Twelve.
(A/N: I sincerely apologize for making you wait so long for this. I have no excuse.
Responses to guest reviews:
Lya200: Agreed. Totally agreed.
Astrid152: Let's hope not!
Light Misako/Garmadon in this chapter. Please read, enjoy, review, etc etc etc, let's get on with it shall we?)
Misako's POV
Some days it was harder to deal with Garmadon than others. I guess I had forgotten how it was. One day he asked me why I seemed so withdrawn. I answered him in the only way I could.
"I'm just not used to being a family anymore. For the past nine years I've been alone, and it just takes some time to adjust to again, especially since..."
"What?"
"Well, Lloyd. Neither of us have seen him since he was a tiny child, and now I come back and he's all grown up, a young man."
"And does he resent you for that?"
"I think he did at first. Now I think he just wants the family back together."
"And is that what you want, Misako?"
"Well...yes, of course. I just sometimes wish we could have a normal family."
"How is our family not normal?"
"Our son is a ninja. You are a reformed Dark Lord. Our family was broken for years, only to mend again after you and Lloyd nearly destroyed Ninjago City, fighting each other in a battle that would determine the fate of all the land. How is anything about that normal?"
"I guess you're right. That's not normal. Okay, that's not normal at all."
"Exactly." I went quiet. Was it too much to ask for me to want to be normal?
Hm. I guess I shouldn't hold my breath about it. "And, you know, we also live on a flying ship. With four super-powerful ninja and your tea-obsessed sensei brother as roommates."
"And a dragon for a pet."
"Right. Exactly. Exactly!"
"Well, at least Lloyd went back to school-"
"Real school, not ninja warrior school-"
"-And I'm looking for a job."
"A real one."
"Right."
So there we were, just talking and laughing and debating our family's normalcy, like an ordinary couple. Maybe there was some hope. Maybe Garmadon and I could learn to love each other again...for our family.
