#ttaam

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In the end, Lloyd and Harumi aren’t doing anything fancy. With all the Merge upheaval—the fallout of sixteen realms crashing together—it’s hard to plan a very involved wedding. Who would they invite? They’re the only ones at the Monastery, and might be for who knows how long.

So they’re going old-school. They’re getting married at home. Lloyd' dug his old suit out from its isolation at the back of his closet, and Harumi went to the Crossroads to get a dress. It’s all so quiet, almost normal, and he can sort of look past how strange it feels.

Sort of. He’s almost made it past the weirdness of Harumi becoming his yang, and now he’s just nervous.

Is it normal to be this nervous?

I wish I could ask someone.

There’s no one to ask. Not unless he approached a stranger down in the Crossroads, risking being recognized—he does not want to be recognized, that time of his life is over. He can already see it in his mind: a stranger dressed in an old green suit who looks suspiciously like the Green Ninja, asking people on the street: is it normal to worry about getting married when you’re already basically married and nothing can separate you anyway and there’s no one else left in your life?

He has to stop, to tell himself to breathe.

Surely it’s normal. Why else do people talk about wedding jitters and cold feet?

That’s what you think, but you don’t know that.

He can’t back out now. Harumi always says she’s not going to marry him, but she’s the one who’s been getting ready all morning and got a dress and insisted on flowers and everything. If he backs out, he’ll look like a coward.

Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon is not a coward. He is not afraid of love! He’s just… nervous.

Which is normal! Who wouldn't be nervous to marry the love of his life? To marry her for real, not just vows sworn between the two of them and lived every single day?

It's just nerves.

At least, that's what he tells himself as he waits for Harumi to be finished getting ready. She hadn't even let him sleep in their bed last night—supposedly it's 'bad luck,' but he's not sure if he buys that—and she’s has been locked in their room for hours now.

How long can it possibly take to put on a dress and brush her hair? That's all that's required, really. Nothing too fancy.

It’s not a big wedding. It’s not a fancy wedding. What they’re doing can barely be considered a wedding! There’s not even an officiant or witnesses, because, again, they don’t have any.

So what’s the fuss about?

Lloyd wants to tear out his hair, but Harumi will kill him for sure if he’s got bald spots today of all days, so he settles for wringing his hands in his lap. He’s in the middle of stewing over how long she’s taking when he hears the bedroom lock turn.

Finally! Lloyd gets up from the couch and turns around, ready to crack a bad joke about how long it takes a woman to get ready—and then he stops.

Harumi looks radiant, her long white and gold dress just brushing the carpeted floor. Her hair falls in loose curls down her back, the smallest of braids plaited inside of it.

It’s simple, and Lloyd finds it’s suddenly hard to put words to what he thinks about it.

Her eyes flick to his, and at the sight of her smile, it's even harder to breathe. “What do you think?” She asks, her tone halfway between shyness and teasing.

He’s sure his face is red. Lloyd can feel the warmth of the blush radiating off his skin. “You look beautiful.”

Harumi looks down at herself and then back up at him, a mischievous smile on her face. “Just that?”

“Ha… hard to say. I’m not a poet.”

“Hm, it's hard to compliment your wife? I guess we still have some things to work on…”

My wife. He feels his throat tighten with the emotion that stirs in him “Do you want me to try?”

Harumi grins at him, the grin that never fails to set butterflies alight inside of him. “Definitely.”

“Um… okay.” He clears his throat, struggling for something nice to say to her—there are so many nice things he could say, but none of the words are coming to him when he needs them. “You are… you’re beautiful. Really. The most beautiful I’ve ever seen you. You really look like a princess.”

“I always look like a princess,” she points out.

Lloyd grins at her, raising an eyebrow. “Need I remind you of the cake incident?”

Harumi laughs. “That was just for fun! Although, I do remember that we promised to never speak of it again…”

Lloyd laughs, because that's all he can do. Laugh. There's something utterly joyful in seeing Harumi, his bride, laughing. He steps forward and takes her hands, kissing the back of her left, then her right. “I like your hair. You did it really nicely.”

Harumi smiles, drawing a little closer to him, close enough that he can smell the sweet scent of her perfume. “I know you like it when I wear my hair down. It might be worth the nightmare of detangling it later.”

“That's okay. I can help, if you'd like.” He reaches up, brushing a curl away from her face as gently as he can. “You're sure about this?”

She snatches his hand back and squeezes both of his hands tightly. “Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, I am more sure about doing this than I have ever been about anything before.”

Lloyd wants to laugh. How is she so convinced? Harumi, his perpetually anxious fiancée, looks like she’s never doubted anything less in her life. She’s dolled up, practically begging for his attention, and he feels inadequate in his shabby old suit.

She’s convinced, so he will push past the nerves. For her, he’d do just about anything; he loves her so much it hurts.

He reaches up again and cups her face. “We’re doing it.”

She nods. “We are.”

It’s a risk. Possibly the biggest risk he’s ever taken—and that’s saying something, considering the life Lloyd leads. The events of today are going to reshape both of their futures. If their old lives ever come back, or enemies from the past rear their heads again, they’ll have to deal with it together. Family, trouble with the law, danger…

…but it’s worth it, because it’s better to face the rest of his life with Harumi than to go it alone.

I want to kiss her. I could kiss her right now.

…If he does, he’ll never get around to actually saying what he has to say, and it’ll wait and wait and wait forever. He has to say it.

Lloyd swallows his nerves, his fears, and his pride, and he speaks to her softly. “Harumi Jade, I love you. Right here, right now, I swear that I will be your husband. Yours only, as long as we both live, no matter what.”

She smiles again, softly. “Even when we fight?”

“Especially when we fight. I want to be with you.” He leans in and kisses her forehead. “Always.”

Harumi’s breath catches in her throat. “…I love you too, Lloyd.”

A few words are all it takes for Lloyd’s heart to ache unbearably. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” She whispers it, her gaze flitting around his face.

For a moment, they’re quiet, and he can barely breathe.

She speaks again, a little louder, a little stronger. “Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon… I swear to be your wife, to walk beside you. This is the life I want. I know it’s not a mistake, and… I want to stay with you until the day I die.”

Oh, the look in her eyes! He can already feel himself breaking. “What’s mine is yours already. My life and home and everything. Stay with me.”

“I’m not leaving you,” she insists, and turns her face to the side. She kisses his palm there, as if she knows how such a simple gesture is able to splinter him into pieces.

One more promise, and then Lloyd can breathe again. “I’ll never leave you, either. Even if we fight, or we get sick, or everything goes wrong. You belong with me and you’re going with me, I promise.”

“You belong with me, too,” she insists, and kisses his hand again. “Lloyd and Harumi Garmadon, forever.”

He laughs. He can't help it—he's so happy, and Harumi has the stars in her eyes. They sparkle, and even the pink flecks within are gorgeous. They're the most unique eyes Lloyd has even seen, and by far the most beautiful, and now those eyes belong to his new wife!

Lloyd can't take it anymore. He pulls her into his arms and kisses her. “I trust you.”

“Those are words I once thought I’d never hear you say,” Harumi says quietly, wrapping her arms around him and holding him close. It feels safe with her. Harumi is his sanctuary, now, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Now he delights in her, and kisses her to prove it.

“It’s true now. I trust you. You’re my wife,” he murmurs to her, half against her lips.

She smiles, tangling her fingers in his hair and keeping him close. It makes him just as giddy as the first time they met—back when they were both different people. Now he knows her as well as he knows himself. Now they have no more secrets.

“And you really do trust me?” Harumi asks quietly between kisses.

It’s the usual question, one he’s answered more times than he can count. “Of course I do.”

It’s okay. Lloyd would reassure her hundreds of times over if it would ensure that she knew how much he loves her, how much he wants her to stay. She should know it already, but doubt has a way of clouding judgment.

“Did you know this is the first time I’ve ever seen you wear white?”

Harumi seems convinced enough, remaining where she belongs: in his arms.

-----

The question catches her off-guard, and Harumi has to think about it. She’s perched on a boulder outside the Monastery, overlooking the vast distances below—somewhat changed from the world before the Merge, but just as beautiful to her untrained eye.

“I guess it is. I usually prefer green or black.”

Lloyd is sitting next to her, in his charcoal suit that she already loves, and smiling at her. He leans over to kiss her cheek, and she catches a whiff of whatever cologne he’s wearing—and isn’t it odd that he’s wearing cologne? He’s a ninja, they don’t do anything fancy. It doesn’t feel natural or normal at all for him to do something that would obviously give him away.

“I like it. I think you look beautiful.”

She smiles at him in return, admiring his bright and joyful expression. “This is the first time I’ve seen you in a suit, too. You look handsome.”

He laughs and looks down at it. “I haven’t worn this old thing in years, Rumi. I’m surprised it even still fits.”

“You practically live in your gi, so I’m glad you had something! Not that the gi is a bad look, but…”

He shrugs with good spirits. “Hint taken, you like it more than my gi. Can’t say I mind a little variety, anyway—it’s good to not always be in ninja mode.”

“I have nothing against ninja mode!” Harumi laughs, looking back out towards the world below. “I think you look hot either way.”

Lloyd’s still smiling—because of course he is—and he reaches over to brush her hair behind her ear. “My wife is calling me hot… I’m glad you like the suit.”

“I think I’d like you no matter what you were wearing,” she says, his gentle touch giving her goosebumps all up and down her arms. “But I’m biased.”

“Biased? That’s a terrible crime.”

“I’ve done worse. Better add it to the list.”

“Arson, theft, necromancy, some more theft, reckless driving, kidnapping…”

“Don’t forget theft!”

He winks at her, saying, “How could I?”

Harumi grins at him. “What can I say? I stole your heart, didn’t I? Your heart, your hoodies, your last name…”

“It’s about time you took that last one,” he jokes, caressing her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “I was starting to think I’d have to beg you to take it off my hands.”

Harumi can’t help a stupid, cheesy blush, and Lloyd just grins even more at the sight of it. It makes her want to punch him—or maybe kiss him. She can’t decide between the two. “Resorting to begging, huh? I’m not against it.”

“I’m sure you’d enjoy every moment of it, wouldn’t you?”

The pad of his thumb brushes the corner of her mouth. He’s so gentle it almost makes her angry. He should just kiss her and be done with it, hold her tightly and keep her there! He’s her husband, and she wants him to start acting like it.

She scoots a little closer on the rock they’ve made their seat. “I’d like to see some of that begging now, actually. What did I pass up by agreeing so easily?”

Amusement twinkles in his eyes. “What should I be begging for? I already got what I wanted.”

“Ah—hm, you might be right… but I’m sure I can find something. It’s not that hard. I’ve quite mastered the art.”

He laughs. “Come on, make it worth my while!”

Harumi grins again, leaning over to rest her chin on his shoulder. “I’m building up to it! These things take planning, you know.”

“I do know, and you are nothing if not a planner.”

“I make plenty of plans,” she agrees, “and they all work out just great.”

Lloyd, her new husband, winds one arm around her waist. “This one did.”

“Excuse you, they all work out.”

“Mm-hmm. That’s why I’m not still in a cage.”

Harumi waves a hand in the air. “You're pretty either way. That was a fine example of making someone beg! Excluding the… supposed killing of one’s future in-laws, of course.”

His smile turns sentimental. “We're not in any danger of that now… I guess you won't get any begging out of me that way. Got anything else to hold over my head?”

“Hm… I’m sure I can find something.” She reaches over to rest a hand on his knee, tapping her fingers thoughtfully. “Give me a second to think, I’ll come up with something.”

“You can have a whole lifetime if you want.”

For a moment, the very thought is overwhelming, but Harumi pushes the fear away. Today is not the day to be afraid—she can be afraid tomorrow, if she must. Today she wants to enjoy this commitment they’ve made. She doesn’t want to be afraid of it any longer, and being brave has gotten her farther than usual today.

Lloyd is waiting patiently for her, with a smile on his face. She’s learned to share that smile.

“I think I already have the right to that lifetime. You just vowed to me that it was mine.”

It’s the right thing to say. His smile grows to a beaming grin, from ear to ear. “So I did.”

Harumi leans a little closer, dropping her voice to a whisper. “And I think we’ve already established that I want that lifetime.”

“I assume you have somewhere you're going with this.”

“Shh, love, I’m getting there.”

He looks at her sidelong, blond lashes and sparkling green irises. “I’m listening.”

Harumi reaches up and runs a hand through his hair, enjoying the way he leans against her hand. Once, the thought of being vulnerable—especially with Lloyd—would have made her want to punch something. Now it makes her love him more.

He closes his eyes. He waits patiently. He is listening—none of it is talk. This time, she can believe that it's all true.

“The truth is that I don’t need you to beg, because I’m here to stay.” She leans her forehead against his temple. “We’ve fought so hard to get here, and I don’t want to ruin it—I don't even think I can, at this point. And there’s something freeing about that. With you, I can just… be.”

Lloyd sighs. The sound is contented. She feels his grip on her waist shift, his gentle hand smoothing out the wrinkles of her bodice.

“That's what I want. I love you for who you are, and that's enough.”

His words make her feel all warm inside, and Harumi smiles, kissing him gently on the ear. “Do you remember how we were a few months ago? When we fought in the courtyard and I kissed you that first time?”

Lloyd is all smiles as he turns to look at her a little more directly. “Of course I do. I'm glad you proved me wrong and came back.”

“I did. But even then… I almost didn’t come back. All I knew at the time was that I had these feelings for you— feelings that directly conflicted with all the work I’d put in to distance myself. It hurt, and I thought…”

Harumi stops, a sudden well of emotion rising up inside of her. However, the look on Lloyd’s face is so gentle and understanding… She swallows past the lump in her throat, combing her fingers through his hair again.

He always deserves the truth.

“I still don’t know exactly why I came back,” she finally says. “I don’t think it matters because I’m here now. All my fears have been unfounded so far, and a long time ago, that would have made me angry! Now it doesn’t, and it’s because of you.”

“Because of me,” he repeats, testing each syllable. “Are you sure?”

Harumi smiles. “I think we both know I wouldn't have had any reason to change without you.”

“Oh.” He chuckles, relaxing against her just the slightest bit. “I thought you were saying I made you change. That would be impossible.”

“Isn't that what happened?”

“No, love. That was all you. Maybe you got motivation out of me, but I know better than to think I can change anyone; least of all, you.” He squeezes her gently as he says it, punctuating the thought, making her a little more aware of her pounding pulse. “I love you enough to not try to ‘fix’ you.”

“Hm, that’s probably best for both of us. I’m not sure I can be fixed,” she jokes lightly. “But there is one habit I’ve managed to mend.”

“Only one?”

“Ha ha, you’re very funny.” Harumi flicks him on the ear with a smile. “I will leave this little perch we’ve got, don’t tempt me.”

Lloyd grins at her, leaning in for a kiss, and she complies. He tastes sweet, like a promise made and kept.

“I’d rather you stay,” he murmurs, remaining close.

Harumi closes her eyes, scratching his scalp gently. “I don’t know, if you keep saying dumb stuff like that… I’ll need a pretty good reason to.” It doesn’t really matter that she already has one, and that he’s sitting here, looking like he wants to kiss her again.

But teasing him with it is fun, even if Harumi has no intention of moving. Not with his arm around her like this, his face only inches from hers.

She can't leave him now. It would be cruel, and she's put the cruelty behind her.

Lloyd's breath is a warm brush against her face. “I think you're lying again, love.”

“I don’t lie anymore.”

He laughs quietly. “You just did.”

“Semantics, Lloyd. It’s all about semantics.”

“Oh yeah? Alright then, go on, I want to hear this.”

His hand is ghosting across her back—it’s unfairly distracting—but Harumi smiles, trying to focus past his gentle touch. “I said I would need a good reason to stay… with no mention if I already had one. So…”

“Ah.” She can practically hear Lloyd roll his eyes—the endearing, expressive man he is. “I think you should stay because, as my wife, this is exactly where you belong.”

“On a rock?”

“With me. We only happen to be on a rock.”

Harumi opens her eyes, examining his handsome face, the teasing smile still on his face. “Well, that’s as good a reason as any, I think.”

“I’m glad I could convince you.”

She leans over and kisses him, murmuring against his lips. “You’re very good at that.”

She gets a pleased hum in response, buzzing nicely against her lips as he draws her into yet one more kiss. When the day is out, they may just be sick of the constant affection. Surely Lloyd will tire of it eventually…

…but not now, and Harumi is sick of living with what-ifs. Sick of living with doubt when she could accept her lot in life for once.

It's a good life.

She's happy.

-----

The vents are quiet, the only sound coming from the whirring of a fan and someone quietly talking from a room down below. When he hears a clatter, Lloyd stops, nearly slamming his head into the top of the vent and giving himself away.

By the First Master—!

“Reginald! Do not throw your pens at me!”

“Sorry, Patricia, I was, uh… distracted.”

Lloyd sighs in relief. He’s not discovered—the Realm of Madness is expansive, a place he’s avoided given its connection to his father’s condition as an Oni. It’s unfortunate that the one person he’d follow into any kind of danger is here, deep in the Administration. Not that Harumi had told her; she’d simply activated her SOS signal, and he’d followed her here.

He pulls out his compass and frowns at it, trying to parse how far he still needed to go. How deeply had she wormed her way into this confusing place? Why the SOS?

Is she safe, or am I walking into danger?

Questions and doubts won’t help anything, so he puts the compass away and starts crawling again. He has to be careful to avoid hitting the hilt of his sword against the walls of the cramped ventilation shafts. His knees are aching, his glutes and triceps too. The Administration’s area is multiple miles, with several levels above and belowground. Getting in has taken at least an hour; getting out will be more difficult, but hopefully faster.

He can’t stop now. Not when Harumi needs his help, and he’s close.

When her beacon gets close, he chooses the most promising of the grates nearby and slowly works it loose. The rusted screws squeak, but his stealth training as a ninja included tricks for this. A quick squirt of solvent, and it comes free soundlessly.

Thanks, Jay. Good tips. Wish you were here to gloat about it…

Still, it’s good to avoid a fourth close call. He drops into a silent room that seems like an endless row of filing cabinets and water coolers. It’s so dead in this space that he can almost hear the papers in the drawers, slowly rotting away, meaningless now and then.

A quick nudge puts the grate back in place, and now he’s left almost no trace.

He whispers into the silence. “Harumi?”

Nothing moves. Nothing breathes. Where is she?

He dares to peek around one of the filing cabinets. In the column direction, it’s just more filing cabinets, meticulously labeled and color-coded. If they had any opinions, they’d be mocking him.

Then, a thump. Lloyd whirled on his heel, spotting a storage closet in the far corner.

Thump, thump, it says, the door shaking on its hinges.

He gingerly grabs his compass, and… sure enough, Harumi’s beacon is just over there.

That’s insane. Would they actually put someone in a closet?

He tiptoes over to it, taking special care around corners and places where visibility should be peak. Nobody appears. When he reaches the closet, he tries the doorknob. Predictably, it’s locked.

He sighs. “Harumi? Are you in there?”

“Lloyd!” She replies immediately, as if surprised. “Yes, it’s me!”

Some of the tension bleeds away, replaced by relief. “Shh, I’m gonna get you out. Do you know where the key is?”

“Just break it,” she suggests.

“That's a horrible idea. It’ll be loud.”

“Lloyd, I don't have a key! Plus, these stupid handcuffs make my arms hurt, and—”

“I get it, I get it!” He looks around, checking the top of the doorframe. “Stay quiet, I'm gonna look around for a key.”

“Lloyd, if you make me wait in here, I’ll—I don’t know what I’ll do!”

He smiles, confirming the frame is not the hiding place. “Just be patient, okay? I’m looking.”

Next he tries under the mat—because for some reason, the closets in this place have mats, and that doesn’t make sense, why would you need a mat by a closet? Of course, he finds the key underneath.

The Realm of Madness. Nothing is meant to make sense. He wants to break something, but exercises restraint as he unlocks the door. As it opens, he comes face to face with his yang: trussed up, red in the face, and annoyed.

He grins. “Hi, honey. I’m home.”

“I'm gonna hit you,” she grumbles. “What took you so long?”

“This place is huge and impossible to navigate! Not to mention I was trying to be quiet.” He reaches for her cuffs and begins to fuss with them. The key is almost a perfect fit; he jams it in the lock until it snaps open, grinding against the tumblers. “All this paperwork and security, but they have such cheap locks. Weird priorities around here…”

“Yeah, I'm not dangerous enough to warrant their other ones.” Harumi sounds throughly put out by that, and he has to fight back a laugh that ends up sounding more like a cough. “Honestly, with an insult like that, they could've just let me go.”

“And spoil my chance to save you? I’m glad they didn’t.” He takes the cuffs off her and sets them on a shelf in the closet, next to the garbage bags and a box marked SCP-173.

“I'm gonna hurt you,” she grumbles again, rubbing her wrists. “Here I am, locked in a closet, and you're enjoying your chance to be my knight in shining armor!”

“You don’t have to complain about it. Isn’t it nice to have someone come and save you when you trigger your SOS?”

Harumi pauses, taking a second to look him up and down. “…Maybe one person is allowed to do that.”

He snickers. “You can check me out at home. Come on.”

“Come on! If I'm going to be a damsel in distress, might as well play the part, right?” She grins at him, putting one hand on his arm and dramatically holding her other hand to her forehead. “My hero!”

He stifles a laugh, playing along and pulling her in by the waist. “Princess, we’d better get going. We’re not safe here.”

“Oh, but I know I'm safe wherever you are.” Harumi sighs dramatically, leaning against him. “You saved me from this evil closet! You're so brave!”

“I’d do anything for you.” It’s hard not to get a big ego, even knowing this is all a joke to her. Something about Harumi being in his arms, relying on him, makes Lloyd feel larger than life.

Even if she’s exaggerating.

Even if she doesn't really mean it.

He kisses her right there, barely even caring that they could get caught at any second.

Harumi squeezes his arm. When they pull apart, she whispers against his lips. “My hero.”

This time, it sounds like she might actually mean it. Maybe it's something in her tone, or the fact that she broke their kiss just to say it… he's not totally sure, but it might not matter. He loves her more.

Lloyd kisses her forehead next, and pulls away before he gets too absorbed in the moment. “Okay, damsel of mine. How’d you get here in the first place?”

Harumi shrugs. “Who's to say? It's all a blur.”

“Good try.”

“Look, I was maybe being a little bit dumb, okay? Nothing huge! It didn't warrant getting locked in a closet and an insulting pair of handcuffs!”

“Were you snooping around?”

She pouts and glances down at his chest. “…Maybe I was looking for something. And it maybe was information in their files.”

Lloyd glances back at the room of file cabinets. “In here? What could’ve lured you into the Administration? This place is crazy!”

Harumi shrugs, still not looking at his face. “I didn’t try to get to this room. I was in another fileroom altogether. They probably figured I got too close, which is why I got stuffed into the closet. I'm even more sure it's here because of that.”

“Sure what is here?”

She frowns, shifting uncomfortably. “Is now really the time? Can we go back to me flirting with you? That was fun too.”

He kisses her forehead again. “It was. Tell me, and then we can get back to flirting.”

Harumi huffs. “I was talking with some… people… and I have reason to believe that the Administration is watching everything—as much as they can, anyways. I figured that Elemental Masters would be pretty high on the list of people to be keeping an eye on, so…”

She finally looks at him and smiles weakly. “I thought that if anyone would know where Jay and Cole were, it would be them. And they keep files on everything so I thought I could just… nab it.”

Something in that smile makes his heart skip a beat. “Did you find it?”

She shakes her head. “No. But I think I must have been fairly close, because the way they stormed in there was… weird. They barely even listed off all the rules I'd broken before slapping me in handcuffs and tossing me in here.”

Lloyd blinks.

“What?”

That’s not how they acted when Arin and I were here. Something is different.

“Really,” Harumi sighs. “To be honest, I have to have been close. There's no other explanation. But if they know where they are… why haven't they done anything to reassign them back to the Monastery, or even the Crossroads? It doesn't add up. I mean, they have a whole department dedicated just for that.”

“Arin said the reassignment department just picks a place to dump people.” He frowns. “If they’re watching, then… that means they’re watching me. They might know I’m here.”

Harumi laughs a bit. “Oh yeah. The dangerous Green Savior who messes with dragon cores and other anomalies that should probably be destroyed? They're definitely keeping an eye on you, handsome. Honestly, I can't blame them. I mean… wow.” She pauses. “Although…”

“Although?” He prompts.

“If they're watching you, that means they have to know we're married. So, by my sneaking in here…” She laughs nervously. “I hope I didn't put Cole and Jay in any danger by looking for them like that. That would be… unfortunate.”

“Unfortunate?” Lloyd searches her face, then looks behind himself—nothing’s there—in a slightly paranoid panic. “Rumi, you might’ve been bait!”

“I mean, that would explain the insulting handcuffs and unceremonious act of throwing me in a closet… also leaving the GPS tracker on me…”

“And why nobody caught me the three times they should’ve.” Lloyd turns away from her, rifling in his gi for a knife. He offers it to her, standing in the way, reaching for his own sword… but there’s nothing waiting for them outside.

The room of filing cabinets stands just as endless and silent as before, holding its breath, lest a single sheet of paper drift from its rightful place. If there’s someone pursuing them, they have no idea where to look.

Why didn’t they catch me before? The thought nags at Lloyd as he canvasses the space, and he can feel Harumi moving behind him, but for one short second he ignores her. Why did they happen to turn around, right before they saw me, and leave?

The last person had gotten a phone call in his cubicle, hadn’t he? And before that, the close calls all had to do with sudden emergencies…

Such coincidental timing…

“You almost got caught three times?”

“Be glad it wasn’t four.”

“Bit of an amateur at this breaking in thing, are we? Not quite used to the criminal side of things?”

He glances at her. “If they’re tracking me, it doesn’t matter. I think someone’s looking out for us.”

“Why would they do that? This whole place hates us.”

“Last time, it was Zane, but he’s at the Monastery. Whoever it is, they don’t hate us either.” He reaches for her free hand. “Either way, we need to get out of here as fast as possible. Forget the files, we’ll come back for them.”

“But I was so—”

“I know, babe, but we have to go now.”

A door slams and Lloyd stops, putting his hand over Harumi's mouth before she can protest any more.

The light!

Harumi's eyes flick to the switch at the same time his do, and she reaches over to flick it off. Lloyd steps back over the threshold of the closet, praying the darkness is enough to keep them hidden until he can close the door.

It latches with the quietest of clicks.

“You'd think that Leyton would be better at table football by now, wouldn't you?” A distinctly male voice floats over from the front of the room, sounding completely bored out of his mind. “I mean, it's just scraps of paper and a little goal. How do you miss every one?”

“No idea! He's sssso bad, that might be his only talent!” The reply comes from a female Serpentine.

“He has a talent?”

Both people laugh and Lloyd holds his breath, grateful that Harumi is staying as completely quiet and still as he is.

They might need something from this cleaning closet… this conversation might be part of the scheme…

“Don’t forget to pick up form 337-86-IN,” the Serpentine woman comments. “We need it for the Raspberry Accesssss Sheet for next month’sss meeting sssnacks.”

“As if I’d forget the 337-86-IN,” the man retorts, sniffing. “I wrote the form!”

“You did?”

“Well… it’s a figure of speech.”

Lloyd watches the light under the door, the way it shifts as they approach… and then slowly the shadows fade. The sound of footsteps recedes down an aisle of cabinets, and they’re slowly left in the quiet. Just a yin and his yang, somewhere secret, as close as two can be.

He struggles to control his growing smile, slowly allowing his hand to drop from Harumi's mouth.

Apparently, she's thinking the same thing, because Harumi whispers, “You know, some people might find this to be a bit of a compromising situation to be found in.”

“Compromising, huh? What am I compromising? Your spotless maiden reputation?”

"“'m a damsel in distress, Lloyd. It's part of the job description.”

“Doesn’t the hero get the girl?” He leans down to get a little closer. It’s only natural. “Or did the stories lie?”

He's not imagining the way her breath hitches, and he can hear the smile in her voice, even if it's too dark to see it. “A lot of stories are blown way out of proportion. Like the ones they tell about you in schools.”

“Aw, they tell the kids about me? They probably skip some parts, don’t they?”

Harumi chuckles a bit. “Maybe a few bits get skipped.”

“Probably the traumatic stories. I’d rather not relive most of those.”

“What, like all those times you almost died? Some of those were because of me, if you'll remember.”

“I remember.” He reaches for her again, bringing her close to him. In the dark, his eyes are adjusting, and a black-and-white shadow of his wife is coming into view. “I remember you coming back to me, too. That one was pretty special.”

Harumi smiles again, resting her hands on his shoulders. “Yeah… I think that was one of the best decisions I'd made in a long time. But there are other details the stories miss too—moments that I happen to like quite a lot.”

“I bet you're not talking about all the times I've come to save you.” She's close. So close. If someone is watching them, is this small, dark closet being watched too, or can he be frank here?

“No…” Harumi breathes, and he feels the word ghost over his face. “I'm talking about how you always double knot your laces, or how you steal all the blankets because you move around so much when you sleep. How you keep that stash of candy under our bed that still has a note to make sure Jay doesn't steal from it, even though he's been gone for so long. It’s the little things like that.”

Enough. He pulls her into a firm kiss, and takes his time before replying, because she's doing that thing where she steals his breath and thoughts away, and it's only fair that he return the favor.

“…They have no idea just how much I love you,” he whispers as soon as he can speak, and kisses her again.

Harumi sighs, her fingers tangling in his hair. “That's okay. They don't need to know. It can be just for us.”

For us and for whoever's watching me. He doesn't say that out loud. Best not to ruin the moment… though if anyone ever asks, he won't be able to shut up about how much he's in love with her. She won't want to hear that when he could be kissing her.

He kisses her again—a few times, how could he stop?—until they're both breathless, and then squeezes her into a tight embrace. He can feel both their chests heaving as they try to breathe normally again.

“We need to go,” he finally mutters into her hair. “No files, let's just go home.”

Harumi doesn't say anything for a minute, her breath brushing against his neck, sending goosebumps up and down his spine. “…I hate being so close and walking away.”

“We'll come back with a plan and some backup. That'll give you a fighting chance at finding them.”

“I know… you're right. Especially if someone is watching you. I don't want them to catch you.”

“Now who's saving the other?”

“Shut up, Green Savior. It's better for everyone if you don't get tossed in jail and they throw away the key. Besides, I've got selfish reasons for making sure you’re a free man.”

He laughs and strokes her hair, tidying it around her face. “Ever the damsel, aren’t you?”

“Hey, a girl wants what she wants. Sometimes it's revenge, sometimes it's chocolate, sometimes it's someone's son.”

He snorts. “The son of Garmadon, I remember.”

“I could hardly say no! He's not bad on the eyes.”

“Interesting. I think the wanting goes both ways. Can I have you?”

She tries to tap him on the nose, and it's not so dark that he misses how she almost pokes his eye. “Silly Lloyd. You already have me. Next question.”

He snags her hand and kisses the palm. “I have two more. Do you know how incredibly, ravishingly beautiful you are?”

Thank you, romance novels, for the smile she gives at that compliment. Even in the dark, she's like the sun.

Harumi squeezes his arm, letting him keep hold of her other hand. “I sure do, pretty boy. Next?”

“Will you please come home with me?” He kisses her palm again. “Now?”

Harumi smiles again. “Since you asked so nicely, why not? If only to get you out of here too.”

“Where you go, I go.”

“Mm, yeah, that's exactly why we're gonna be leaving.” She pauses. “Hey… thank you for coming for me. Really.”

He chuckles and kisses her forehead one last time. “As if I wouldn't come for you when you call.”

“I know. You always do.” Harumi reaches up and runs her fingers through his hair, combing it down so it'll hopefully be a bit more presentable. “You better be careful with that. I don't fancy continuing to be bait.”

“Unfortunately, you are the best bait for catching me.” He lets her finish—his ninja mask will ruin it, but it feels nice, and he returns the favor by tucking her loose hair behind her ears. Most of it is still tidy, captured in a bun, and he doesn't mess with it.

They pull apart as much as possible in such a small space. The knife he gave her somehow made it next to them onto a shelf; he presses it into her hand. “Keep an eye out when we're heading out of here. I came in through the vent system, but I don't think we'll be able to go back out the same way.”

“Did you have a plan for being able to get out?” Harumi asks, accepting the knife and watching him.

“Yeah, actually, I do.” He grins, then shifts toward the door. “When I tell you, run.”

Harumi laughs, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “We're back to doing this again, huh? Running seems to be a favorite pastime of ours.”

“You know it.”

He squeezes back, and then eases the door open. Silent, still, and completely deserted.

They slip out just as Lloyd hears another voice coming from the aisles of cabinets. “I can't believe the 337-86-IN was misplaced with the 337-86-IP! Can you believe the level of disorganization people allow here?!”

They walk faster, five yards from the door—

“I know! The nerve of ssssssome people!”

—subtlety is key, but the latch sticks—

“When I find whoever did this, I'm sending them directly to Officer Eigenbaum—hey, who are you? This room is off-limits to anyone below security clearance 14C!”

—the door opens. Lloyd and Harumi share a loaded glance.

“Run!”

They take off down the hallways, the bright fluorescents making Lloyd's eyes hurt after the darkness of that closet. He blinks away the pain, leading Harumi down the halls and letting go of her hand to grab his compass.

“Where are we going?” She asks, glancing over her shoulder just as Administration agents begin shooting at them, bright blue pulses of light whizzing past them and hitting the wall.

“This way!” Lloyd grabs her hand again and pulls her to the right, heading towards the other beacon he’s been watching since he arrived.

“I thought you didn't know your way around this place!”

“I don't!” The hallway makes a direct path, past rows of cubicles and long queues that gasp and point. Their prize is behind another unmarked door at the far end of the line. As soon as they reach it, he slams it open, revealing the prize inside.

His favorite green motorbike, waiting patiently as only a machine can.

Harumi stops, a huge grin splitting her face as she looks at it. “I love it! I wanna drive!”

“Hey, hold on—!”

He's too late. Harumi bolts for the bike and jumps on. She grabs her helmet from where it rests on the handlebars and jams it on her head.

Lloyd groans and follows, grabbing his own helmet—safety first, as always. “Rumi, it's my bike.”

“Oh come on, I haven't ridden in so long! And besides, I can do more dangerous things with it than you can.”

“How do you know that?”

She grins at him. “Hello? Biker girl over here?” At the look on his face, she taps her fingers on the handlebars, still smiling. “Okay, what if we made a little deal?”

Lloyd rolls his eyes. “What deal?”

“I'll owe you one if you let me drive.”

“One… what?”

“Anything at all. The world is your oyster.”

“I don't really like shellfish.”

“Then—I don't know! It's a figure of speech!”

He snorts and climbs on behind her, knocking their helmets together in greeting. “Fine, oysters it is. Let's get out of here.”

Harumi laughs triumphantly and kicks the bike into gear. He barely has a chance to grab onto her waist before she's sending them flying down the hallways, barely avoiding crashing into people, engine whining at the high number of revolutions—she’s pushing six thousand, and he’s not sure how much of it the vehicle can take.

Lloyd is suddenly very grateful for his helmet, especially considering the way she's moving this bike around. “The wall—Rumi!”

Harumi cackles, turning a tight corner with a metal-on-metal screech that sets his nerves on edge and gets his adrenaline pumping. “Better hold on tight, Son of Garmadon!”

He holds on as tight as he can, and silently curses every reason he ever thought he should let The Quiet One drive. (Including himself, because this is the woman he married!)

They go careening down a slowly widening hallway, the light getting brighter and brighter. She screams with laughter as they go up a ramp, and moments later, crash through an enormous glass wall. Shards fall around them, and Lloyd presses against her to keep any pieces from falling between them.

They emerge into a bright, hot midday, the sun shining with all its might over a dry and barren land. It's nothing recognizable, except for the Bounty hanging in the sky to the southeast.

Harumi revs the engine and sets off for it at top speed, dodging around rocks and dead brush almost as quickly as he sees them. If anyone is chasing them, they’re long gone, lost in the dust.

“If we crash, I’m blaming you!” He shouts to her, even though most of the words get stolen by the wind.

Harumi only laughs and speeds up, racing for the Bounty, pushing the bike to go faster, faster! The engine whines with the stress, still cool, and Lloyd smells burnt oil. Only a few hundred yards to go, and it’s almost not enough time to stop.

And, as Lloyd realizes, she’s not going to. Not unless she has to.

He calls the Bounty down with a press of his remote, and it sinks down next to a small hill. “Rumi, make the jump!”

Harumi tenses in anticipation, adjusting their course to aim for the hill. Lloyd grips onto her a little tighter as they get closer and closer and closer and then—

Weightlessness. For a brief second, they're suspended in the air. Then they land hard on the deck of the Bounty and Harumi skids to a stop.

“Yes!” She laughs, letting the bike idle, one hand falling from the handlebars to rest on his knee. “Now that is what I'm talking about!”

Lloyd laughs with her, but it's a frazzled, nervous sort of thrill that runs through him. He slumps against her back. “That was insane!”

Harumi reaches up to take off her helmet, and he can feel her whole body shaking from the adrenaline. “I haven't ridden in so long… That was just as fun as I remember!”

“You almost killed us both,” he protests weakly.

“But I didn't! I've still got it!”

Lloyd groans. He reaches up to take off his helmet, letting the wind relieve the sweat and helmet hair, and he looks at her.

In a very small way, he's looking at Harumi for the very first time: a thrilled adrenaline junkie, a girl who never takes “no” for an answer, who could have created any sort of gang and chose a biker gang because it sounded fun.

He smiles, and when she looks at him, she's sparkling. Is that what she sees when she says that to him? That kind of joy?

Lloyd reaches up to touch a few strands of her now messy hair, falling out of the bun she'd put it in. “Every time I think I've seen all of you… you just keep surprising me.”

Harumi doesn't say anything for a minute, but she leans back against him, tilting her head to look at him. “Good. I'd hate for life with me to be boring. You signed up for this, after all.”

He lets his arms rest around her, a gentle guard against falling. “You could never be boring, but you're even more interesting than I thought.”

“Hm… let me guess… you're not going to let me drive again?”

“I might, but… let's talk about it later.”

“Why not now? I want to talk about it.”

“I know.”

“So…”

He can't help smiling and squeezing her a tiny amount. Sure enough, a light of understanding enters her sparkling, excited eyes.

“I see.” Harumi grins fiendishly. “Later, then. Once you've recovered from the shock of my fantastic and very safe driving.”

Lloyd snickers, and before replying, he kisses her shoulder. “That's enough out of you, troublemaker. Don't you know how to take care of yourself?”

She squeezes his arm, looking up at the sky. Her smile is so content, so soft! It makes him squeeze her again. “Maybe I do. Maybe I don't want to. I thought that was your job now.”

“I can try, but that—” he points behind them— “is out of my hands.”

Harumi snorts. “Clearly not. You're here, aren't you?”

“Am I?”

“Very funny. Admit it, you were both annoyed and panicky when you got my SOS.”

“Nope, not annoyed. Worried.”

Harumi smiles again. “You're so sweet. Honestly, I might just end up keeping you.”

He laughs and nuzzles her cheek, kissing it a few times. “You might, but I have no plans to let go of a girl like you.”

She relaxes against him, adjusting a bit to keep the bike steady, seeming to enjoy his gentle kisses. “I know. Besides, as my yin, it's your job to take care of me. Especially when I get myself into… messes like that one.”

“Oh? You are pretty messy, aren't you… I guess I'm your cleanup crew.”

“Nothing quite so impersonal as that. Put simply, I'd say you're mine.”

The sly-yet-innocent look on her face makes him laugh. “Aren't you the possessive type?”

She grins at him. “I think it's better than not trying to keep hold of someone you love at all.”

“Keeping hold…” He muses, looking down at their arrangement, how she slots in perfectly against him. “Now, there's an idea. Perfect timing, too. I just happen to have a hold on my smoking hot yang.”

Harumi laughs. “What's an idea? You gotta tell me now.”

“No, I don't.” He lowers the kickstand, then gets off the bike and leans it back. Just in case they don’t have as much time as he thinks, he reaches for the Bounty’s remote control and presses the button that makes the ship rise to sailing altitude. It kicks into gear, shaking only a little, and soon they’re rising to safety.

Harumi waits patiently until they get to cruising height, still listening for his idea, but Lloyd has no intention of saying anything. As she watches him, he tugs her off so she's standing to face him.

-----

“What if you wake up one day and I’ve stabbed you?”

Lloyd sighs, but he smiles too. This question isn’t a new one.

Harumi, his new wife, is lying next to him on their bed. She’s spread out, taking up as much room as conceivably possible—not to mention the nights she almost pushes him out from underneath the covers, as if she can’t understand the idea of sharing. She’s staring at him now, waiting for an answer.

Strands of her hair flow through his fingers like silk, wild and loose. He finds a tiny tangle and works it loose. “I guess I’d try not to bleed on our blankets.”

She frowns. “You’re okay with me killing you? You wouldn’t leave?”

“Why would I? You wouldn’t stab me anywhere fatal. If you did, we wouldn’t be able to fight anymore.”

She rolls her eyes, and raises her far hand. The late afternoon light flashes off a small blade she holds—why, exactly, does she have a knife in their bed? It’s three inches away from his Achilles. “I call you a masochist for a reason.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t like it too. We always end up here.”

“With me holding you at knifepoint?”

He snickers at her deadpan expression. “Sure.”

She points the knife at him. “Watch it, Garmadon. I haven’t put you in a cage in a while.”

“You wouldn’t do that again. Not after last time.”

“Are you sure? Don’t tell me you didn’t like it, at least a little.”

Lloyd rolls his eyes now, thinking back to last time. An ill-fitting disguise, a cave filled with purple crystals, a series of greater and greater losses that still weigh on him in his dreams. “No, thanks. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience.”

Even though he tried to make it a gentle delivery, Harumi pouts and looks away. “…That’s fair.” She lets the knife fall, and Lloyd tries not to wince as it lands a little too close to her hair.

(She’d better not cut it, even by accident. He likes playing with it, and it’s so soft. Even now he’s toying with three strands, weaving a messy braid that will come undone immediately.)

His wife sighs. “So, if I can’t cage you, and you’re fine with me stabbing you, how am I supposed to bother you now?”

“You could try to get along with me.”

“Nonsense. I’m the most important person in your life, I don’t have to try to get along with you. You have to try to get along with me.”

Lloyd cracks a smile and tugs very gently, teasingly, on her hair. “Maybe.”

She scoffs and bats his hand away. He parries, tangling their fingers together, and they’re in a lock now.

There’s no steel in the way she looks at him. “I think I could get away with anything except killing you. You’d be fine with anything else.”

“Do you have to phrase it like that? There’s plenty of things I’d prefer you not doing.”

“I’m not planning anything! It’s for the sake of discussion, Lloyd.”

“That’s what you’d say if you were planning my imminent demise.”

She laughs, the sound sparkling through the air. “No I wouldn’t! I’d go on a whole monologue about how you’re gullible, I’m angry about you ‘murdering’ my parents, being the one who got away, so on and so forth. You know the drill.”

“And then you’d put me in a cage.”

“Third time’s the charm.”

“Some argue that being married is like a cage…” Lloyd muses. “A lifelong tether…”

“If marriage is a cage, then I’ve trapped you at least four times.”

He shrugs lazily. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s along the lines of falling into the hippopotamus enclosure at the zoo.”

He’s rewarded with snickers. “So the cage count is still at four, but I wouldn’t be the one guilty this time.”

“Nope. I’d still be in the enclosure with you.” He reaches out and takes the knife, flipping it one way and another in his hand. “Double trouble.”

“So… we’d fight the hippo together? Or I’d sic it on you as a distraction?”

“Neither of those.”

“…Does that make me—”

“It might.”

Harumi pins him with a stern glare. “Lloyd!”

“Look, they’re the most dangerous animals in the world! I would’ve said a spider, but spiders don’t have enclosures!”

“Yes they do?! And you could’ve used a snake den!” Harumi laughs, poking him in the leg. “I can’t believe you just called me a hippopotamus. What a nice thing to call your wife, a flabby five-thousand-pound mud creature.”

“Excuse you, I respect the hippopotamus! It’s a mighty warrior!” Lloyd pokes her in return, tickling under her armpit—she squirms away, completely undignified. “I’ll have you know they’re more deadly than lions!”

“What a compliment. I haven’t killed that many people, your count is probably higher than mine!”

“We don’t have to talk about that. Most of them were stone, or nindroids, or snakes—”

His words are cut off as Harumi clambers onto hands and knees, reaching for the knife in his hand. “Serpentine lives matter!”

“The Vermillion aren’t Serpentine!” He pulls the knife out of her reach, scooting back on the bed. “I’ve never killed a Serpentine.”

“Oh, please. You wanna bet? They’d say otherwise.”

“Who are you asking, Pythor? He’s unreliable.”

The braid is falling out of her loose hair now, and she’s grinning like the cat who caught the canary. “I don’t know, he did a fairly good job on my Council.”

“When I met him—long before you did—he was already a cannibal.” Lloyd tosses the knife off the bed, where it falls to the floor with a dull clunk. “Try reaching that now.”

“Everyone has their quirks.” She begins to clamber over him, trying to get to where he dropped the knife, and he’s not imagining the huge grin on her face. “Just—he ate his own people! And he’s got the last name Chumsworth, which is very misleading.”

Lloyd grabs her by the ankle, keeping her back from the edge. “Chummy, right?”

“You sure thought so!”

“I was twelve.”

“Gullible, like I said!”

“When did you say that? I want receipts.”

He knows the receipts aren’t coming, because at that moment he reaches up and tickles the sole of her foot. Harumi squeals, kicking out, twisting around to tug her ankle free, to no avail. “That’s cheating! Let me go!”

“Nope! All’s fair in love and war!”

“I just want my knife!”

“I just want my wife.”

She laughs, turning to look him in the eye. “I’m literally right here. Don’t make me kick you in that pretty face.”

He tries to control his grin. “You wouldn’t.”

“Handsome, naive Lloyd. You wanna bet?”

He grins, grabbing at her other ankle, and begins to tickle her. “How’s that? I can take you!”

Harumi shrieks, and he takes the chance to go after her sides, gaining a peal of laughter. “Lloyd! We both know—haha—you can’t!” She tries to wiggle away, to no avail. “Don’t lie, it doesn’t suit you!”

“Only one of us is ticklish,” Lloyd crows, going after her armpits for another shriek. “My secret weapon!”

“I will kick you!” She tries, but fails miserably, and settles for trying to smack his hands away.

“Sure, try it,” he taunts. The look on her face is only a little murderous, and he realizes a little too late that he’s playing with fire.

Harumi twists around, gets her leg up, and punts him square in the stomach. Lloyd grunts, not so much out of pain but instead out of surprise. He recoils, falling back—

She hooks her leg around him, tossing him off of her and onto the mattress to her side.

He groans. “Hey, that was rude.”

To add insult to (mild) injury, Harumi laughs at him. “All’s fair in love and war. I’m getting my knife!” She swings herself off the bed, drops into a crouch, and comes up with the knife in hand. She waves it in the air teasingly. “Here you thought you could stop my plans. Silly ninja.”

He gets to his knees and folds his hands. “Please, I’m begging you. You don’t have to do this! You can change!”

“Change? But I caught a dragon!” She grins at him with plenty of teeth showing. “If only I had a cage to put him in…”

“You caught a quarter of a dragon, really. A quarter oni, too, but majority completely boring. I’m not worth keeping in your zoo.”

The gleeful glint in her eye is incredibly rewarding. “I like hybrids. Besides, ‘boring’ is the last word I’d used to describe you.”

He tries to keep back a smile. “Why stick me in a cage to rot if I’m so interesting? Aren’t you going to investigate?”

She looks him up and down, smirking. “The cage is only a temporary solution. I keep all the cuties for myself.”

“Sounds vaguely threatening, especially with you waving that knife around.”

“Does it? I thought you liked a bad girl.”

“Don’t use my words against me!”

She laughs. Harumi laughs so much now. Lloyd could get drunk on the sound of it, the way her laughter makes him forget everything but her, the way the world of things he cares about can be held in his arms.

She points the toy knife at him. “I’m giving you receipts, pretty boy. You’re the one who said it.”

Lloyd gapes at her. “Put me out of my misery. You’re taking my words out of context!”

“Why shouldn’t I? You tortured me, I torture you,” she says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“One minute of tickling,” he deadpans. “The world’s worst form of torture, to be sure.”

“I’m so glad you agree. Now you can suffer with me.”

“No thanks.” He gets to one knee, gaining an inch of height and losing stability as the mattress shifts below him. “I’d rather not.”

She eyes him. “…Deal with it.”

Now. “I will, thanks!”

He lunges for her and manages to grab one wrist, tugging her toward him. Harumi yelps, and a corner of his awareness notes that she intentionally points the knife blade away from him—how considerate! He uses it against her, pulling her back onto their bed, into his arms, where he holds on tight.

She laughs, wiggling to try and get away. Lloyd just tightens his grip, crushing her against him so she can't leave.

"Is this you dealing with it?" Harumi laughs again, still trying to break free.

“I’ve immobilized the threat,” he narrates, holding tight but letting his hands begin to wander. “Time to figure out how dangerous the wild hippopotamus really is.”

Harumi scoffs. “I can’t believe you’re calling me a huge, fat animal! You should’ve picked a pretty one, like a swan, or a dove!”

“Doves don’t match your personality. Maybe a swan is right! They’re mean.”

She levels a death glare at him. “They’re gorgeous and elegant.”

“Elegant, I can see,” he says, watching her. She’s watching him, too, and he decides to let the tension go. “And you are gorgeous.”

She elbows him, but the grin is pasted on her face now, and it’s not disappearing anytime soon. “You almost got yourself into huge trouble, Mr. Garmadon.”

“Sorry, Mrs. Garmadon. I was distracted.”

“By what?”

“By my wife.” He leans in and kisses her, tasting that smile of hers. “Y’know, the woman who’s threatening me with a knife at the moment.”

“Ha! You definitely have issues. We might need a stronger cage for you.”

“No cage is strong enough. You’re stuck with me for life.”

“Is this your way of opting for staying willingly?”

He winks. “What do you think?”

Harumi settles against him, resting her head on his shoulder. It’s as warm as sunlight, holding her, and more valuable than any relic or treasure.

Her voice is muffled as she says, “We can come to an arrangement. Maybe.”

“I’d like that, Rumi.”

“You like me.”

“Even with your terrible sense of humor.”

“So little faith, from the most important person in my life!” She gives him a puppy-dog look, big eyes and a little pout. “If my jokes are bad, yours are worse. They’re like my dad’s.”

Lloyd snickers. “Your dad’s? I’m not old enough to be your father, sorry.”

“You’ve got the jokes for it, so maybe you could anyway. I don’t think you could make a good joke to save my life.”

“To save your life? What about mine?”

She pauses, thinks about it, and shrugs. “Plot armor?”

He laughs. “Rumi, that’s not real. If plot armor was real, half of my family—including me—would not have died in some fashion over the years.”

“You always come back, don’t you? That can be plot armor!”

“I’m not so sure.” He lays his head on her shoulder with a smile that just won’t leave. “We can agree to disagree.”

Harumi rests her head against his with a sigh. “If plot armor were real, you would have it. You're basically the main character, chosen one.”

“Eh… I don’t need to be the main character. Do you want the title?”

She kisses him on the cheek. “I've got too many titles already. You can keep it.”

He catches her eye, and there’s affection there. It’s deep, hidden in some part of her he can’t quite name, something he only sees in moments like this one. It’s true love, the kind he’s always wanted. In short, it’s the most rewarding thing he can think about.

Lloyd reaches up and guides her into a sweet, indulgent kiss.

He's vaguely aware of one of her hands falling to the side; the hand holding the knife, which he’s pretty sure she’s still trying not to point in his direction. The affection buried in her simple gesture makes his heart feel fuller than ever. With her free hand, Harumi cups his cheek gently, seeming to enjoy the kiss just as much as he’s enjoying it.

She pulls away after a delightfully long moment. “Do you still want to know what else I think you'd like?” Harumi's voice is quiet, although the teasing tone is back in it. It makes him kiss her again, savoring the taste of her.

When they draw apart, he whispers, loath to let her go. “What else?”

“I think you'd like it more if I didn't accidentally stab you.” Harumi glances to the side, a goofy smile on her face. “Do you think I can hit the doorframe from here?”

That shakes him from his happy stupor. “What? The door?”

“That's an easy target. I was thinking the side.” She moves away a little bit, switching the knife to her right hand and resting her left on his leg. “Do you care if I throw it?”

Lloyd blinks, and blinks again, and looks down at her hands. “I—why are you throwing knives in our bedroom, exactly?”

“So I don't stab you!”

“Don’t you think that would be more dangerous?”

“To… throw it?”

“Yes?”

Harumi giggles. “I've been throwing knives for years, and we're the only two here. You're not gonna get up and get in the way, are you?”

“Obviously not.” Lloyd rolls his eyes. “You know what? Go for it. I can’t judge you.”

“Will you kiss me again if I hit the doorpost?”

“What is this? Are you jousting for my hand? Earning the right to have me in single combat against a doorframe?”

She brightens. “Absolutely! Is that a yes?”

“…Sure. Go for it, babe.”

Harumi turns, adjusting her grip on the knife's hilt before throwing it. It hits the doorframe with a solid thunk, the blade buried tip-first into the wood.

Harumi laughs victoriously. “Ha! Three points! And you're not longer at risk of being stabbed!”

Lloyd snorts. “My doorframe, on the other hand, has sustained a fatal wound. Even now, this place is still being punished for having people live in it.”

“Hey, at least I asked first.” She turns back to him with a grin. “I could have just done it.”

“You could’ve. I’m not sure I would have liked it as much.”

“Oh, so you did like it?”

Lloyd smothers a grin, trying very hard not to betray it. From the look in her eye, he’s failing. “No comment.”

“No, come on, I killed a piece of wood for you! You can't just weasel your way out of this one. I have to know the truth!”

“I have the right to remain silent about appreciating your skill with knives.”

“Oh, is this like how I like to not say anything about how hot you look when you're working out.” Harumi nods wisely. “I see. I can respect that.”

The urge to smile comes again, and he struggles to remain straight-faced. “You wanted a kiss, didn't you? Aren't you going to claim your prize?”

“As tempting as it is, you can't distract me from this realization that you liked that little demonstration of my skills. I always love being right!”

He breaks, laughing at her boasts. “You are something else, Rumi! Yes, I liked it, I like you. I like damage to the doorframes a bit less than that.”

She dismisses the comment with a wave of her hand. “Eh, it was just this once. I'm sure there's been worse property damage than that before.”

“That's true. We've had a few counts of arson, now and again.”

Harumi grins. “Arson. My favorite crime of all.”

“The one you got away with.”

“I am the one who got away.” She pauses, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Although I did help to rebuild this place after I had it burned down.”

“I was thinking your palace, but sure.” Lloyd taps her forehead teasingly. “Do you remember every one of your crimes?”

“What is that, two counts of arson now?” Harumi snags his hand, kissing his palm. He immediately resolves to never admit the happy shiver it sends up his spine. “Most of them, yeah. I've forgotten some of the early ones, though.”

Lloyd doesn’t bother stealing his hand back. He just caresses her face, drawing her back to him with his other arm. She comes willingly, and soon Harumi’s face is only inches from his.

“I think your later ones matter more. One of them especially, and it’s not arson or murder.”

She smiles. “I feel like I know what you're going to say… but tell me anyways.”

“It’s cheesy. You got away.”

Harumi giggles. “I thought you were gonna say I stole your heart.”

He snickers, nuzzling his nose against hers. “I almost did.”

“You are such a sap, you know that?”

“Sometimes I think so too. I know you actually like it.”

She smiles, tilting her head up to kiss him on the nose. “Yeah, it's sweet. Makes me feel all warm and tingly inside.”

“Like I love you?”

“Also a little bit like I love you. I might like feeling like this more than I used to like fighting with you all the time. Maybe.”

“Really? You don’t actually want to fight me?” He nuzzles her again, kisses her cheek. “And here you were worried you’d hurt me, but you’re doing nothing like that. One might accuse you of having changed, Harumi.”

“Who, me? Now don't get me wrong, there is still something satisfying about fighting with you. But… I think I may like this feeling better.”

“If you like this feeling better, then let’s not bother fighting right now. I promised you a kiss.”

Harumi smiles at him, squeezing his hand before tangling their fingers together. “You did! And you don't break your promises, right?”

“You know it. Just like you’re stuck with me, and me with you.”

She smiles a little wider. The words aren’t new; he’s said them every day, in one way or another, since the first time he made her cry. Her smile is one of forgiveness, and she doesn’t say anything. She never has to.

-----

The situation before Zane does not compute as it should. Too many variables have been changed; it will take manual intervention to accommodate them within his system.

Some of the Ninja are home—Zane knows he is the latest, but not the last—and the situation at the Monastery is strange for many reasons. Between the Merge, the loss of Cole and Jay, the confusion of dealing with Imperium’s Dragon Hunters, and now adjusting to the fact that he has somehow lost several years… he’s not sure what to think.

Especially because Harumi, formerly the Quiet One and Lloyd’s worst enemy, has moved into their home.

Permanently. Her belongings are in every room of the Monastery. She knows where everything is. She is comfortable, even casual, with living there. She’s often in Lloyd’s room—Zane’s opinion that she sleeps in his bed is within the 95th confidence interval.

It is all unexpected, but what had he expected? He hadn’t even known he was powered down until the other Ninja rebooted him. The events with which he has been greeted are extremely unlikely, but even extremes appear within a normal distribution with some regularity. Nothing that has happened is truly impossible.

But why have they happened?

Zane opens his eyes. Morning meditation with Lloyd is peaceful, a good time to de-frag his hard drive and remove temporary files. Today, however, he has elected to observe Lloyd as he contemplates recent events.

Lloyd is, by all measures, completely calm. His breathing is steady, his pulse is regular, his blood pressur appears to be low. His stress seems to be minimal, as if Harumi’s sudden arrival calmed him instead of causing him distress.

Again, Zane wonders, why?

Lloyd opens his eyes, peering at him sidelong. “I can feel you looking at me, Zane.”

Zane smiles. “My apologies. I am simply glad to be home.”

“Makes sense. How are you doing?”

“I am well. How are you, Lloyd?”

Lloyd shrugs. “As good as I can be, I guess? With all the ‘conduit’ stuff going on, I’m just glad everyone is home.”

“Everyone?”

“Well, everyone we’ve found since the Merge,” Lloyd amends, looking appropriately sheepish.

“Of course.” What an odd statement. “You seem calm today.”

“Do I?”

“Indeed. You are breathing more slowly and regularly. Your blood pressure appears to be lower as well. Both of these metrics constitute an improvement from yesterday.”

Lloyd blinks. “You’ve been keeping track of my blood pressure?”

“Yes. I have for years, though I don’t make a big deal out of it.”

Lloyd blinks again. “…Oh.”

Zane notes his confusion with interest. Lloyd’s speech is slow, even thoughtful. It is an improvement from his behavior as a child, to be sure; what is surprising is the difference from what still feels recent to Zane. In the intervening time since the Merge—however long it actually has been—Lloyd seems to have changed.

A change for the better.

“So… why are you mentioning it now?”

Zane smiles. A predictable question. “Because I find it interesting. Surely there’s any number of reasons for your calm attitude.”

“Such as?”

He chuckles at Lloyd’s considering look. “Perhaps you are relieved by our success in Imperium? The release of many captured dragons is a large victory. I imagine you have been sleeping better since that relief, with fewer nightmares.”

Imagination or not, Zane knows it’s real when Lloyd’s neck and face turn a rosy shade of pink. His thermal sensors detect it, the infrared signature a dead giveaway for Lloyd’s blush. “I—uh, yeah! Definitely the dragons. Yeah. The weird dreams have been messing with my sleep.”

“Indeed. Harumi’s presence is also a contributing factor, is it not?”

“To, uh, to my dreams?” Lloyd sounds a little strangled.

“I suppose.”

(Zane keeps himself from smiling any wider—it would be difficult for any of their brothers, but he knows how to keep a poker face, and the advantage of complete control over his facial expression servos is greater than he’d let anyone know. Lloyd should know this trick, having grown up with Zane, but it still works most of the time.)

At last, he broaches the issue he’s actually been curious about. “How has she been settling in, Lloyd?”

“Fine! I’m sure she’s… fine.”

Zane studies how he rubs the back of his head, nervous and awkward. It’s immediately obvious that Lloyd isn’t telling the whole truth. “It seems I’ve missed much in these intervening years.”

“I wouldn’t say that, Zane. I’ve been sitting around the Monastery for a lot of it.”

“Alone?”

He squirms. “I… are you interrogating me, Zane? I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I simply want to hear what you want to share.”

Lloyd squirms and sighs a little more, betraying his nerves to Zane’s sensitive receptors. Every little motion is a revelation. Whatever he has to share, he’s not sure if he should speak to it.

Why would he not want to share?

“I guess… all the interesting stuff happened to the others. I was just here, at the Monastery. Being sad. You know how it is.”

“Hm.” It’s not an agreement. Lloyd’s too lively to be entirely sad. Some good things occurred, or at least they felt good. Zane can’t judge with so many variables, so he settles on a calm nod. “I suppose I do. What of the present?”

“Well, I’m hardly that sad now. You’re home! We’re almost back to normal.” Lloyd grins, like he actually means it. “This place feels more alive than it has in a long time.”

“And it will be a good home for Harumi during her visit?”

“Yeah! You know what Master Wu always said. ‘The best way to defeat an enemy is by making them your friend.’”

“He did say so,” Zane comments dryly, “but I do not recall a clause in which he mentioned sharing a room.”

Lloyd almost flinches, and the blush returns with greater force. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t try to fool a nindroid, Lloyd. My receptors are exceptionally sensitive. I know where everyone is in the Monastery at all times.”

“She—you’re bluffing. Why would Harumi be sharing a room with someone?”

“The guest rooms are taken up by Arin, Sora, and Riyu, are they not?” Zane smiles again. “It’s no bluff. I can hear her stomping.”

He open and closes his mouth a few times like a fish. “I—Zane—it’s not what it looks like.”

“What is it, then?”

“She needs a place to sleep. Everyone does!”

“We have a perfectly serviceable couch. I myself have taken time to shut down there.”

Lloyd sighs. “Spit it out, Zane.”

The final conclusion arrives. “If she’s sleeping in your room, then you must forgive me for making certain conclusions about the nature of your relationship with her at this time.”

The point is made, and Lloyd wilts, but he looks like he’s still unwilling to admit the truth. Anything he admits will be begrudging, at best. The quiet is settling—and what has Lloyd gotten himself into? Lloyd is young, but not so foolish as to become involved with his enemy on a whim. There is more to this story than the surface appearance.

“If you are not willing to illuminate the situation, then I have only one piece of advice for you, Lloyd. While your relationship with Harumi is none of my business, do take care to be wise about how you act. Do not take risks which may have lasting consequences.”

Immediately Lloyd chokes, then bursts into a violent fit of coughing. “Zane!?”

Zane reaches over and pats him on the back firmly, causing Lloyd to double over and cough a little more. “Clear your lungs fully.”

He wheezes, takes another deep breath, and tries to speak. “Look—”

“Before you finish,” Zane interrupts gently, “I am not questioning your judgment. You are an adult, and have grown while I was gone. My only caution is that we’re speaking of Harumi, and with your history concerning her, it’s worth it to be careful. I want you to know that.”

Lloyd looks down, as if he’d been chastised, though he’s finally breathing normally again. “I… okay.”

Zane nods, and waits.

Is that all?

Good things happen when he waits, and today something good does happen. Lloyd volunteers a little information, a quiet plea that reminds him of the twelve-year-old Zane helped raise.

“Zane, please don’t tell anybody. I really like her.”

“I… know you do.”

“She’s changed.”

Zane nods. “If she has, I will see it for myself. You don’t have to convince me.”

“You’ll give her a chance?”

Zane sets a hand on his little brother’s shoulder. “Think of it this way. I’m giving you a chance, just as I have in the past. You haven’t proven my trust to be falsely placed, and I don’t expect you to start now. If Harumi has earned your trust, then I will extend an olive branch.”

“She has! I swear she has.” He looks up, suddenly smiling. His eyes glimmer with excitement, the sparkling green color Zane’s gotten so used to—#5FCC3D, as always. “This isn’t really Harumi moving in, per se. It’s… more like she’s moving back.”

This goes deeper still, Zane notes with some surprise. He smiles at Lloyd—how could he not?—and squeezes his shoulder. “In that case, if I were you, I’d take greater care to hide the true nature of your relationship. At this rate, the others will notice very soon.”

“You’re not going to tell them?”

“Tell them what? It’s not mine to speak of, even though I’m curious as to the extent of your situation. If you wish to share with me, I will keep it private.”

Lloyd blushes again, bashfulness coloring his excitement. “It’s a story for another time, but it’s serious. She has a right to live here.”

Zane quickly recalculates the probabilities, and immediately the greatest likelihood comes to light. In this set of dependent events, he knows which one is more likely than anything else.

It is more than 86% probable that Lloyd and Harumi are secretly yin and yang.

He smiles again. “Very good, Lloyd. I’m glad to hear this news.”

Lloyd laughs nervously, his voice rising as he says, “What news? I didn’t tell you anything specific.”

“Of course not.”

Lloyd laughs a little more, and then returns to his meditation with a smile. Zane lets the moment settle, content to process these events—and, soon, to defrag his drive as usual.

Our family has gained a sister. What a strange set of events. What could have prompted this?

-----

First Master, it's hot today! Kai pushes his sweaty hair off his forehead, the sound of shouting and laughter ringing in his ears as he takes a few labored breaths.

“Hey, Arin! Focus.”

“I am focusing.”

“Make it look like you are!”

“But—”

“Are you ready to go again?” Nya asks, cutting through the noise. She’s brandishing a trident, just like he has a katana, and dripping in sweat from their just-finished sparring session. “I won’t let you drag this one out into a draw again.”

Kai rolls his eyes. “Yeah, just had to breathe.”

“You’re out of shape, Kai.”

“I know. It wasn’t intentional,” he lies. Most days she doesn’t seem to question his bluffing, but when she found his fur-trimmed cloak, it was a little harder to explain.

It would be hard to explain why Kai never wants to go swimming ever again—even with a previous fear of water.

She doesn’t need to know about what I went through.

Kai raises his blade. “Okay Nya, come at me!”

She grins at him, shifts her weight to her right foot—her usual tell—and lunges. Kai ducks under the triplet points.

“Woah! Trying to skewer me, huh?”

She snorts and sidesteps. “Not my fault that you’re slow. Old age is getting to you, huh?”

“Since when am I old?!”

“Since you started gossipping like a grandfather?”

He rolls his eyes. “I like to be well informed. Besides, with age comes wisdom!” With the last syllable, he strikes out suddenly, smacking the flat of his blade against her ankle. Nya yelps and steps back, and he advances with a speedy set of slashes.

Three steps in, Nya regains a comfortable stance, and he loses the advantage. They start circling each other as she taunts him.

“Wisdom? I’m not hearing much of that these days.”

“Just you wait. I’m still warming up.”

“Funny, it’s already pretty hot out here. Not to mention after those warmups Lloyd made us do!”

He snorts. “I’m gonna be honest: I ignored most of those. He’s almost as bad as Master Wu was!”

“I think it’s good!” She takes a step forward and blocks his offense with her trident. Moments later, she’s whipping around, kicking back, and nearly smacking him with the butt of her weapon. “Plus—! It’s good for Arin, Sora and Wyldfyre to have that discipline.”

Kai laughs at that, and he chances a glance at Lloyd as he directs their young students—three humans and Riyu, all navigating an old Spinjitzu training exercise. Wyldfyre looks ready to burn something, Arin looks exhausted, but Sora and Riyu are still bright-eyed as they go through the motions with varying ease.

Something moves in his periphery, and his gaze snaps back just in time to see Nya’s trident moving. He blocks it, spinning his katana around and catching between the tines. It just barely misses the skin of his neck.

“All things considered,” he says, trying to sound unbothered by the attack, “Lloyd is doing a pretty good job at this.”

“This meaning what, exactly?” She fends off his next swing and takes a step back. “Though I agree.”

“You know! Teaching, the stress, all this stuff with Imperium… Harumi…”

Nya rolls her eyes. “You’re really back on this again?”

“Hey, he seems happy! I just don’t get why.”

“Maybe because things are going well? Everyone’s coming back, one at a time, and we’re just missing Jay and Cole. That’s something to be happy about. Plus, he obviously loves teaching.”

“And that’s enough reason to be happy?”

She rolls her eyes, then spins her trident and strikes out with the butt end. Kai takes a step back, coming in for a low strike—he just manages to avoid getting the blade smacked out of his hand. Close, but no contact, so no points; they’re still at square one.

Nya grins at him toothily, but there’s no bite to it. “Maybe Harumi is going to be here for a long time. That might be what’s making him so happy.”

He groans, then glances at Lloyd—still preoccupied, so he feels confident enough talking about it without getting smacked. “Why is she here, Nya? I’m not sure I buy that they ‘made up’ while I was… wandering the Merged Lands.”

“I buy it. Have you seen the way they act around each other? It’s so much less arguing than it used to be. Lloyd looks at her like she’s personally responsible for making the world keep spinning.”

“Does he? Huh…”

Kai takes another look at Lloyd, watching as he demonstrates a move for Arin. He’s taller now, finally at his adult height, and lean.

He’s grown up… but is he smart enough to handle this?

“I do think he’s hiding something.”

“Definitely. How are we gonna weasel it out of him?”

She snorts. “Can’t the man have a few secrets? I doubt this one’s gonna hurt him.”

“Absolutely not. Last time he crushed on her, she crushed him.”

“Don’t you think he’s learned his lesson?”

Kai looks at her. Nya looks at him. For a long moment, they stare.

Kai raises one eyebrow, and that’s all Nya needs before she brandishes her trident. “Kai, stop being overprotective. I know that’s your whole thing, but Lloyd is not in danger. If worst comes to worst, he’ll just get his heart broken again, but he’s not going to die.”

“I’d rather there wasn’t an ‘again,’” Kai mutters, feeling slighted and annoyed.

“Some people have to learn the hard way.”

That’s enough! Kai raises his guard, strikes out, and gets his blade caught in the prongs of her trident. He twists, tugging against her grip, and Nya digs her heels in as usual.

(She always acts the same, in every circumstance.)

He spints, then feints, and pulls his blade back. His katana catches the handle of her trident during its backstroke—cling!

Nya huffs, sounding about as annoyed as he feels, and raises her trident up. When Kai’s katana slides off, he has just enough time to sidestep before she swings her weapon around—

“Ow!” Kai dances backwards, his back and shoulder stinging where Nya struck his shoulder blade. “What was that for?!”

“Because you’re being an idiot, obviously!” Nya grins, giving him a moment to breathe. “You overextended your defenses.”

“You dug your heels in and wouldn’t budge.”

“I didn’t get myself hurt.”

“I didn’t hit you that hard earlier, that was unfair!”

She shrugs. “You can move your arm, can’t you?”

“Sore winner…” Kai grumbles, ignoring the fact that she’s completely right.

“At least I won! Wanna go again?”

“In a few minutes, once my pride stops hurting. I’m gonna drop by Spinjitzu 101 over here and see if Lloyd’s actually making any progress.”

“Oh, I might… too…” Nya trails off. “Where’d he go?”

In that short minute, Lloyd had disappeared. In his place, Zane is coaching the kids, occasionally correcting their movements. There’s no sign of green anywhere.

“I guess he got a chance to step away from the chaos. Good for him.”

Immediately the alarm bells in Kai’s head begin to ring. “You know what? I changed my mind. I want a snack.”

His sister begins saying something in warning, but Kai doesn’t hear it. Instead he heads toward the clump of students. Wyldfyre perks up as soon as he nears them, excitement in her eyes. “Yes! We’re gonna fight now!”

“If I remember correctly, Lloyd is the one in charge of the schedule,” Zane corrects. “Right now, we’re practicing Spinjitzu.”

She groans. “Come on, this is so boring! Kai got to fight!”

Kai grins, offering her a shrug. “Learn to do Spinjitzu and you’ll get some more leeway too.” He looks to Zane. “Where’s Lloyd?”

“He is inside the Monastery, having a discussion with Harumi. I would advise you not to disturb him.”

He frowns. “Her again?”

“What do you mean?”

Zane looks honestly confused, and the kids are watching with interest, so Kai watches his words—as much as he can, considering how he’s already put his foot in his mouth. “I’m just surprised he needs to talk to her. That’s all.”

He gets an unimpressed yet stern look from Zane, no doubt at his weak attempt at covering up his disgust. “His business is not ours, Kai. How would you like to help me direct the next set of exercises? They are ready to begin working on the jump.”

“The jump!” Arin cheers. “As in, ‘jump up, kick back, whip around and spin!’”

“The very same.”

“This is awesome! And we get to train with Kai!”

It’s obvious that Zane is backing whatever Lloyd’s doing, and that he doesn’t love the idea of Kai getting involved, so Kai allows himself to be volunteered. He’s supposed to be Lloyd’s older brother, but all of the Ninja are family…

Still, the suspicion in the back of his mind won’t quiet down. What exactly is going on with her? There’s more than what Lloyd lets on, and at this point it seems more advanced than a crush.

It can’t be that much going on… can it?

He crosses his arms. “Okay, I’ll help teach you guys. Don’t expect me to go easy on you like Lloyd does.”

Sora looks frustrated. “Lloyd works us for hours at a time! How is that easy?”

“You don’t want to see what hard days of training look like.”

“That’s not a hard day? Why would you ever train harder than that?”

“When you’re getting the Green Ninja ready to fight his father, you take all the time you can get.” He points at each of them individually. “First, have you all drunk water in the last hour?”

“Water, schmater,” Wyldfyre complains. “Fire doesn’t need water.”

“That’s it, go get some.”

“But—”

“Go! Training in five, don’t be late!”

The kids all look at each other, and then they bolt for their water bottles, resting against the weapons rack across the courtyard.

Zane watches them for a second before glancing back at Kai, lowering his voice a little. "I would advise you to not think too hard about this. Lloyd's business is his own."

"I'll think what I want. It's suspicious."

"It’s none of your concern."

"Why is she here, Zane? I don't get it."

Zane’s stare, unblinking, is actually slightly intimidating. “Kai, you don’t have to understand. This is his home; arguably he has the right to invite people to live here. If he says that he’s made up with Harumi, he has. We should respect his choices.”

“Wh—Zane, you saw how badly she hurt him. He was heartbroken for years!”

“I know.”

“She’s just going to hurt him again! Do you want to see him that sad?”

He frowns, still unconvinced. “Kai, I know it’s hard for you to believe this, but maybe he’s right. Reserve your judgment for now.”

“She’s staying in his room. Isn’t that a little messed up?”

“Enough.”

“But—”

“Kai.” Zane sets his hands on Kai’s shoulders, the same intense look boring into him. “If you can’t trust her, and you can’t trust Lloyd’s judgment, trust mine. I am a nindroid. I do not have the same impulsivity as you do, and as a being ruled by logic, I am willing to allow this situation. Set your mind at ease.”

Kai shifts uncomfortably before relenting. "I just want him to be okay."

"Perhaps you should tell him so. He may open up."

"I doubt it. He's been pretty cagey."

“Perhaps his caginess has less to do with him not wanting to tell you and more to do with how he will be judged if he does.”

"I'm not judging him!"

"Aren't you?"

Kai is about to argue back, no, I’m worried, I don’t trust her, when the kids come bounding back. They cut him off, swarming around him and Zane, with Arin at the lead.

“Now will you show us the next step?” Arin’s grinning like this is what he wants most of all in the whole world. “We’re ready! We had water!”

Kai summons up a smile. It chafes, just like the fact that Zane is right. “Yeah, now I will. Zane, want to help me demonstrate?”

Zane nods. “I’ll follow your lead.”

I guess I’m following yours too. You’d better be right. Completely right.

It’s a quiet fall morning at the Monastery of Spinjitzu, with wind sweeping over the walls and the first colorful leaves dancing in the wake. The seasons’ eternal dance carries every living thing with it. The Merge changed so many worlds in so many ways, large and small, but some things are perpetual; mysteries remain unsolved, questions still go unanswered.

For now.

The sun is well over the horizon, and Sora has been awake for hours. She rises with the sun now, with her master Lloyd and best friend Arin. It’s a principle her master’s master taught, and Lloyd follows everything he was taught to a T.

(She’s not sure if it’s speaking ill of the dead, but his quotations of Master Wu’s teachings always sound a little… cracked. Maybe it’s just the worshipful way he says them?)

At this hour, they’ve gone through their morning exercises and eaten breakfast. They’re just getting ready to start their weapons training for the day when—

Thud! Thud-thud! Thud!

Sora and Arin jump at the interruption. It’s the sound of the reverberating courtyard gates, ten feet of wood and steel. The two look at each other, paused mid-step.

Who is it?

Sora glances at the gates curiously. “Is that… someone knocking?”

Arin gasps, in his highly excitable way, and drops his staff. “No way! A visitor!” He runs to the gates before Sora can even open her mouth, let alone follow.

He pulls them open to reveal a slender woman with straight white hair. She’s dressed all in black, except for a purple belt, from which a red-handled knife hangs in its sheath. She wears a matching red-handled katana on her back. The weapons once again match red face paint which is smeared around her eyes, visible even through her overgrown bangs.

Arin falters, and the woman looks at him curiously. She speaks first. “Who are you?”

He rallies, announcing, “I’m one of Ninja Master Lloyd’s students. Who are you?”

“A friend of his,” she replies smoothly, curiosity apparently appeased as she looks past him. “Can you go get your master?”

Arin frowns. “Uh… sure? Do you want to come in?”

“Please.”

He steps back, and she enters with a surprisingly graceful gait. Sora watches her with a careful eye, but the woman quickly sees her, too. She offers a nod, but no smile, and continues toward the kitchen door.

Arin races past, getting in her way and making the woman stop in her tracks. “Wait a second, I’ll get him. I know where he is!”

“Oh, I’m sure I do too.”

“Really! Just, uh, wait here.”

The woman laughs. “Fine, if you insist.”

Arin nods frantically, and then he’s disappeared inside, to Sora’s dismay. That little traitor, leaving me alone with the stranger! Would she have to make small talk? Keep the woman occupied? Protect Lloyd? What if she’s dangerous?

The woman apparently doesn’t care about Sora, because she’s busy walking over to Lloyd’s meditation table, on one side of the Monastery’s roofed deck. She looks at the wood floor where Lloyd kneels before it every morning—sans carpet, because he’s still not replaced the one Sora ruined—and toes the area with a wry smile. Then she turns her attention to the framed photos on the table.

Sora watches, and finally decides to talk when the silence starts to get uncomfortable. “What’s your name?”

The reply is immediate, a little snappy. “None of your business.”

“Why not? Are you not actually Lloyd’s friend?”

“No, I am. I’d rather let him introduce me.” She reaches for the picture of Master Wu, picks it up, and turns it this way and that. She adjusts all the others too, just a little bit.

She’s messing with Lloyd’s stuff! The thought makes Sora' flush with righteous anger. “I don’t think Lloyd would like you messing with that, even if you’re his friend.”

“Hm… he can tell me that himself, if he wants.”

“Put it down.” The woman stays quiet, so Sora repeats it. “Put it down, right now.”

The woman glances over her shoulder. Her eyes are so bright that Sora notices them immediately. Green, flecked with pink. How is it even possible? Is she from another realm?

“You’re a pushy one,” the strange woman notes. “I can see why he chose you.”

Sora stiffens, raising her staff. “Is that a threat?”

The woman smiles and opens her mouth to respond, but the door slides open at that moment. It slides so forcefully that it knocks into the frame with a clack. Lloyd—the one doing the door-slamming which he always tells Sora and Arin not to do—has a wide smile on his face as he steps over the lintel. “You’re home!”

The woman smiles and sets the framed picture down. “Hi, Lloyd!”

Lloyd runs to her, immediately engulfing the stranger in a hug, lifting her up onto her toes. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?!”

She laughs quietly. “Can’t I surprise you from time to time?”

“Yes, but—”

“Give me a break! I went pretty far this time.” The woman pulls back, turning her head somehow. Sora can’t quite see their interaction, with Lloyd’s face closer, but his beaming smile is all the reason she needs to put her staff down. Whoever this is, she’s not a threat… just weird.

Lloyd doesn’t let go of her, standing close to the woman. “Did you get all the way to the edge of the Wyldness?”

“Yep. I met some snail people.”

“Mucoids! They’re pretty nice.”

“I’m not sure they liked me.”

“What, your sunny disposition didn’t do the trick?” He wiggles his eyebrows, and earns a smack on the shoulder. “Hey!”

“Be grateful my katana is still on my back.”

“Oh, I am.”

“Good.”

I can’t take any more of this! Sora clears her throat, drawing their attention. Lloyd looks surprised. Did he forget she was there? Did he not hear Arin’s stomping behind him as he came to stand with Sora? His weird behavior already rubs her the wrong way.

“Soooo… are you going to introduce us?” Arin asks before she can, taking the lead as usual.

“Oh! I figured you already knew, sorry! You seem to already know so much about me!”

“We don't know her,” Sora points out.

The woman glances at them. With such a direct view, Sora now sees how her face paint makes a serrated pattern over her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. It’s like she decided her face should be sawed in half. Her expression is pure disdain. “You don't need to.”

“Rumi, be nice.” Lloyd turns to stand next to Harumi, resting an arm around her shoulders. “Kids, this is Harumi. Rumi, this is Arin and Sora, my star pupils.”

“Your only pupils?”

“So far.” Lloyd grins proudly at her. “They’re already doing so well! You’ll see.”

Arin laughs at the unimpressed raise of her eyebrows. “Hi, Harumi! How do you know Lloyd?”

Harumi and Lloyd share a glance, as if somehow speaking silently. “We go back. I'm not part of the old team, if that's what you're asking.”

“Then how did you meet?”

“It was an old battle,” Lloyd says, brushing it off. “I’ll tell you the stories later, but not right now. Just know she's one of the good ones.”

Harumi rolls her eyes. “Now it's my turn. Did he pick you two up off the side of the road?”

“Out of a train car, actually,” Sora corrects.

“Huh. Same thing.”

“Pretty much. Nice to meet you.”

Harumi cracks a smirk. “Yeah, nice to meet you too. You'll fit in with Mr. Goody Two-Shoes.”

Lloyd rolls his eyes and finally steps back to a reasonable distance. “Okay Rumi, enough of your jokes. Come inside. Do you want some lunch?”

They start walking to the door, Harumi now focused on their conversation. “That would be good. Got any of that Merlopian chili around?”

“I can make some for you.”

“Please.”

Arin looks at Sora, a question on his face. She knows what he’s wondering, because she’s wondering the same.

Who is this? Lloyd never offers to make special meals for us. Why her?

“Um, Lloyd, we’ll let you catch up. I—uh—need to ask Arin for some advice.”

Lloyd frowns, pausing mid-step. “About what?”

“Uh… um…”

“About hair!” Arin supplied. “She needs to talk about hair care!”

Harumi raises an eyebrow. “You’ve got curls, she doesn’t. Why does she need your advice?”

“My mom never taught me!” Sora exclaims. It wasn’t entirely a lie: her mom had never taught her plenty of things about being a girl, but she’d always had tidy hair. Harumi didn’t have to know it was a half-truth—Sora was a decent liar.

Harumi shrugs, seemingly convinced. “Okay. Have fun.”

Harumi and Lloyd enter the kitchen, pulling the door shut behind them, and Sora immediately leans over to whisper to Arin. “What was that?!”

“What was what?”

“Did you see how they’re acting? Lloyd’s way different than usual!”

“Uh… we’ve never seen him with any of his old friends,” Arin argues. “Maybe this is normal for him.”

“That hug? Seriously?”

“What about it?”

“Arin, you’re hopeless. Trust me, something’s going on. Do you think she’s a girlfriend we don’t know about?!” Sora points at the meditation table, now with a skewed arrangement. “We’re not even allowed to touch that, and she goes and messes with it, no problem. No lecture for her!”

“She’s an adult. And not Lloyd’s student.”

“So?”

“So maybe it’s fine?”

Sora groans. “Never mind, it’s not important. Do you know anything about this girl?”

Arin frowns. “Uh… no? I think I’ve maybe heard the name before, but she’s not in anything I used to read. She’s probably not a ninja.”

“Then why does he know her?”

“Lloyd knows a lot of people, Sora. I bet he just met her on one of his adventures.” After a moment of pause, he grins. “Hey, maybe she’s from another realm!”

“That’s ridiculous. She doesn’t have an accent.”

“Most people in the Crossroads don’t.”

“We don’t know that she’s from the Crossroads.”

“Oh… um… hm.” Arin frowns. “Well, let’s just go talk to them! Get Lloyd to tell us a story!”

“Fine. That’ll work.” Annoyed, Sora stalks to the kitchen door and pulls it open.

Inside, Lloyd and Harumi are standing at the kitchen counter. There’s a few ingredients and kitchen tools spread out before them, but they seem uninterested, because they’re just looking at each other… and she could swear Lloyd’s hand is on top of Harumi’s.

They are dating! I knew it!

Lloyd turns and smiles widely, turning away from Harumi. “Hey, you two! Figured out that ‘hair-related emergency?’”

“Yeah, I just need new conditioner,” Sora bluffs. “You’re making chili?”

“Yep. It won’t be ready for a while.” He shrugs. “Why don’t you two enjoy some free time? Rumi and I have some catching up to do.”

“We actually wanted to hear those stories you mentioned,” Arin begins.

“Later.” Lloyd brushes him off. “You two should go down to the Crossroads! Actually, while you’re there, can you get some more chili sauce? This is the last of it.”

“Where are we supposed to find that?”

Harumi shrugs. “Figure it out, kid. Get going.”

Sora bristles. “Hey, don’t call us kids!”

“You are kids.”

“So? It’s rude.”

Harumi rolls her eyes. “Oh well. Get used to it, kid. Some people are rude.”

“Rumi,” Lloyd warns, his voice a little firmer. “Remember what we’ve talked about?”

She glances at him and sighs. “…Sorry, Sora.”

Sora nods, but she’s still uncomfortable. This time, it’s the kind of discomfort she definitely wants to leave. Whatever weirdness is going on here—especially if it’s romantic stuff—is something she doesn’t want to see. “Arin, let’s go. Maybe we’ll go see Lobbo.”

“Oh, sure! It’s been a while, ‘Lobbo Lobbo,’” Arin parrots. “We’ll see you later, Lloyd!”

“Sounds good! Just be back for Spinjitzu practice tonight.”

“Can do!” He grabs Sora’s hand, and they leave together, closing the door on their way out. They go all the way to the gates, which they close behind them, before they look at each other and both speak at the same time.

“That was weird—”

“I don’t know what that was—”

“—but something’s definitely going on,” they finish together.

-----

The kids have just left, the kitchen door barely closed behind them, when Harumi grabs Lloyd and pulls him into a searing kiss. He enthusiastically responds, throwing his arms around her tightly.

Lloyd revels in it, in her. Harumi’s absence has pulled at his soul since she left him, and now that she’s home again, he’s flooded with relief.

Relief and passion. The time they’ve spent apart needs to be made up. She seems to agree, because she's holding him about as tightly as humanly possible.

When they come to a stopping point, he pulls back, breathing hard, and whispers against her lips. “I missed you so much, Rumi.”

She laughs, just as out-of-breath, and kisses him again. They might both bruise from it all. “I couldn’t tell.”

He grins. “Liar.”

“It’s sarcasm, you idiot.” She’s grinning, her cheeks flushed, all joy and cheer. “I’m impressed you didn’t lead with a kiss.”

“In front of the kids?” Lloyd laughs, running his hands through her hair. “They don’t know who you are, or that I even have a yang. I never got around to telling them.”

“I don't mind keeping it that way.” Harumi wraps her arms around his neck comfortably. Her hair is shorter now, only brushing past her shoulders, and he delights in running his hands through it. “I don’t want to share you.”

“You won’t share me, but you won’t stay home. Make up your mind.”

She kisses him. “Leave the bad jokes at the door, Garmadon. I’m just glad you’re not along in this big monastery. Didn’t I tell you that you’d find some kids to take care of?”

“They’re my students, you know. Not my kids.”

She laughs. “Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.”

His cheeks feel warm, especially where her breath brushes across his skin. It’s a feeling he’s missed in the last several weeks of teaching. It's been good, but he's missed her more than any of her other trips. It's clarified some things.

So he rests his forehead against hers. “You know I want kids with you.”

Harumi grins at him. “Best of luck with that one, Lloyd. It's not happening.”

“Never say never. You might change your mind.”

“When have I ever done that?”

“Well—”

“Don’t mention last time, it doesn’t count.”

Lloyd tugs her into a kiss, buying time to think of a good response. She always knows what he’s thinking—this time, about how they got to where they are, and the future before them. How she said yes to his proposal, even when she had her doubts.

It was the first of many hard mornings, none of them worth reliving now, when the present is so much happier.

The future will be happy too. He knows it's inevitable.

Lloyd pulls back and rests his forehead against hers. “Just think about it, okay? You know they’d be adorable. Think of it, a couple blond babies…”

Harumi kisses him again, and he can feel the hesitancy, the nervousness in it. She breaks away to whisper softly. “We both know how stubborn I am. I'm not good with kids.”

“Don’t even start, Rumi. I saw you with the kids in Ninjago City.”

“I was acting.”

“What about when Wu became a baby? You’re the only one who could get him to calm down.”

“Because he was tired and you all had apparently never interacted with a little baby before! That hardly counts.”

“I think it does.”

Lloyd reaches up and strokes her hair back from her face, caressing her cheek. He knows she’ll never admit how she presses her face against his palm, closing her eyes for just a moment. She’s not fragile—she almost never is—but moments like these bring out her vulnerable side.

It’s his favorite of all her faces. He loves it because it’s the face that loves him, too.

“Rumi, my mom always says that no one knows how to have kids before they have them. I think you’d learn to be a great mom.”

She opens her eyes and looks at him, the teasing smile coming back. “You really want kids, huh? Funny how that's one of the things we didn't talk about before…”

“Before we decided to stick together?” He can’t help but smile as he pulls out his pin, strung on a cord around his neck. It’s always with him, even though no one ever sees it. “I didn’t think we needed to talk about it.”

“Some people might say that would be the smart thing to do.” Harumi lets go of him to take out her pin, also strung on a cord. “I guess I just find it funny.”

Lloyd reaches up and takes her pin, slotting it in to match with his. A perfect pair, they fit together to form a circle. Endless, unstoppable, yet delicate.

She traces the seam between their pins, her voice quiet. “So this is what we talk about right after I come home? Funny.”

“It is funny. You know how we are.”

“A bit stupid?”

“No, I was going to say we’re a matched pair. We complement each other.”

Harumi grins at him and reaches up to grasp their connected pins, her fingertips brushing against his. “That's one of the many things I love about you. Although… I'm not sure what that has to do with having kids someday.”

“You’re not picking up on it?” He snickers, abandoning the pins to her hand so he can bury his hands in the soft curtain of her hair. “If you fail, I won’t. When I fail, you don’t. Our kids will be fine.”

Harumi raises an eyebrow at him. “You say that like it's inevitable. What if something bad happens? Having kids would just complicate things.”

“That sounds like an excuse, Rumi. There’s always something going on, so why stop when things get hard?”

“I just…” Her eyes flicker down to the pins between them, still connected, two halves of a perfect circle. “It's big and it's complicated… that's all.”

There lies the same story, the one he’s heard so many times. The side of Harumi which no one else gets to see. It’s a privilege, and he knows it. Even so, the same story of fear, resignation, and running away gets tired. Why act it out again? Fear never stopped the Quiet One, but Harumi Garmadon lets it get in her way more often than not.

That is where Lloyd’s conscience rears its head to scold him. She just came home after a long trip, and you’re scaring her off again. Good going, Lloyd. Keep it up and you'll get her to cry.

There’s only one way to get her out of a funk like this: feed her.

“Let’s make that chili, Rumi. I’m starving.”

Harumi looks up at him and smiles again, immediately pleased. “I thought you were missing something and couldn't make it! Or was that just to get the kids out of here so you could kiss me?”

“Maybe it was both. We will be out of something once we make it.”

She laughs, and the sound makes his heart flutter. “You're a lot sneakier than people give you credit for. Here I thought I was the devious mastermind here.”

“‘Devious mastermind?’ Good to know your pride is still intact.”

“I tell it like I see it,” she says smugly.

Lloyd laughs and pulls her in for another quick kiss—she tries to drag it out, but he cuts her off. “Hey, lunch first. We have all day.”

“That's not fair! What if I want you instead?”

“You can take me to bed after lunch. Don’t you want to be awake enough to enjoy being home?”

Harumi pouts, green-pink eyes pleading with him. “I don't like your logic. It makes too much sense.”

He smiles sympathetically and kisses her forehead. “I’m sorry. I know you didn’t pick me for my brain, but I do have one.”

“You see, that's where it gets complicated. I do love your brain, but I've also missed you.” Harumi smiles, disconnecting their pins and giving hers a quick kiss before tucking it away again. “I guess you’re right for once. If your students come back and there's no chili, they'll know you're a liar, just like me!”

He laughs louder than he has in a long time—since she left, maybe—and tucks his pin inside his neckline as well. “We can’t have that. They need to trust my training!”

“Oh right, Master Lloyd, how's it feel having to wrangle two teenagers?”

“Well, Mrs. Garmadon, it feels frustrating. Did you see the meditation table?”

She grins. “Yeah, who did that? It's a bit of a mess. You should have seen the look on her—what's her name?”

“Sora?”

“Yeah, you should have seen the look on her face when I fixed it up a bit. She looked like she was gonna skewer me.”

Lloyd snorts. “That would be because she is the one who destroyed my meditation carpet!”

“That's what was off about it! It was such a nice carpet too. Very good for… meditation.”

“It was! I liked that carpet!”

She snickers. “Now you know how Master Wu must've felt with all six of you going around destroying things. Precious artifacts, ancient bells…”

“We didn’t treat Master Wu like that,” he protests, turning to the food. “We were respectful.”

For some reason, that makes her laugh even more. “You were teenagers. That's what teenagers do! They're clumsy and forgetful and loud and destroy meditation carpets when you're not paying attention. This is Teenagers 101, Lloyd.”

He spies her in his periphery, leaning against the counter, smiling and carefree.

She’s beautiful.

The vision that follows Lloyd around rears its head again. Little blond and white-haired troublemakers running around his monastery, tiny feet slapping against the floor. Little hands and fingerprints on everything, piles of laundry, piggyback rides through rice paddies. Visits to Ninjago City—now the Crossroads—to see the museum, Dareth’s dojo, the zoo.

It’s a future he’s wanted for a long time now. He’d do anything to make it happen.

“You say you’re bad with kids, but your opinions disagree.” He knows the truth. She would be the best mother to his children. It's only a matter of time until she comes around.

Harumi shrugs, still smiling. “Just because I have opinions doesn't mean I want to act on them.” She doesn’t sound so stubborn at the moment.

“We’ll see. Can you cut the veggies?”

“Sure.” Despite saying so, Harumi comes to him instead. She wraps her arms around him from behind, and he sighs as she kisses his shoulder and lays her head on him. “I missed you, Lloyd.”

He leans his head against hers and smiles. “I missed you more.”

-----

Helplessness is the one thing Harumi hates more than anything else in the world—and she would know a thing or two about that. She has a running list of things she hates. This tops the list.

With it comes her newly budding hatred for the Source Dragons, who decided her husband was their plaything, punishing him for his compassion.

If she could, she’d change their roles. She’d put them through what Lloyd is suffering: sleepless nights, visions and nightmares, waking up in a panic and hyperventilating more nights than not. She’d make the Source Dragons see just how hard it is to be a puny, inconsequential mortal—one who’s had the fate of an entire realm on his shoulders his whole life.

…If only she could.

She keeps her mouth shut. It’s hard, but she’ll do it. Lloyd would only feel worse if she told him about her anger, her worry. Her sweet, compassionate husband would never permit her rage against the self-proclaimed gods they only just learned existed.

Too much respect for his own good, she thinks as she goes to find someone else who will understand her.

Her sister-in-law, Nya, who might be willing to be friends again for Lloyd’s sake. When she opens her bedroom door—it’s afternoon, all the boys are busy—she looks tired, but surprised.

“Harumi! What’s up?”

Despite the anger, Harumi’s not sure where to begin. “I… are you busy? If you are, I can come back later.”

“No, I’m not busy.” She opens the door wider. “Come in.”

Don’t show any weakness. Harumi enters and looks at the space around her. It’s simple, like every room in this monastery, decorated with aqua blue and maroon. Nya has kept it in almost spotless condition. The one window is thrown open, allowing a gentle breeze to toss the curtains here and there.

There are tiny glimpses of Jay which linger: pictures on the nightstand, scratched nunchaku hanging on the wall. A few splashes of yellow in the decor.

There is an impression in this space. The lives of two, now reduced to the life of one, but love remains through memory. The peace of this space makes Harumi's rage quieter.

Nya is watching her with an odd smile. “Cleaner than Lloyd's room, right?”

Harumi grins, grateful for an olive branch. “I'm not helping much in that department. We're both hoarders.”

“I bet you are.” She chuckles, then says, “I noticed you do the laundry more often than he does. I appreciate the reduced stink.”

Harumi wrinkles her nose at the very thought. “Ew, yeah. He’s got issues, but… I love him. I guess that’s life with a ninja.”

“You got that right.”

Nya smiles fondly, and she glances at the nightstand. Harumi follows her attention to where a picture of Nya and Jay stands in a heart-shaped frame. It’s decorated with tiny weather-themed stickers and plastic gems, like a children’s craft.

“…Ninja smell, and they get hurt, but they never abandon you.”

Harumi’s mind flicks to the mental image of all of Lloyd’s scars. She knows she’s given him some of them, and others come from all the risks he’s taken his whole life. Lloyd has never known peace… not really, anyway. Not now, either, with all his nightmares.

“…Yeah. Look, I want to be upfront with you.”

Nya raises an eyebrow. “Okay.”

“I know that I hurt you. I tried to kill you—all of you—multiple times, and I manipulated Lloyd. It was easy then, and fun, and—and I know nothing I can say will make that better. I can’t fix it.” Her sister-in-law is watching, and Harumi forces the words out. They feel like sandpaper, scratching at her throat. “I need your help.”

Nya waits. Cool and collected, she makes Harumi sit in the discomfort. She’s sizing her up.

Is it worth going through this? Is family really worth it? I can’t handle this every day for the rest of my life.

Nya nods only once. “What do you need?”

“I… um… Lloyd’s been having visions.”

“Visions?”

Nya seems disbelieving, but she’s not throwing insults, so Harumi tries to relax. “Yeah. Ever since he saved the Source Dragon trapped in Imperium, he’s been having them every night. They’re like nightmares, I think, but he keeps rambling about the same things. Wolves and blood and other creepy things.”

Harumi can see the wheels turning in Nya’s head as she nods, as she hums in thought. How much should she believe? What do the visions mean? Is this a trick?

“Why do you think I can help?”

“Because…” Harumi swallows, looking down at the floor. “I can't do anything to help him. He wakes up in a panic and I'm so helpless to do anything but try to calm him down. I thought—I hoped—that you'd have some advice or… any ideas that could help. I’m stumped.”

The tension is thick enough to be cut with a knife when Nya speaks again. “…I think we need snacks for this conversation. Come with me.”

Harumi looks up in surprise, and sees a generous smile. Nya steps past her and out into the hallway, gesturing for her to come along. She follows, dumbfounded.

Snacks? Surely the solution to her struggles with Lloyd’s nightmares isn’t food. Why would food solve this?

Nya walks with a single-minded drive, so she follows her all the way to the kitchen. She watches in moderate confusion as her sister-in-law gets down dishes, then pulls a container out of the fridge—they’re no-bake cookies Zane made just yesterday, Harumi’s only had one but they’re delicious—and sets at least three servings on each. She pours a glass of milk for each of them and sets them on the table, then sits.

Confused, Harumi slides into the opposite chair. “Why are we here?”

“Because sad conversations deserve cookies, and cookies deserve milk. We can’t have you getting dehydrated.”

That makes her smile. “I guess so.” Does this mean she's going to help?

“You guess? I’ll take it.” Nya takes a sip of milk. “So. Lloyd’s having nightmares and you need advice on what to do. How bad is it?”

“Bad enough that nightmare isn't the right word.” Harumi watches her glass of milk, as if it will somehow show her the answer. “It's not like his other nightmares. He… sleepwalks. His eyes glow. He wakes up all feverish and panicky, and he'll hardly tell me what they're about.”

“He won’t tell you, or he can’t?”

“I… what do you mean?”

“Is he refusing to tell you, or is he unable to put it in words? There’s a pretty significant difference there.”

Harumi pauses, and she thinks about it. She's asked him countless times what the dreams are about, for the specifics. The hope was that by him telling her, maybe it would take the fear factor out of it. After all, what if the fear was only of the unknown?

Of course, it didn’t work.

Lloyd would only shake his head and curl up against her, saying something about shattering and wolves and a blood moon, panicking more the longer he thought about it. That awful dragon was the cause, but there wasn’t any way for her to fix it.

“I guess he can’t. The only reason why I have an idea of what they're about is because of the sleeptalking.”

Nya nods sagely. She takes a bite of a cookie, and Harumi follows along. The cookies are rich and soft, and for a moment it feels safer to be talking about this.

“So what do you actually want here, Rumi? Are you trying to make the dreams go away?”

“I… don't think that's possible.”

“Stranger things have happened.”

Harumi shakes her head. “He thinks it's because he's the Conduit. If that's true… then nothing I do will make them go away.”

“Because the Source Dragons are causing it?” Nya frowns, considering for a moment. “I don’t suppose we could find a way to ask them what’s going on. I know we don’t really have a way to contact them, but we could try anyway.”

The thought of asking the Source Dragons—the ones likely causing these issues—about it makes her angry, but Harumi shoves it away and reaches for her glass. “I just… I hate feeling so helpless. I can't do much of anything to help him, and I absolutely despise it.”

“I bet you do. You’ve never liked twiddling your thumbs.”

"Even more than that… it's Lloyd. I—I love him so much, and it hurts to see him like this. He's always so good at being there for me… I don't like feeling like I'm not doing the same.”

“Hmm…”

That’s it?! Anger rears its head, but Harumi stuffs it back, trying to justify to herself why Nya is judging her. Wouldn’t she judge, too? Wouldn’t she be critical of the self-proclaimed villain who ended up marrying someone important to her? It’s justified, it’s understandable, it’s infuriating, it’s fine.

Nya watches her, takes a long sip of milk, and immediately annoys Harumi with the words that come out of her mouth. “You’re being too transactional about this.”

“I—what?”

“You should know that marriage doesn’t work like that. It’s not a situation where you scratch his back, he’ll scratch yours. Sometimes that happens, but not usually.” Nya leans forward, resting her chin on folded hands. “Harumi, you should be thinking about how to love him, not how to fix him. Lloyd doesn’t need a savior. He needs you to keep the promises you made to him, and trust him to keep his.”

“I'm not trying to fix him. I want to be there for him, to…"

Make it stop.

The realization hits like a ton of bricks.

I really am trying to save him… and I can’t. Of course I can’t. Whatever fate has in store, I can’t stop it.

She chose this when she married him. She knew the pain that being bound to him would bring. He’d warned her about it, and she’d already been burned by the time she made that commitment. Despite all that, she married him.

She’s married to the Green Ninja, who always suffers for the sake of the world, and there’s no way she can take that title away from him.

No one can.

Harumi bites her lip, not able to look at Nya anymore, so she stares at her cookies. “I can't keep him safe, can I?”

Nya’s reply is brutal in its efficiency. “You can’t. Safety’s an illusion, Harumi. No one is actually safe, and you can’t magically change the way the world works.”

She closes her eyes, her heart hurting. “This is what I have to live with? The worry?”

“In sickness and in health,” Nya confirms, killing the last shred of her hopes. “You’ll worry about him the rest of your lives.”

The pain is so great, the worry too heavy. It’s already almost unbearable. What is she supposed to do about it? Live through it?

Maybe there’s a secret to it?

She looks up at Nya. “How do you do it? If Lloyd went missing, I’d lose my mind. I don’t get it!”

“…You must think I’m a pretty level-headed person,” Nya comments, a wry smile on her face. “I miss Jay every second of the day. I’m always looking for him. When I find him it’ll be like we were never apart, but… just because I look calm doesn’t mean I feel like it.”

“He's got to be out there somewhere, Nya. I just… don't understand how you do it.”

“And what am I doing?”

Harumi doesn't say anything for a moment. “You've been living like this for a long time. And I know that it's… different because you're a ninja too, but I just… I'm still not used to being worried about someone like this. It feels weird to admit to someone other than Lloyd, but she pushes through the discomfort. “I guess what I'm trying to say is that… you're further along on this than I am. And I want—I need someone to be able to talk to. I want your advice, even if I don't like it in the moment.”

Nya nods, and even smiles, as she listens. “Sure. We’re family now, so you can come to me.”

“Just… like that?”

“What, do you want me to twist your arm? Blackmail you?” She laughs. “Yeah, I can help you, I can give you advice. For now my advice is to keep taking care of Lloyd. We’ll have answers eventually, but for now he needs you to keep doing what you’re doing. We can try to help him when we have some idea of how to do it.”

Harumi smiles. “Okay. For the record, I was already planning on doing that.”

Nya grins. “I sure hope so. You’d better treat him right, Harumi.”

“I have been! We've been together for a few years now, you know.” Harumi finishes her milk, biting back another smile. “The only bad thing is that it's hard seeing him like this.”

“I know. It’s hard for the rest of us too, seeing him so tired.”

“I guess that means I need to keep being there for him. Especially since I can't do anything to fix it.”

Nya finishes off her cookies with a satisfied smile. “That's right.”

Harumi smiles back, finishing her own cookies and dusting off her hands. If there’s nothing she can do to fix it, if she can only be there for him and hold him when it gets bad, then there’s no way in any of the realms that she’s leaving like last time. Any thoughts of it, any restlessness… it doesn't hold a candle to making sure he's going to be okay.

This isn’t about me. Lloyd has always been special, and fate has always had plans for him. This time, Harumi refuses to stand back and allow it to happen to them. She can help, she can put aside the adventures she craves. Living this life again, with more people and even some excitement at home, is a new kind of adventure to share.

Resolved to make her next move, Harumi excuses herself from the table and collects the dishes. “Thanks, Nya. Really. You’ve given me a new perspective.”

“Glad to hear it. Are you going to go find him?”

“Yep. I have something important to tell him.”

Nya gives her an approving smile. “Go.”

It doesn’t take Harumi long to find Lloyd. He may be a ninja, but he’s hardly the quietest person she knows—she can hear him from all the way down the hall, loudly arguing, joking, and yelling at his brothers as they play video games in the living room. Based on the current volume, Kai is winning.

Harumi waits at the door for her opening. The round ends, and after the usual bit of jostling and joking, Lloyd gets up. “You guys are too good at this for not having played in a while! I’m getting a glass of water before we go again.”

Kai laughs at him. “You’re just salty that we don’t need any practice.”

“Or that one of us is a gaming machine,” Zane jokes, earning a fist bump.

Lloyd laughs. “Sure, you can say that.”

He turns toward the door, and Harumi smiles as he recognizes her. “Oh! Hey Rumi.”

“Hey Lloyd.” She takes one step in, parsing the situation. “Who’s winning?”

He grins. “Not me.”

“That’s too bad.” She grins. “Think fast!”

Lloyd blinks, and she runs at him, almost tackling him to the ground. He laughs in surprise, catches her, and swings her around. “Woah!”

Harumi kisses him right then and there, as soundly as she can. He responds happily, even as Kai and Zane hoot and holler.

“Woah there! We don’t need to see you guys practice that.”

“You can keep the PDA to yourselves,” Zane jokes, not sounding like he means it.

“Please.”

She ignores their comments, kissing Lloyd a second time. When they pull apart, his eyes sparkle with enjoyment, the little arcs of green energy dancing in their depths. He’s holding her tightly, securely; strong as ever.

He laughs. “What was that for, Rumi?”

She knows she’s blushing bright red as she kisses him still a third time. This time, she takes his face in her hands; he responds with a gentle squeeze.

Oh, the smile on his face. She could enjoy that smile for a lifetime, and fully plans to do so. “I love you, Lloyd. That’s why. Plus I have good news!”

“Oh?” He raises his eyebrows, both surprised and curious, and hopeful too. “What is it?”

“I’m staying home for a bit. No more adventures for now. I’m done being restless, so I’m staying for as long as I can this time.”

Slowly, a grin takes over his face. “Really? Why? For how long?”

“As long as we want—especially with those nightmares we’ve been having. I’m staying at your side at least until that’s over, maybe longer. No matter what.”

His grin dims for a moment—only a moment, because then he’s kissing her again, and it’s like he was always as incandescently happy as he is now. “I’m so glad, Rumi. I missed you a lot this time.”

“I know, I missed you too. I’ll always have your back, Lloyd. You know that?”

“I know. I didn't think you wouldn't.”

“Good. It’s better than leaving it unsaid.”

He grins, tugging her a little closer. “You sure? Some things should be unsaid—”

Kai interrupts them by clearing his throat, and suddenly Harumi remembers: they have lots of people home now. “Uh, guys? We’re still here. Not to crash your party, but…”

“Perhaps another location would be preferable,” Zane says, not sounding bothered in the least.

Lloyd blushes a soft pink. He loosens his hold on Harumi, to her mild disappointment. “Oops, sorry.”

“No, no, it’s fine! Married bliss.” Kai snickers. “Since you’re finally talking about it, why not in front of family who don’t need to hear your flirting?”

“I—it won’t happen again, Kai.”

“It’s fine,” Zane interrupts again, smiling. His faceplate is somewhat inexpressive, but Harumi could swear there's a deeper layer of emotion than just happiness—or trying to placate the boys—in whatever he's trying to express. Something sad.

(It clicks a moment later. Zane has a yang, too. Her name is… Pixal, isn't it? She’s missing, just like Jay and Cole and Master Wu, and Harumi is flaunting her happy marriage in front of him when this is a fresh wound.)

Great job, Rumi, you’re offending your brothers-in-law. Way to go in the marriage department!

She smiles at Lloyd and takes a step back, making space between them. “You know what? I’m going to let Kai get back to destroying you in Fist 2 Face. I just wanted to deliver that news now, before I forget.”

Her husband looks ready to reply—probably with some bad joke—when Kai snorts. “Yeah, he’s getting creamed. It’s kind of sad.”

Just like that, Lloyd turns to glare at Kai, although there's no venom in it. “Only because you leveled up your character's strength and nothing else! It's ridiculous! What happened to strategy?”

Kai smirks. “Strategy is lame.”

Harumi kisses Lloyd on the cheek with a smile. “Go get him. I'll be in the courtyard.”

Lloyd smiles at her, grateful and sweet. “Sounds good. Love you.”

“I love you too.”

As she turns and heads for the courtyard, Harumi can hear the laughter and teasing strike up again. Kai’s bad jokes, Zane’s dry wit, and Lloyd’s absurd insults all clash in the peaceful air of a home full of hope. To Harumi, it’s all new, and it’s more beautiful than she expected.

It’s hard for the rest of us, too. Nya said that before, but as she steps into the sunshine, its warmth puts a smile on her face.

We’re not doing it alone anymore, she thinks, and watches the clouds roll by.