huh? With everything that happened in the first realm on top of that? Kai was about ready to pass out for the next year and a half. Maybe the rest of his life. Sometimes he really wished he had an off button like Zane. Did the nindroid even have that anymore? Kai hadn't been keeping up with his upgrades enough to know. The more important thing was that his hair gel was starting to lose its effectiveness by now. Running a tanned hand through the admittedly greasy locks, he moved the drooping spikes out of his eyes, only to gag as his hand got stuck and tangled. Grumbling Kai was forced to rip it out of his mop of luscious hair and scowled at the red paint that covered his hand, now with a few strands of hair stuck to it. Beside him he could hear Jay stifle a laugh. 

"Think this's funny moter mouth?" With that, the red paint covered hand was mashed onto Jays face, covering it in paint, causing his teammate to yelp.

"Dude! No fair!" The lightning ninja exclaimed, and suddenly all eyes had moved from the mural to the two ninja. Who had by now fallen into wiping paint on each other, a mess of yelling limbs.

"Not the hair!"

"Watch my eyes!"

"I swear to the First Spinjutsu Master, Jay if you ruin my Gi-"

"Oh dont you-"

Cole hauled Kai up and off of Jay's now paint covered form with one arm, and Lloyd raised his hands slightly in a waving motion. "Whoa whoa, that's enough, we're meant to be cele-" splat. Nya's hand connected with the green ninjas cheek and the girl grinned while Lloyd stood agape before snapping his head around to face her and grinning back with revenge on his mind. His green covered hand reached forward and Nya darted out of his reach while Jay cheered her on and Cole groaned holding Kai still.

This paint-war continued for a good hour, most of the non-ninja having already left and fresh pain getting smeared around as they went, Jay had even managed to antagonise Cole into joining the free-for-all. The six of them were all covered in various degrees of paint (That was meant to be used for the monastery, Wu would groan.) as Skylor and said old man watched from the sidelines. And it seemed, for the first time in awhile, the young heroes were having fun. 

It was a nice change of pace from the constant battles they'd taken part in for the past few months. One after the other, seemingly showing up out of no where at the worse possible moment. 

That was, until it wasn't. Of course.

Kai was the first to notice, snapping his head up to the sky as a portal made of four colours gaped open above them, and a painfully familiar time traveling mech came tumbling out. By now the rest of the ninja, Skylor and Master Wu had turned their attention to it. Yet, before any of them could move, let alone shout, the, notably empty, mech crashed to the ground and a shock wave was sent out.

Bracing themselves, Kai hissed in effort and the team skid back. It took them a few seconds to recover. This wasn't so bad, surely, after all it wasn't like the thing could even do anything without the Time Blades.

"Wha-" Jays attempted blabbering was cut off by the second wave, this time, instead of going outwards, it seemed to swell in a ball of mixed light.

And in a flash, the ninja were gone.

He just had to jinx it didn't he?

Chapter Text

Lloyd could tell you in explicit detail, that being forced through time was not a fun experience, nor was dying and he could tell you about that too. Yet, by far the worse part of the experience was being spat out like gone-off cotton candy and landing back first onto solid stone. That was going to bruise. Around him he could hear groan's like his own and could only assume the rest of his team was lucky enough to get a similar lading spot to him, it may have been petty but that satisfied him a little bit, at least he wasn't the only one suffering this time. His bones ached as he tried to move, letting out a hiss though baited breath, struggling to push himself up to his elbows, at least he had managed to open his eyes.

Speaking of opening his eyes, the first thing he noticed when he did so was the fact that they were in the monastery, the 'still standing and not burnt down and rebuilt several hundred times' monastery. The second thing was that his friends were in various similar degrees of pain around him, most trying to stand, Jay specifically seemed content to take a nap where he had landed. 

The third thing he noticed was the group of eerily familiar people surrounding them, only having seen them in pictures and paintings.

The fourth, and last thing he noticed, as he tried to sit up more what the noticeable prick of a blade being held to his throat. As his vision finally stopped spinning completely, he looked up towards the man holding said blade and his jaw, figuratively, dropped. He was in too much pain to actually preform the dramatic motion. 

"Dad...?" As Lloyds voice, though small and horse, sounded around the courtyard, the former footsteps and voices simmered down, and it became painfully quiet as Lloyd realised his fatal mistake and paled as Garmadon, young and very much not a dad yet, Garmadon, looked at him with utter confusion and slight concern. Even his fellow ninja had fallen silent, though he could still hear Kai trying to stand up behind him. 

Lloyd felt sweat build on his brow at the seemingly impending silence. 

It was a stupid mistake, really, Lloyd remembered what Kai and Nya had said about changing the past and how it could effect the future, hell, he remembered watching Ninjago city change while his two siblings were in the past. 'Way to go Lloyd, just blurt out everything why dont you?' He grumbled in his own mind. The eerie silence was really getting to him. 

That was, until it was broken by a bubbly blond dressed in blue, swinging her arm around his dads shoulders, with slight difficulty Lloyd noted, his dad was a good two heads taller then the woman, but that didn't seem to stop her as she grinned down towards Lloyds bruised form. With a raised eye brow she spoke chirpily. "I don't think's he's your dad kiddo!" Lloyd gulped and the woman cheekily elbowed his dad in the ribs, more like the abdomen but that wasn't the point. "Unless you mean daddy" Lloyd choked, understandably, at that and started coughing because 'what in the FSMs name', to his utter horror, around him he could hear most of his team struggling to keep from laughing, Jay was loudly cackling behind him and Lloyd had half the mind to turn around and glare, maybe turn around and hit him once the pain died down.

The sword was no longer at his throat as Garmadon had put it away in favour of smacking the woman on the back of her head. "Dont be so crude Libber."

The blond rolled her eyes. "Trying to give em' the good oldest son of the First Spinjutsu Master act eh?" She smirked and Lloyds dad (Was he even able to call him that in his mind anymore? After everything?) rolled his eyes, childishly sticking his tongue out at her and opening his mouth to reply, that was, before another voice cut into the conversation with a cough.

Lloyd recognized the man as a younger version of Master Wu. His hair was luckily much better then it had been in the first realm, at least according to the scribbled pictures Jay had made while trying to tell the story. He'd have to ask the rest of the group later.

"I think that's enough squabbling-" Garmadon rolled his eyes and Libber snorted- "for today, we need to address the situation at hand."

"Blondie calling the big guy dad, the portal or the rest of the little gremlins?" A man that looked similar to Kai spoke up, Lloyd could easily place him as a younger version of Ray with his arms crossed. With that it was easy to guess the woman next to him was Maya, who had stepped on his foot to shut him up. The same as always he guessed, if only a little less reserved.

"The 'Little Gremlins', we dont yet know their intentions" Master Wu (Or was it just Wu right now?) said with exasperation beyond his years, at least in looks. He finally turned to face Lloyd, who'd at last managed to get himself up right, pointedly ignoring the pain in his legs, a feat his team had also managed to achieve, though Jay had the help of Nya. Green eyes met red as Lloyd sweat profusely under the gaze of so many people, specifically the younger versions of his dad and uncle. 

This day wasn't going to be fun was it?

At least he had his family here, he remembered as he felt Cole lay a hand on his shoulder, pulling him to his feet like a fawn. He felt safer now that he was surrounded by his team, who had taken the time to get to their feet, huddled together now as, what Lloyd could only assume was the majority of the elemental alliance, watched them. The tense silence was broken once again by the blonde woman, Libber his father had called her? Yeah it was Libber.

Libber stretched a popped her back slightly, yawning. "I get your point daddies boy, but I dont think they really want to be here." She observed, dramatically pointing at them, "Look at them, they have anxiety! Huddled together like ducklings!" She hopped forward and got in Jays face. "I think we're scaring them, Garm you're scaring them!" Garmadon sputtered at that and glared.

"What did I do? I'm literally standing here?!" He complained.

"It's the menacing eyes."

"You can't see my eyes properly from where they're standing."

"They glow and you look so angry- Oh hey! Blondies eyes are green to, maybe-"

"Shut up motormouth."

Libber turned and stuck a specific finger up at him for that, before turning her attention back to his team, her manicured nails tapping where her hands were placed on her hips. "Why don't we get them inside, that fall must of hurt their backs, looked at bad as the time Ray and Garmy fell off that cliff and landed straight into the ocean." Ray and Garmadon glared at her for that memory.

"Fell off a cliff...?" Lloyd said confused and slightly dazed, only half aware he even spoke. This had to be a fever dream, right? 

Libber practically leapt on the opportunity to share the story, ushering the group inside as they heard Ray and Garmadon groan, Wu sputtering as the others only rolled their eyes and followed silently. Beside them, an older man dressed in blue and white eyed them with clear suspicion, leading to most of them nervously glancing around as the large group was filtered into what seemed to be a living room. Lloyd, after a moment in thought, tuned in to what Libber was saying again.

"-and then, you wont even guess, this serpentine warrior, SPAT his venom straight at Ray, and this dumb little hothead decided that instead of ducking or moving to the side, he'd grasp the back of Garms gi and drag them both backwards, and in a moment of pure horror, over stepped and sent them both stumbling off the cliff, let me tell you, it was scary at the time, but the pure look on their faces was hilarious! You know what their last words would of been?" Libber eagerly, and rhetorically asked, looking at Kai expectantly. 

Lloyd watched Kai shift under to woman gaze and stumbled to respond, "Uh, no?" was all he could muster up with her so close to his face, visibly sweating. 

"Ray said 'Well that was a bad idea' and Garm only screamed 'YOU IDIOT' at the top of his lungs!" She cackled, finding it much funnier then it actually was, having lowered her voice for when each of the people in her story had spoken, low for Ray and comically low for Garmadon. Said two men stood and had the gall to roll their eyes on the side lines, watching the group wearily but with little active hostility like the old man was. There was another woman as well, dressed in blacks and oranges, who silently watched them, she kind of reminded them of Cole, despite her silence her gaze felt warm.

And from the way Cole had been eyeing her since she'd come into his view, there was a likely reason as to why.

Lloyd half expected Libber to continue onto another story before Wu laid a hand on the woman's shoulder, the ninja would admit to expecting him to say something cryptic or sagely about 'saving your words' but instead, he pushed her off the couch and took her placed in front of them like nothing happened.

The ninja only staired as Wu smiled tightly, only the stubble of his well known beard on his face.

"Now, while Liberty was rambaling-" "Rude!" "We determined that you aren't a threat-" How, Lloyd didn't know, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in a mouth. "-but the question still remains..." Wu paused, as if for dramatic effect.

"Oh get on with it!" That was Garmadon, Lloyd noted, coughing to smother a laugh as Wu glared towards his brother.

"Ignore my stupid brother-" "Again, rude." "Who are you all?"

That question shattered the happy image and the ninja looked at each other nervously, not exactly knowing how to respond to that question, 'hi we're your kids from the future and we just kind of ended up in your front yard with no-way home, really sorry about that guys' Yeah that wouldn't really work.

Lloyd opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

Well fiddle sticks...

Chapter Text

Cole was not having a good time.

Not one bit, if anything he felt like throwing up, which was weird because he'd eaten a cake that Zane of all people (Nindroids?) had made recently and wasn't willing to ruin his taste buds. But he could guess that looking into the face of your long dead, albeit younger, mother did that too you. He could only imagine how Lloyd felt too. Cole's eyes darted to look towards said blond, who seemed to be increasingly pale, Cole could sympathise. He wasn't ready to hear his mother voice again.

"Well?" It was like honey, like it always had been. As always though, it held an edge Cole remembered hearing whenever he'd forget to do a chore or throw a tantrum. It bought a pained smile to his face at the memories, bitter sweet. 

He wanted to cry, but there was no way in the all 16 realms he would let that happen. The rest of his team, his new family was on edge and they needed someone to rely on right now. He wouldn't fail them like that.  He spotted a Lloyd opening and closing his mouth lamely. Clearly scrambling for an answer. Cole scrambled for an answer too, they shouldn't tell them the truth, that would only end badly, messing up the time line like that could have devastating effects.

That's why, when Libbers freckled face got into Jays, Cole forcefully suppressed a groan. "Was that sparks?!" The woman asked in awe.

Jay's head snapped down to look at his hands, which evidently, had nervous sparks emitting from them like they always did when the boy was on edge. Quickly and with the suability of a newborn fawn trying to stand he shoved his hands into his pockets and gave Libber a lopsided grin. "No?" It was more of a question then a statement. 

The blond opened her mouth to speak again when Cole heard a sudden hiss of pain and a light thud, he, along with most of the room, turned to face the sound. Seeing Garmadon with a hand tangled in his hair and back against the wall. A look of concern forcefully flashes across Lloyds face despite the boy clearly tying to suppress it. Cole put a hand on his shoulder. 

He noted briefly that his mother (Was he even allowed to call her that here?) and most of the room other then Libber, Ray and Wu, seemed to tense, glaring distrustfully towards the man, as if they were ready to attack him at any moment. Yet before any of them could even move, he saw Libber take a step forward, laying a freckled hand on Garmadons arm.

In a hushed tone, lower then she'd ever spoken so far, she asked. "Are the headaches kicking in again?" Cole watched as Garmadon only nodded with a grunt. 

Ray pushed himself away from the wall and towards the not-yet-evil Garmadon, ignoring the concerned look of his wife. "I'll take him to his room, you guys keep going." With that the element of fire guided the tall man from the room, sharing a glance with Libber, who shared one with Wu, before clapping her hands and grinning toward the group again.

"Lets get on with the exposition then huh?"

Lloyd who'd been watching Ray and his father leave the room, could only blink as Libber spoke. Sputtering out a quiet, "huh?" and refocusing.

Cole took the time to pat the shorter boys back comfortingly, watching as Lloyd visibly relaxed, giving him a wobbly smile, yet there was something in his eyes that Cole couldn't quite place. Still, he turned to face the elemental alliance, minus Garmadon and Ray. "Where would you like us to start?"

Cole's mother was the was the one to speak this time. "How did you end up here?" Her tone was sharp and a little more then distrustful. 

He almost flinched at it, but gathered himself with a deep breath. "About twenty years in the future, the time twins, we fought them, but they gathered the time blades and build a mech, it was sent through time and landed by us, again, sending us back in time, to here-" He bluntly summarised, putting on his 'cold team leader' face. It was the best he could do at the moment. Maya cut him off.

"Wait so, you're all from the future?"

He almost didn't wander, but resorted to a short, "Yes."

"And you fought Krux and Acronix?"

"Yes."

"How?"

At that Cole bit his lip and glanced towards his team, ignoring Kai's glare and Nya's concerned look. Telling them their heritage was risky, it could change the entire corse of history, but them staying here could be even worse. Cole was torn to say the least, no matter what he did, unless they wiped their memories and suddenly traveled back to their own time period (there wasn't a chance in all of ninjago of that happening) something would change. So he steeled himself and levelled Maya's gaze. 

"We're elemental masters too, we were protecting Ninjago."

The room fell silent to even Libbers babbling at that, all stares turned from hostile, to confused to worried, and lastly to suspicious.

"That would mean-" 

"Prove it." His mothers voice cut through Libbers, the blond turning to face her. 

"Come on Lilly..." The woman voice did nothing to remove his mothers, Lilly's, rock hard gaze from him(If it was any other time Cole would chide himself for the Jay-like pun.) The simple idea of this situation made him feel like a scolded child caught lying about cleaning his room, but Cole stood his ground and took a breath. "Kai?" Cole turned to him, totally stood his ground, Kai knew more anyway. Kai himself looked like he'd been mortally betrayed, obviously wanting no part in this. Still, the element of fire regressed and groan, his left hand now raised as he set it ablaze, the room gasping at him.

"This means-"

"You're Rays-!"

"Does that mean Blondie wasn't lying?!" Libbers voice happened to be the loudest, Lloyd shrunk at it. "Why are you blond then? Garm's dating Misako!"

"Back on track!" Wu said with a raised volume, turning to face the ninja. "While this is enough proof to confirm you're not lying, do not tell us anymore, changing the past is dangerous already, knowing anymore risks the future you know."

'Maybe changing the future wouldn't be as bad as you make it seem...' Cole thought absently, glancing towards his youngest brother, who still had feelings of conflict on his face. Before he could say anything though, Lilly spoke up. (His mother, his dead mother- god he missed her so much-) He took a breath and shoved the memories down, listening as she spoke, soaking up every word as if he'd never hear her again. (Once they got home he never would.) "Wu." Lilly cut in shorty, and Cole almost jumped, unfortunately for his mental state, she didn't stop talking just so he could gather himself. "I'll take them to the east wing, with the empty rooms, it'd be best for them to rest before we try and get anymore out of them." The dark skinned woman stated, putting her hands on her hips. Wu only nodded in agreement, not daring to disagree with the current elemental master of earth now that she had set her mind to getting them to rest, Cole could relate to the feeling.

"I'll go and check on my Brother then, Lilly can take them to their temporary rooms-" Said woman rolled her eyes as Wu tried to make it seem like it had been what he had planned from the start, even if unintentionally. "Everyone else can go to their own rooms, Libber don't try and bother them in the night, we'll meet up at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning." Clapping his hands as a sign to start moving, lacking his staff to tap on the ground. Lilly began to lead the group of six towards the east wing of the monastery.

His mother came to a stop in a long hallway, three doors on each side. "This wing was build for visitors during the war, Wu was planning to make it into a training room now that it's over, but luckily for you, it's still standing, pick any rooms you want." 

"I want the blue door!" Jay darted past Lilly and grasped onto the handle of said blue door. Coles mother only rolled her eyes and turned to face them, letting a warm smile grace her face for the first time.

"I'll let you get settled in, the kitchen is-"

"We'll be able to find it, thank you for this." Cole interrupted. Lilly, (His mother, his brain once again reminded him.) only blinked and nodded.

"Then, have a good night and settle in, Wu isn't going to be in a good mood tomorrow." She stated before vanishing down the hallway. By the time he turned around from watching her leave, everyone had claimed their rooms and he sighed, taking the one closest to the exit that had been left vacant. 

'I hope tomorrows less stressful then today' Cole thought as he threw himself down on the thinly dust covered bed, brown eyes staring at the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing in the world, as he head raced with endless thoughts, most about his mother, some about how his friends were coping. He could pinpoint the emotion he saw in Lloyd eyes now.

Hope.

Hope that maybe he could get his father back, pain at seeing him again, painful hope to change the future. 

Cole always wondered what having his mother around again would be like...

Chapter Text

The bed bellow him creaked as Zane rolled over. Everything about this situation made him uneasy.

Time travel held so many variables and no solid ground, running the numbers just didn't work because he couldn't be sure how time travel even worked. Was it the butterfly effect? Did anything they do even matter because it would all be the same in the end? Was this just part of history?  Would the world they go back to be the same? Completely different? Would there be multiple versions of them? Would they gain new memories? This time was so different from every other time prior, Zane couldn't be sure of the outcome.

And right now he didn't feel like thinking about it.

He really missed Pixal during times like these, and in general if he was being honest. Zane could only lay there and close his eyes, and eventually morning rolled around again, quicker then he wished it did. Thinking over took him and he sat up again to kick the thoughts of endless possibilities out of his mind with a groan. "I wish Pixal was here..." He muttered, it was easier to bounce ideas off someone who thought in such a similar yet different way from himself. Still, running a hand through his cloaked hair, he stared at his distinctively pale hand, the human cloak still up, at this point he couldn't fully remember when he'd even turned it on, but instead of questioning it, he glared to the clock in the room and stood up. 7 o'clock. An hour early wasn't too much was it?

Either way, Zane was out of the door and standing in the living room before his processors could catch up to answer it. And before him, was the form of the old man who'd been glaring at them prominently the entire day before, he only starred as Zane rigidly stood in the entrance of the room before blowing out the smoke from his cigarette and gesturing that Zane could sit.

So sit is what he did.

"Name?" The man said.

The nindroid only blinked. "Pardon?"

"What's your name."

"Zane Julien..." The old man raised an eyebrow before Zane redirected the question. "And you?"

Snorting he replied. "Hearth Yu. Master of Ice."

At that, Zane's mind filled with questions. How did he get his Ice powers? Why didn't they go to his kids? Did he even have kids? Why him? Why that time? Did he know? Zane only shoved them down as the two sat in silence, the rest of the group joining them, notably missing Ray and Garmadon, which Kai had made a comment about. "Ray and my brother have been busy today, they'll join us later." Wu said, but Zane couldn't help to noice the black eye and slight limp the younger version of their Master sported, opening his mouth to comment on it, Lloyd cut him off before anyone could comment.

"Uh, is, um, Garmadon ok?" Lloyd asked testingly. Zane noted how he didn't hesitate to simply say Garmadons name, as if without the shock, he'd separated his dad from the younger version of himself as two completely different people. Zane concluded that it was not a healthy approach. 

"There's no reason for you to care." Said the cold voice of the the former ice master, who's eyes had now settled on Zane himself. Libber only pouted at the man. 

"Garms' fine kid, he get's migraine a lot, don't worry about it'" Lilly stated, waving the boys concern away. 

It took Wu a second to bring the conversation back on track. "Lets get on with the introductions then? Young Master of Fire, why dont you start us off?"

Kai seemed slightly startled at being singled out but still stood up and cockily replied. "Names Kai Smith, elemental master of Fire." He grinned, Nya stood up next, unprompted as the threw an arm around his shoulder. 

"And I'm his sister, Nya, Elemental master of Water and ex-Samurai!"

That sent Maya stumbling for words as Wu pat her back. Before either could continue, Cole cleared his throat. "Cole Brookstone, Elemental master of Earth and Co-leader." He said stiffly, Lilly's eyes widening in minor surprise.

"So you really are our kids huh?" The older woman said warmly. Libber cut her off by jumping on the spot. 

"Oo! Oo! I wanna know! Who's lightning? Who's my womb spawn!" She eagerly asked, everyone turned to Jay at that, who'd gone extremely ridged as Libber got into his freckled face with her own, squishing his cheeks.

"You're adorable! And handsome! Future me must be such a proud mama!" The woman giggled, genuine happiness in her eyes. Jay gave her a wobbly smile and nervously laughed.

"Heh yeah..."

"What's your name?"

"Jay uh, Walker..." 

"You even have my last name!" Libber gushed as Jay squirmed. Zane filed that information away for later, perhaps she was related to Ed or Edna.

Luckily for Jay, and unluckily for him, the attention was turned to Hearth as the man asked the question Zane had been unknowingly dreading for no logical reason and bought the conversation back around to them. 

"And you?" Clearly the old man was one of few words.

Zanes' icy blue eyes met the mans own and the nindroid spoke. "My name is Zane Julian, Master of Ice. I was built to protect those who cannot protect themselves." His declaration clearly took the former elemental master of Ice off guard, if only for a split second before the war veteran was analysing what Zane had said, his eyes narrowing. 

"Built?"

Zane took an unneeded sharp breath and spoke in a solid tone. "I am not human, Dr Julian, my father, built me. I'm an Android as you would call it-"

"But we call him a Nindroid! Get it? Cos' he's an Android and a Ninja-" Jay said joyfully, seemingly having bounced back, even if his voice sounded strained. 

"Jay shut up" Nya hissed.

Despite the exchange behind him, Zane didn't remove his eyes from the man across from him, that is until said man burst out in rough, loud, laughter. Catching the group, especially Zane, off guard. He seemed to double over from laughing, and Libber joined in with a few giggles, but the current ice ninja wrote that off as the woman finding all laughter contagious.

Zane could only blink. "Sir...?" He trailed off.

Hearth stopped himself from laughing and coughed a few times into his hand. Looking towards Zane with slightly warmer eyes. "It just explains a lot." At the confused look Zane gave him Hearth briefly elaborated. "I'm not exactly, interested, in ever having a conventual child." Zane only nodded hesitantly, not entirely getting it at that moment. (It was times like these he missed his father.)

Still, he wasn't allowed to dwell on it long as the attention turned to Lloyd, who'd been uncharacteristicly quiet for most of the conversation. Libber was the one to asked him.

"So what about you Blondie? If you're really Garms kid I'm lost y'know, since him and Wu are literally the sons of god."

"You really believe them when they say they're over 1000? They look younger then us."

"Stop being pessimistic rockhead,"

"Get better insults."

Libber glared and turned back to Lloyd. "So?"

The blond wrung out his hands in front of himself and looked visibly uneasy before he gathered himself in a few seconds and spoke up at last. "Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, Master of Energy..." Zane watched, seeing if he would continue on to mention the Golden Power, but he never did. Zane guessed that wasn't a door that he wanted to open up quite yet. 

Despite that his answer set off whispers around the room before Wu cleared his throat and rolled his eyes. "We're not fully human, so it's not exactly odd." The young-old man stated. 

Hearth rolled his eyes. "Sure kid." 

Zane suppressed a slight snort at the elemental masters reluctance to believe the man about his heritage, while it was logical, knowing the truth behind it made the dramatic irony much more ironic for himself and his team. But he had more important matters to attend too. 

"Knowing this information is, very dangerous," Zane started "I'm unsure about how it could effect the future but-"

"We need to have a meeting about how to handle it."

Zane nodded towards his former-future? Mentor as the nindroid elaborated. "I believe it would be best to gather everyone involved and speak about the severity of this situation, attempt to salvage it as much as we can." His team muttered agreements at that. 

Wu tapped his newly acquired staff, (None of the Ninja were quite sure when he'd really gotten it, but it compulsively made them all just a little more attentive,) on the ground and glanced around. "So it's decided then?" He didn't wait for a response. "Good. In 20 minutes we'll meet back here with everyone currently taking residence at the monastery."

The alliance left the room with that, leaving Zane and his team to their thoughts.

"I can't tell if this sucks or not" Kai groaned.

"It does, indeed, suck." Zane agreed, taking a seat.

He could only hope time would be effected positively at the end of all this. 

Chapter Text

Ray did not, in fact, take his friend back to the North wing where him and his brother slept, instead the current EM of fire starting to lead his friend through the series of hallways and down to the training yard. His steps where quick and hurried, yet not so much so that any panic was visible. Garmadon could easily keep pace with his close friend, only lagging behind a step or two at most before catching up again. Why where they in such a hurry one might ask? Well, they weren't. Garmadon found it mildly amusing how worried Ray was, he'd be fine after all, like every other time, just because the headache was more painful, more throbbing this time, didn't mean anything.

At least, that's what the Master of Destruction kept telling himself.

In truth, it had been months, years even since the Venom had made his head pound this badly, since his time at Chens if he could recall, since the letter... He didn't want to think of it, it only made him more guilty then he already was. After all, he'd tell her. One day...

The man shook his head and hadn't noticed he'd slowed so much until Ray gripped his arm and dragged him along. The taller man felt a growl resonate in the back of his throat as the two finally came to opening to the training yard. Garmadon knew why Ray bought him here, in his mind (His mind. Not the one tainted by a cursed snake.) that it was a good thing to do, It meant he didn't risk lashing out in front of everyone, that no one else would come to know about the Venom, or to them his 'constant migraines'. Which wasn't wrong, just an understatement. Honestly it was a miracle they didn't know yet, but that's likely up to the fact they'd been fighting a war and the fact that Ray, Liberty and Wu were good at keeping secrets when they needed to. (Garmadon knew for a fact that Wu simply had a bad memory though.)

The two stepped out into the training yard fully and the Elemental Master of Destruction only felt worse, his head felt like it was about to burst and he could feel the tell tell start of burning around the bite scar. He almost wished to just let the Venom take him and run it's corse at that point, since from the burning in his hand it would only travel up, like his blood was boiling dully. He still laughed when people wondered how he didn't feel himself burn his hand or an arrow graze his arm. He snapped himself out of his own morbid humour and heard Ray as he spoke.

"You ok man?" The fire masters words were quiet, as if talking to a startled animal, Garmadon could no longer tell if he himself, or the Venom was making his blood boil at that fact. Maybe it was the fact that his blood actually felt like it was boiling. Heh. (You're really loosing it aren't you?)

He was in fact, loosing it as Libber would so gracefully put it. Garmadon snapped at Ray as he felt his mind begin to cloud and the pain start to fade, like it always did when he could no longer fight against the Venom. "Do I look ok?" was all he said in a seething and growling tone. Clearly, the brunette was not ok, Ray even insinuating that made his eyes flair, glowing red. (In the back on his mind the sane part of himself screams that Ray hadn't insinuated anything.) Yet, at the glowing look in Garmadons eyes, Ray raised his hands into fists, letting his flames light up around them.

The sight of Ray made Garmadon both want to pummel him into the ground and run. But he stays, the Venom was too much for now and he let himself go- Fighting like this helped, he repeated in his mind to distract himself from what his body was doing. 

Ray's amber eyes grew bright with a cocky composure that both riled the Elemental Master of Destruction up, and let him know Ray was prepared. 

"What? Not ready to let out some pent up frustration pretty boy?" 

Garmadons normally soft and green eyes turned a harsh glowing shade of red and he pulled himself up from his slumped down position, standing at his full height, a purple flame-like substance engulfed his hands. The element of destruction. Ray steeled his resolve at the sight of it. Some would argue but Ray stood firm on it being the strongest element, after a skilled Amber user that is. 

He also knew his closest friend did not use his element often. It was more useful for lethal attacks, something he avoided like a plague if he could. It also meant the Venom was bad today. Ray prepared to put everything he had into this, until his friend, his real friend, snapped too. 

Garmadons stance was calculated, being over a thousand years old did that to you, and he dashed forward. Ray's footing was correct though, with a twist he dodged the brunettes punch with little effort, only to be forced to light his arm up in fire to block the purple blast directed at his head. That attack forced him to put distance between the two of them. Ray was aware the only counter to his best friends power was Wus', the best he could do was hit him hard and try to wear the Demi-god out.

His katana was pulled from its sheath as he dashed forward on the balls of his feet, propelling himself with force. Giving Garmadon barely enough time to form a purple sword from his destructive energy, forcing the man to use two hands in order to stay steady. 

"What, having trouble G?" Ray taunted. 

With a flick of his wrist Rays' katana was sent flying to the other end of the training field. But Ray wasn't so easily beaten and was just as quick to slam the hardest part of his palm down on Garmadons hand, making the taller man drop the sword, and leaving himself open. Ray pressed his attack, firing a flame past the man head, forcing him to jolt back, placing him off balance.

Ray didn't let himself take the time to gloat as he placed the heel of his foot into Garmadons stomach, sending the man flailing backwards, his back hitting the ground hard. Ray moved to pin him, but purple met flames as Garmadons hands met his own, not allowing him to pin the man to the ground. Ray was thankful his fire stopped the destructive energy from turning his skin to dust, he'd seen what it could do to an anacondrai and didn't want to find out what it could do to him.

He didn't have much time to ponder though and he leapt back, stumbling away from his friend, sending a fire ball towards him. Garmadon simply batted it out of the way with a misty purple dagger. 

Then Ray's eyes widened, as his friend lashed out, before he could even blink properly his friend was face to face with him and hands clenched his throat, sending them both falling to the hard ground of the training field. A punch connected to his face and Ray felt blood begin to trickle down his face as another and another came down hard. 

Garmadon himself could barely focus with how clouded his mind had become, but he felt rage and anger and hate, burn brightly, and as his fist came down each time, sharp teeth were displayed in a unhinged grin that would send a shiver down even his fathers back. The sanity in him screamed enough but he kept on hitting, over and over. His head throbbed.

And his vision started to clear as did his mind. Red faded to green as Garmadon stopped pummelling Rays face into the dirt below, his nose was clearly broken and bleeding, it would bruce badly. That's when he noticed.

His left fist, raised to strike again, was lightened in the glow of his power. 'That would of killed him.' Garmadon was off of Ray in seconds flat, stumbling back as his eyes fully unclouded.

"Glad to you you got your grip back." Ray grinned with his stupid goatee and face, the brunette didn't have a clue how his friend could be so calm. So fine with the fact that he'd been so close to killing him. So fine with the blood trickling down his face, that must be painful. 

He felt trapped, like everything around him was crumbling and closing in on him, he couldn't breath and forming a coherent line of thought seemed impossible in the moment. In the back of his mind, he knew it was a panic attack. That didn't really help as he started to shake. (Stop shaking you damn idiot.) His heart raced and no matter how hard he tried the shaking would not stop. He took a few more steps back and simply looked at his blood splattered hands as his eyes wettened. It could of been worse, what if it wasn't just from a bloody nose? What if he had killed him? What if he's hurt Wu as well? And Libber? God, what if it had been Misako?

He couldn't breath and the stream of tears wasn't even something he could really feel in the moment. Everything seemed to just be happening, he couldn't level his breathing or stop his shaking, he couldn't even stop himself crying. (He hated this. He hated himself- Shut up.) His mind barely registered Ray guiding him to sit on the ground and taking a seat beside him, waiting for him to start talking. 

Talking he did, though it was more like choked mumbles. "I- I haven't had it this bad in months-" his voice hitched before he swallowed, his throat felt tight, the brunettes hands reached up and burying themselves in his hair, gripping painfully as if doing so would get rid of the constant dull throbbing in his mind. "I thought I'd gotten better-" Choke. "May- Maybe I'd get a chance at a normal life- a, a family with Misako, to- to be normal" His nails dug into his scalp and he felt himself rip strands of hair out before a corse hand reached up and grabbed his wrist. Forcefully removing both of his hands from where he was ripping his own hair out absentmindedly. 

Everything was too loud and the tears wouldn't stop. Ray only looked at him sympathetically. And much as Garmadon hated the sympathy, he was shaking too much to care. His mind wasn't clear enough for him to do anything more then glare as his friend gave him a stern, but concerned, look. 

Garmadon couldn't meet his eyes while crying, snapping his head down and scowling at the floor. Pressing his eyes closed he took a deep breath and tried to steady his breathing as Ray clamped a hand on his shoulder. His voice shook. 

"I don't even know who I am anymore..." 

Only a whisper but Ray caught it as he felt his friends shoulders slump and his breathing slowly start to level out, even if the shaking and tears were yet to slow.

Ray wasn't the best at comforting people, but he was going to give it a try even if it killed him. Reaching up he ruffled Garmadons hair, fixing the places where he'd attempted to pull his own hair out. The, technically younger, physically older, man sighed. "G..."

He stayed silent, tears still flowing no matter how much his sharp nailed hands wiped them away. "Garm you're one of my closest friends, I'm not good at this talking crap, you know that's Libbers thing." He joked with a grin, gaining more confidence as he friend snorted. "But, you're one of my closest friends, you'll work though it, you always have." He said supportively. The shaking had dulled down now, and despite the slight choke in his voice. Garmadon let his head drop to his hands and took a breath.

"Look at me, crying like a damn child." Ray rolled his eyes at that. 

"You know it's not childish to cry, hell, you and Wu were the ones to tell me this." Ray said softly with a passive joking tone. Ray would of said more, and he was going to before the creek of the door drew the attention of himself and the still recovering Garmadon.

And there stood Wu, his blond hair fell in front of his eyes and he wore his normal Gi. Ray raised a brow and Wu got the hint. "We've decided to let the intruders stay." He paused to see if there was a negative reaction. He got none, so he continued. "Their story was that they're from the future-" Garmadon snorted indignantly. "- We believe them." Ray blinked and spoke before Garmadons darkening figure could.

"What? Why? How? Did they have proof?"

"They're elemental masters."

"What??"

"They're elemental masters, you heard me-"

"He wasn't just mistaken?" Garmadons voice was hushed but harsh, his head thudded lightly, Ray almost flinched back at the look in his friends eyes, but let Wu speak, taking a step back as Garmadon stood again.

Wu's voice was more calculated then it normally was. "Its... a high possibility." Wu couldn't tell if his brother was ecstatic or horrified by that information. On one hand, he had a son in the future, does that mean he kept sane? What type of dad was he? Then, on the other hand, what the hell? He growled and snapped around turning around and with a sharp snap of his wrist, throwing ball of purple towards a dummy. It crumbled to dust. 

"What are we going to do with them?" 

"Nothing I will be telling you until you calm down." Ray took that comment from Wu as his cue to leave and have Maya patch up his face. He knew what Wu was doing, Garmadon would rarely talk to his brother now days, he'd only ever talk if they were fighting. Smart but reckless like always on Wus' part. 

Ray was gone with a sigh before he could see Wu take a punch from his brother, dealing one back with equal strength. Unlike with Ray, the two were evenly matched and met each other blow for blow, creation pushing back destruction, but destruction pushing back just as hard. While Garmadon could fight Wu and win on pure endurance alone, Wu's power took more juice and he had become good at ending these things quickly and efficiently. Seeing that his brother heart wasn't fully in it helped.

Wu felt a unpleasant sound come from his shin, a crack, as he gritted his teeth, his brother was stronger but he was faster and he put everything he had into the next hit, catching Garmadon off guard as he was suddenly pinned face first into the dirt. Wu felt him thrash and struggle for only a second before falling still.

Wu did not loosen his hold.

That is, until he felt the slight wrack of sobs from the body below him. And Wu let him go, allowing his older brother to sit up as they both sat pathetically on the training yards floor. Then, Wu reached out, and gripped his brother in a hug arms wrapped around his upper torso. Said hug was one not returned with more then a head leaning on his own, tears wetting his hair and arms gripping his own. The blond thought back and hesitantly began to speak.

"Maybe you should tell them brother, about the venom, if more people knew..."

"No." Was all he said. No, he wouldn't do that. No, he couldn't do that. No, he was too scared to do that. 

"If more people knew they could help you, they'd understand." Wu pressed. 

The brunette seemed to ponder it for a second as a few heartbeats passed before he muttered. "I cant Wu..." The youngest frowned. 

"Tell me again brother, why not?" Garmadon only sighed and leaned in to hug his brother back before speaking despite the bubbling anger at Wus' insistence. 

"They'll hate me, I'm destined to turn evil, hell, theres a damn prophecy about it..." The elemental master of creation only managed to open his mouth silently before his counterpart spoke again. "Even father has given up on me you know this." He said. A few second passed before Wu responded. 

"He..." Words seemed to loose him. "He's, just troubled..." He didn't fully believe his own words as he once had now. "His sickness... It has clouded his mind."

"Don't lie to me Wu, he gave up on me the moment I was bitten." He bit back. "You were always his favourite." Garmadon growled. Wu felt his heart ache at his brother pure green eyes. Not red with Venom or Purple with power. Simply green. This was what his brother truly thought. The worst thing was that Wu could not solidly deny it. So he stayed silent and let Garmadon continue. "I get less notice now..." the man grumbled. "The venom seems so much more sudden, like its trying to push my sanity out, push me to my limits. I didn't even get a headache back there, only a sudden migraine." He raised his head to meet Wus' "You know it was never like that before."

All Wu muttered out was a simple. "We can get through this, we always have." Words Garmadon and Wu himself had heard enough to last a life time. The blond redirected the topic.

"Remember, when you stole my cream biscuits while mother was still around?" Garmadon nodded. Wu gave a strained smile. "Remember when you got caught?" 

Garmadon rolled his eyes. "You mean you got dad to rat me out to mother?" Wu only grinned. 

"Then I took mothers favourite cake, the last slice. And blamed it on you." Garmadon shot up and narrowed his eyes at his younger brother.

"You finally admit it!"

Wus' smug face was all he needed to confirm. "And I got away with it too." Wu bragged.

"You were a little shit."

"I was." Wu sounded overly proud of that statement, his eyes glittering slightly at the memories now filling his mind to the brim.

"So was I" Garmadon stated, a soft smile gracing his face, one he shared with his brother.

"I know, we could be quite the mischievous duo" Wu commented. "I miss those days, but we should make the best of what we have now." The blond stated. His older brother only nodded.

Wu finally stood again, letting his brother go from their hug and brushing himself off. Looking up towards the sun, seeing it was starting to lower. Reaching down he offered a hand to help his brother up, which to his surprise, said brother took and Wu pulled the taller man to his feet. Smiling. "We should head to our rooms before you burn in the day light anymore." 

The comment only earned him a shove. "Come talk to me when you shave the rat off your face."

"It's a beard!" Wu defended himself, but Garmadon was having none of it and stated in a matter of fact type of tone:

"It's a scraggly rat, that's what it is."

Wu snorted and rolled his eyes. "You're just mad because you cant grow one even if you tried." 

"Dont need too when you have hair as good as mine." To emphasise his mocking point, Garmadon flipped his semi-long hair back, earring a long 'mhm' from Wu. Garmdaon snickered. "You're only mad because you'll end up bald."

"I will not end up bald!" The blond snapped, glaring at his brother mischievous grin. Sighing he huffed. "Let's just get back to the north wing and go to bed."

"Whatever you say baldy" Garmadon earned a kick in the shin for that one, but he still cackled loudly.

"Ok baby face." Thus with that last jab, the two retreated past the other three wings of the monastery, down a flight of stairs, and into a hall way that only had three doors. One gold, one purple, and one plain brown door at the end of the hallway. Wu stopped beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder, as he gripped a hand on his door nob and twisted it open, taking half a step in. 

"Night Garm."

"Goodnight Wu..."

And with that, Garmadon shut the door behind him and flopped himself down onto his bed, desperately wanting to write to Misako right now. But he couldn't drag her into anymore of his crap. He shoved his face into his pillow and screamed before getting changed into his boxers and throwing the covers over himself.

'This is going to be a long few weeks' Was his last thought before drifting off.

Chapter Text

As the adults had filtered out of the room, Lloyd easily felt his throat close and his eyes begin to sting at the edges. This hadn't exactly been how the famed green ninja had expected the time after the battle with the Oni to go, that this would be how he saw his father again.

Honestly, he didnt expect to have seen his father ever again once he left the monastery, as much as it made his chest ache, he wasn't sure if he ever wanted to see him again. Selfish as it may be. But he digressed, this was and wasn't his father, I mean yeah, he was, but he'd yet to even be sent to the underworld. Despite every bone in his body telling him to not change the past, the past had already changed hasn't it? Maybe... Changing it's some more wouldn't hurt?

No, no.

Lloyd shook his head, it was a stupid train of thought and would only serve to give him false hope. Still, he glanced to the side and met Coles eyes, the same hope sizzled under the surface. He looked over his shoulder and saw Zane longing to ask as many questions as possible. Kai and Nyas curiosity. Jay's pleading and jittery form. As much as they'd deny it, they wanted this, wanted to change the past. Lloyd couldn't fault them, as much as Master Wu's voice chided him in the back of his mind. Kai and Nya were the only ones with time travel experience and they'd seen the changes first hand. Thinking about it more only made Lloyd more conflicted.

That's why when Coles hand laid on his shoulder he jolted up, blinking away his thoughts.

Cole gave him a gentle pat on the back and groaned. "I can't believe this is what our lives have come too..."

That made Lloyd snort.

"We just finished fighting a race of demons with my newly resurrected dad, I don't think our lives could get much weirder." Apparently that had been the response Cole wanted as he barked a short laugh. Behind them, Nya was chatting with Kai in hushed voices and Zane of comforting Jay, who insisted he was fine and that seeing the woman who abandoned him didn't hurt.

Lloyd could relate. 

Coles face fell and he spoke so only Lloyd would hear. "Seeing them alive... Well, sane in Master G's case... It hurts, you can admit that Lloyd, no one will think less of you for it." Lloyd shrunk slightly and Cole continued. "Seeing my mum again... FSM, it makes me feel like crap, all I ever wanted to do was see her again, and now I can. It just not the same... Everything will go back to normal one we're back anyway." Cole gave Lloyd a slightly sour smile. "Bittersweet, green bean, bittersweet."

The fact that he was right was what made Lloyd clench his fists and squeeze his eyes shut before letting out a breath and not moving to face Cole "What if we changed it?" and as Cole opened his mouth to reply, it seemed their 20 minutes were up. Garmadon looked worse for wear with disheveled hair and tired eyes, seemingly not gotten a lot of sleep, beside and in front of him walked Wu, who looked a lot better kept save for the black eye, the limp seemed to have never existed. Behind the brothers the rest of the alliance followed, Ray now walking hand in hand with Maya as they settled down around their small group. Lloyd didn't try and stay on the train of thought of changing the past, after all, this entire meeting was meant to be about keeping the future the same right? He bit his tongue as his uncle- Wu, began to speak, seemingly being the leader of the conversation.

The following ten minutes were boring, and Lloyd would gladly admit that he zoned out more then once, only to zone back in when someone asked him a question. The conversation seemed redundant at this point going over the same points, over and over.

Don't talk about this, don't say anything about that, don't go over there, don't do this dont do that! Lloyd almost groaned and jumped slightly as Kai elbowed him in the side and he refocused on what Wu was saying. 

"It's decided then. From this point on, no one is permitted to ask any questions related to their or another future, and we're not to let any of you be seen by anyone outside of the monastery. Are we clear?" The blond asked, mutters and nods filled the room for a second before Maya sighed. 

"Now that its cleared up, we should really start working on a way to get them back, how on earth are we going to be able to do that without the twins?" The element of waters question was a valid concern and Wu made sound of contemplation. 

After a second he spoke up. "I shall contact Misako and see if she has anything about the possibility of time travel." Wu stated, earning a slight side glare from his brother. No one really acknowledged it though as the masters mutter amongst themselves. Lloyd felt slightly bad, having been lost in his own thoughts for most of the conversation, Zane and Cole being the ones to do most of the talking, while Kai and Nya would occasionally chip in. The only one as quiet as him being Jay strangely enough. Said lightning master's eyes darting down to his hands then over to Libber, who's full name was Liberty, Lloyd now knew.

Who named their kid Liberty?

The master of energy cut that thought off. After all his own name was a pun. He couldn't judge...

Cole once again sat down next to Lloyd and let Zane finish talking, Lloyd blinked as his father spoke up with a slightly underlining mocking tone, side eyeing Wu who seemed to only be able to squint at the brunette.

"I do have one question however..." Lloyd seemed to tense before Garmadons green eyes lightened and he broke out into a mischievous grin. "Does Wu end up going bald?"

Libber broke out into cackles and Hearth choked on his water (Or was it vodka?) while the Ninja were stunned into silence. Lloyd finally cracked after a few second, muffling his own laughter. His shoulders relaxing, become less tense then before.

"Yeah-" His voice cracked with a wobbly smile and he continued. "Yeah he does."

Wu made an indignant sound as the older of the brother twirled around and grinned, stating 'I told you so!' as their future sensei made an offended noice and smacked his brother with their fathers staff. In turn causing Garmadon to snatch the staff and smack him back, bickering starting between them before Lilly reached up and yanked the two by their ears. "Ow!" Garmadon complained.

"Both of you stop it. I thought you were meant to be over 1000 years old? Who raised you?!"

"God" "Not our dad." where the answers received at the same time and Lilly slapped them other upside the head before they could argue again. She gave a sympathetic look toward the ninja.

Garmadon once again straightened himself and whispered under his breath "Old man" before fleeing the room. Wu looked like he was ready to chase after him and protect his honour before catching himself. Turning the younger brother gave their group a bashful smile and cleared his throat. 

"Ignoring, regretfully, my brother. You all have free rain of most of the monastery from now on." His eyes hardened. "The north wing is off limits to everyone but myself, Garmadon and Maya under supervision. Understood?"

"Yeah."

"Mmhm"

"Gotcha"

"Understood"

"Loud and clear"

"What if we need to get you?" Nya asked curiously, after the others had responded. 

Wu paused for a second and then answered. "If it's not an emergency then I'm sure someone else can help, or myself or Garmadon will be able to get each other, however, if it's an emergency then you have permission to enter the north wing." A series of nods replied to that. Seeing everyone had understood, Wu quickly left and returned to his office where he began writing to Misako to see if she had any scrolls on this situation.

With that Libber stretched and gave them a grin "I think I'm going to have to go tell Cliff we'll need to reschedule our honeymoon again" She turned to Jay, "My rooms the one with the light blue door if you just want to, chat or ask questions or anything, feel free to stop by ok?" Jay could only nodded in reply and she too vanished down the hall.

One by one everyone left, Cole following Lilly to the kitchen, Nya and Jay moving out to the court yard and Zane to retreating to his room. Leaving Lloyd to sigh as Kai pat his back.

This was going to be stressful, he could already tell. The green ninja was glad for Kai's egotistical boasting as the fire ninja rivalled Jay in his ability to talk Lloyd ears off.

At least it made he so he didn't have to think about what his life could of been like.

Chapter Text

They were going out today, at least that's what Maya was told, by how long it was taking Wu and Garmadon to show up, the master of water wasn't entirely sure at this point. The time it took the two of them rivalled her and Liberty by ten and soon, her attention drifted to her fiancé. Despite his broken nose being completely gone already, the bonus of being someone who was used to having to heal much worse injures, Maya still seethed at it. It was Garmadon, no matter how much her fiancé brushed it off, Maya knew. No one else would go that far in a spar. It was horrible, she couldn't understand why Ray insisted on hanging around the Master of Destruction. Nor Libber, but then again she'd always been a bit crazy in her own right, so Maya wasn't really all that surprised.

An elbow in her side caused the woman to jolt slightly shooting said fiancée a glare. "What Ray?" 

The amusement in the master of fire's eyes did nothing to quell her seething. "I know that look in your eyes. He's our teammate May, I started it, it just got a bit out of hand." She almost squawked indignantly. 

"A bit?! Ray he broke your nose!" 

"And I said it was fine!" He took a deep breath before continuing. "Maya come on' we're about to head out, just work with him for now. The town needs all the help it can get." Ray shot her a sharp look and Maya shrunk with a sigh. At some point during her day dreaming and their argument, Wu and his brother had shown up, leading to the rest of the group to finally start heading out, with Ray and Maya herself now lagging behind. 

Honestly, Maya signed, she didn't know what she was going to do with her oaf of a future husband. 

What she did know however, was that she had a bad feeling about this little outing their were going on. The kids (Their kids, she reminded herself, to a mix of cold fear and warmth.), had been left at the monastery with strict orders to stay within the rules and not leave the ground, no matter what. Unless Ninjago itself was burning down right outside the door they were to stay where they are. Kai and Lloyd seemed the least happy about it, though she had a feeling Liberty's kid would be the same if he wasn't so busy looking like a kicked puppy. Why, Maya had no idea.

Snapping back to the present she went over the mission again in her mind, knowing Ray had most likely already forgotten it and was relying on her to remind him when they finished making their way down this cursed mountain.

It was simple, thankfully, after Wu and Garmadon had sent the twins and Time Blades through time, with the end of the war in their past, there was only really negotiations, which Wu, the Emperor and anyone else with big parts in the war was handling. (She absently noted that she'd heard some crazy woman was advocating that the locking up of the vile snakes was inhumane. Quite frankly with how many they had killed, Maya had to disagree.)

They were more of a clean up crew at this point, removing rubble, helping rebuild and occationally dispatch a few groups of Chen's people who hadn't been sent to the island with the crime lord. Thankfully with the master of mind and master of speed on it already, locating and apprehending most groups before they could cause any trouble it was easy. That didn't mean they didn't sure as hell try to be as difficult as possible though, the last group had left them with nothing more then a scraped knee on Liberty and a bruised ego on Ray, but had burnt three months worth of crops from the local farmers. The master of nature was still in that town trying to fix it as far as she knew.

As she predicted, as soon as they were half way to the town, and completely down the mountain, Ray had turned to her with a whisper and asked for the briefing again, once he was told it was another simple re-build mission to finished off the last few houses, he'd given her a kiss on the cheek and trotted off to go walk between Liberty and Garmadon. Leaving her to only role her eyes as she settled beside Lilly.

Elsewhere, a certain master of earth pondered. Cole loved his pseudo-little-brother, really, he did. He just wished the blonde would gain more confidence in himself, sure he'd improved a lot and Cole was proud of him, but it was times like these, when he stood shuffling his feet like he'd set the kitchen on fire that Cole was reminded just how much younger then them the famed green ninja really was.

Maybe a hour ago, Lloyd had been sitting on the porch, having watched their parents, (Or maybe just his Dad.) leave for some kind of mission, it'd been half an hour before Cole decided to sit down next to him. It had been maybe over a minute since Lloyd had stated something that resinated with Cole just a bit too much. It echoed in his mind through the silence now settled around them, or, had before Lloyd had excused himself back to his room.

'I just think, maybe we should change something, I dont know, I know it's a bad idea but, maybe Uncle Wu, our Wu, was wrong...'

Cole hated how much his heart agreed. How much he wanted to jump to his feet, find Lloyd and say that yes, they were going to change everything, they were going to go tell the team the new plan, no matter what the consequences were. It was selfish, maybe short sighted and foolish too, but it was how he felt and he wouldn't, couldn't dismiss that. Still, the silence was deafening and Cole thought mildly, he should think some more.

What seemed more deafening to Maya however, was how so not-silent the alliance currently was. Wu had been dragged into an argument about ancient text by his brother, who seemed highly amused at riling the normally composed man up. Ray and Libber weren't helping with the volume, having started their own argument and somehow dragged Maya into it as well, she wasn't sure she even knew what is was about at this point, just that they'd occasionally look at her for a nod or hum. Lilly and Hearth were peaceful as always and she found herself longing to join them in the less hectic part of their traveling circus. Alas she was stuck here. Destined to suffer. Great.

At least, it simmered down once the group finally reached the down, being greeted with a mix of waves and concerned eyes. Not that surprising with the conflict more civilians felt over them, glad for their protection but fearful of their power. Having watched Lily's father send an entire troop of Hypnobrai down a fissure while weakened, Liberty cause a lightning storm and Garmadon wipe out an entire brigade of Anacondrai singlehandedly would do that to someone she supposed.

Hell, sometimes she herself found it in her to be wary around certain members. 

But really, enough of that. She found herself moving subconsciously as the pushed a pulled water that had been pooling around the lower houses, weakening their foundation, and pushing it back into the river that trailed along the town, smiling mildly as she noted Lily raising the bank as she let go of her control of the liquid, making sure it didn't damage anything further.

They group continued to work into the day, and eventually the water master let her thoughts slip back to Ray as she glanced towards him.

Laughing, he was laughing as he seemed to dangle a spider of some kind in front of Garmadons lightly unamused face, giving him a look that could kill. That is, until Garmadon had shoved a clump of mud conveniently into Rays hair, leaving Liberty to drop into a laughing fit while Mayas husband-to-be was being over dramatic.

Maya could only sign. She guessed the man wasn't that bad. No, he was annoying and brash but, she glanced over.

A child, no younger then maybe seven had approached the three, they fell silent if the closing of their mouths was an indication, she couldn't hear what was being said from where she stood. She didn't dare get closer. The childs' mother seemed nervous, and the little girl, chubby little hands gripped around a purple flower, shuffled towards Garmadon, who looked unsurprisingly, surprised, he was a tall man afterall, most people, let alone children were too afraid to go near him. 

Apparently, the little girl, was not. She only held her little hands up to him, presenting him with the flower, against her own will Maya let herself smile at his astonished, then confused, face, eventually settling into a warm closed mouth smile, likely knowing the fangs he had would scare the girl off. His entire hand was probably double the size of the girls head but Maya watched him take the flower like it was glass, holding it like it was worth more then gold as the girl spoke loud enough for even Maya to hear.

"It reminded my of you! Purple is my favorite colour!"

With that, she had scampered off back to her mother, the two disappearing as quick as they came. As Liberty laughed at him, pulling him back into a standing position, Ray patting his back and Garmadon unsure what exactly to do with the flower. (That is, until Liberty pried it gently from his hands and dragged him by the ear down to her height. "What?-" "Stand still you big baby." And untucked the brown hair from behind his ears, taking a clip out of her own hair and attaching it to his making sure not to damage the gift as she did so, the purple flower making the man look a lot less intimidating then he normally was. ) Maya only really had one thought.

She may not like him, but he'd make a good dad, at least. 

Garmadon absently made sure flower was in place for the rest of that mission. The girl had waved by as they left. (Little did Maya know, the flower had got straight into a little vase when he got to his room, pulling up a favour from the master of nature.)