Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago, just the ocs and story idea.

I'm really sorry this is late, I had a huge test to study for and my mom took technology away until I got a B+ or better, which I did! I was lucky to get online and check my tumblr and post the art for this chapter on my blog. Also….

VOTE! That's all I can say people. The poll is on my profile, I just need some votes.


Now let's dive in!

Chapter 28: Getting To Know You

Maria's eyes were wide as she pulled back from the woman's hug. "I'm sorry…but can you repeat what you said?"

The woman smiled and pulled her hood down, revealing her long gray braid and wrinkled face. "Perhaps I should start over and introduce myself. I am Cliona; the Great Elder of the village in which you stand in now. I seek a private meeting with you, child." She grabbed Maria's hand and started to lead her in the direction she had come from.

"Wait a second!" Lloyd shouted as the Ninja ran up to them. "We're her guardians, so we have the right to join you in this private meeting."

Cliona stopped and said with a chuckle, "I never said the rest of you couldn't oversee this meeting." She faced the crowd and addressed them. "My people, prepare a feast in honor of our beloved Mother, our Sister, our Friend, our Seraphina."

The villagers cheered and immediately got to work. They cleaned their houses and adorned them with flowers, with even their children offering to help. Some began to cook soups and stews full of fine herbs and spices. In the midst of their preparations, they acknowledged the Ninja as they passed by with a bow.

"It feels kinda weird having a big fuss made about us," Cole said aloud.

Jay gave him a look in reply. "People make fusses about us all the time back in New Ninjago City. Hello! Celebrities!"

"I believe Cole meant that this is unusual for us considering we've been here for less than 10 minutes," Zane explained.

"The people here recognize you from your past lives," Cliona said with a slight turn of her head. "You may not remember, but you seven were so important to us all. You will understand very soon."


"…that…picture…," was the first thing Maria said as she stepped into Cliona's stone hut. It was lit up by the open windows that carried a soft breeze through the little hut. In a little ray of light, she had spotted a picture on an old piece of yellowed paper; she recognized it immediately as a picture of Seraphina.

"I remember when I had that picture drawn for her," Cliona said as she put a hand on Maria's shoulder. "She had just started living here not long after the first war started…..she had also left so suddenly."

"I'm never gonna get used to how similar you two look." Kai had walked up to the drawing himself and started observing it. "I mean, it's like you two are twins, but she'd be a lot older than you by a few a hundred years."

"A few thousand years to be exact. How old are you, child?"

"I'm almost 17," Maria said proudly.

"Hey, you're a little younger than me," Lloyd commented as he ruffled her hair. "I guess that makes you the new baby of the group."

"I'm not a baby!" she whined and pushed his hand away.

"She's right," Cliona interrupted them. "In terms of your spirit, you are no spring chicken. Your technical age would be about….5,417 years."

Jay let out a whistle. "I can't believe it. We actually found someone older than Sensei!"

"You better not tell him you said that," Nya scolded him. She turned back to the old woman and asked, "So what was it you wanted to talk about in private?"

"Ah, yes! Sit, children, I need to get some things first."

"On the floor?" Jay asked. "We've been walking all day, don't you have a chair or something?"

"Silence!" Cliona whacked the Blue Ninja over the head with her stick, making him quickly fall to the ground.

"I changed my mind, I love the ground! It's so nice and comfy! Just don't hit me on the head anymore, only one old person can do that, and that's Sensei."

Cliona gave him a short glare before resuming to search through an old wooden chest. She pulled out a medium metal pot, an animal hoof, a pile of bones, and a small knife. She placed the pot in the middle of the circle the Ninja had formed. She tossed the hoof inside, and began cutting away pieces of each bone, tossing each little piece into the pot.

"Do you…want me to heat that up for you?" Kai asked.

"I've been doing this for 5,517 years with out you, young man. I don't need you to 'heat it up.'"

"It was just a simple question," he muttered to Lloyd.

"Just drop it," Lloyd muttered back.

"Now, children," Cliona said as she placed the final bone piece into the pot, "I know you are looking for answers, but I prefer you decide what I should explain first."

"Cliona, tell us about the gems," Maria said. "They're the reason we spent so much time trying to find this place."

"As you wish," she said as she stepped behind the Ninja. She spread out her arms and from the pot came a black smoke, darkening the room. In center of the smoke, it twisted and turned, forming the images of seven gems that shared the Ninja's colors. "The Keys to the Heart, the Seven Gems as you children may know them, were forged here during Dominance.

"I made them myself out of a rare stone known as heartstone; a mysterious rock that can connect with one's heart and bond deeply with their life."

"What do you mean by that?" Cole asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Although heartstone is a strong and durable rock, it may crack and break. I would be quite afraid of the effects and for my life, if I was to wear a gem that was on the verge of breaking into little shards."

Lloyd, Kai, and Jay all gulped before replying, "Noted."

"Anyways, these gems were even more special than any other piece of heartstone; with my own magic power, I had each stone embody a core emotion and a power to give Seraphina a fighting chance against Onryō." The smoke had changed as Cliona waved her arms, and began to form the outlines of six people. "Seraphina sealed him away and peace was restored….but not for long. She could no longer use these gems on her own for her power was spent; she used it on a sacrifice she carried out herself for the greater good."

"What did I-" Maria stopped and shook her head. It wasn't right to say it like that….not after hearing so much already. "What did Seraphina sacrifice to seal him away?"

"Her freedom," Cliona said with slight sorrow in her tone. "She bonded herself with him; she told me herself she couldn't destroy him." Cliona cleared her throat and continued on. "She had found six humans who hearts overfilled with one emotion that matched up with a gem, granting them the ability to wield them.

"From then on, she had established peace with these humans and formed her personal guard: The Knights of Life." She raised her arms and the smoke had vanished, letting the light return.

"That's a nice dramatic ending and all, but what about these hybrids we've been hearing about?" Cole asked.

"Oh that's simple," Cliona replied as she cleaned up. "The people of this village are hybrids; descendants of humans and all sorts of spirits and demons that managed to fall in love and have children. They are a strong and powerful people, with the potential to do things even their ancestors couldn't do."

"No kidding, those kids almost killed us back there!" Jay exclaimed.

"Oh, I just remembered!" Lloyd said. "Can you tell us about the second war?"

"….I-I…can not," Cliona whispered.

The Ninja exchanged confused looks at the sudden change in the old woman. Maria walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "I understand if it's private information and you can only tell me, so I'm sure my friends can leave for a second and we can-"

"I CAN NOT!"

Maria jumped back at Cliona's sudden outburst, hiding herself behind the other Ninja. She didn't understand what she said wrong. She was trying to help her feel more comfortable in talking. She was just trying to help.

Cliona quickly turned around with a mortified look on her face. "Forgive me, Seraphina!"

Her apology made Maria hid herself even more. This woman wasn't apologizing to Seraphina; any part of Maria that Cliona knew to be Seraphina was gone. She was someone new, something new that didn't remember any of this, but felt guilty for…leaving Cliona all alone, she assumed. "I-it's Maria…"was the only thing she could squeak out.

"Forgive me then…M- M-Maria."

BONG…..BONG….BONG…

"It's time, children!" Cliona said loudly. "It is time for the feast to begin!"


All the villagers had gathered and sat in a circle at the bottom of great camphour tree, piles of food were stacked in the center that made the Ninja's mouth water. Large hunks of meat were piled on top, plates of breads that were fresh out of the oven filled the air, bowls of herbed soups that were in reach; it was too much to try and wait any longer. Cole was the bravest one to try and reach just one small helping of-

"Grandma Cliona's gonna whip you if you eat early," a little voice chimed out. The sound made the Ninja turn and immediately tense up when they saw the five children from before.

"Uhh…nice to see you again," Zane managed to say.

"It's nice to see you, too!" the cat eared girl said as she stepped over the Ninja and made her way to Maria's lap. "I didn't get to tell you my name, mama! I'm Frostina, I was named that because I was born in winter and I have white fur. Oh, I'm so silly, you probably don't even know what kind of hybrid I am because I forgot to tell you!"

"I'm guessing you're…a kitsune?" Maria guessed as she focused on the girl's ears.

"Nope, I'm a kitsune!" the brown haired cried out as she swung her arms around Maria's neck by surprise. "I'm Vixxie! Frostina is a bakeneko; it's a kind of shapeshifting cat!"

The three turned when Jay had let out a yelp as the three eyed girl had grabbed his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. "You're really CUUUTTEE!" she said as she batted her eyes. "I'm Arachne."

"And I liked you better when you were trying to kill me," Jay said, hoping to get spider hybrid girl off him, but she just held on tighter and had a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Did you hear that? He likes me!"

"Who's you're new girlfriend, Jay?" Lloyd teased.

"Not funny. And why are you smiling? At least I have a girlfriend!"

The Ninja, excluding Lloyd who began blushing and tried hiding his face, laughed at the conversation as the two boys squeezed in on either side of Kai. He stopped his laughter as he could felt their stare burning right through him. He gave them a nervous and asked, "Can I help you with you something?"

"Your hair is so spikey!" the chubby boy exclaimed while tugging gently at one of his spikes.

"Okay…thanks for telling me, whatever your name is."

"Thud," the boy replied. "I'm an oni hybrid."

"An oni…" Jay thought aloud. "Hey, Kai, when you got your gem, didn't you have to kill a-"

"So!" Nya said loudly while turning to the last hybrid boy, "what kind of hybrid are you?"

"I'm Sora," he replied timidly. "My dad was a tengu."

"I've heard of tengu," Maria said. "They can control the wind, which explains how you were able to hurt Lloyd without even touching him. But they either have red skin and long noses, or they look like some sort of bird demon. Sora, you kinda look…normal."

"I have wings!" he protested. "I keep them under my clothes, people complain about how they find my feathers in their food and stuff. It's kind of….uncomfortable to keep them tucked away."

BONG…..BONG….BONG…

The gong echoed with each hit as Cliona stepped into the center of the circle. The villagers bowed down, while keeping their sitting position. The Ninja followed the villagers lead and bowed in respect as well. It wasn't until Cliona hit her staff on the ground and had forget me nots bloom all around the villagers, the Ninja, and the tree.

"My people," she said with a tone of that of a leader, "we have been blessed with the presence of Seraphina's reincarnation. May we give thanks for her arrival here, along with the arrival of the reincarnated Knights of Life. We eat in celebration of them, of life, of hope."

She stopped as the people cheered. "Now let the feast begin!"

"I thought she'd never ask!" Cole shouted as he grabbed as much food. The others gathered their share more politely. As soon as they were were about to take their first bite, the Ninja noticed all eyes were on them, making them feel uncomfortable.

"Did we do something wrong?" Maria whispered to Lloyd. "They're starting to scare me a little…."

"You're the higher authority here," Arachne whispered. "They're waiting for you to give the orders, Grandma Cliona gave you permission to eat, not us."

"Uh… You may begin…consumption?" Maria tried to say in a professional way. The villagers exchanged confused glances at each other, making Maria lean over to Lloyd once more and whisper, "Help me out here, please."

"I got this," he whispered. He turned back to the villagers and shouted, "Eat up!" The villagers understood and grabbed what they could, practically inhaling every bite.

"How'd you know that would work?"

"It's how they got us to eat back at Darkly's," Lloyd shrugged. "It was either that or they'd yell, 'Eat your slop, you little demons!' They had to get that gross food in our mouths one way or another."

"That rough, buddy," Thud said, his mouth full with a giant drumstick. "That sounds like something a worker at a camp would say."

"What do you mean by that?" Nya asked.

"During the war, there was camps-"

"Oh, you mean back during Dominance."

"Nope, he meant during Hybrids," Sora explained. "It was the second war, and it's all about us hybrids."

"Why was it about you?" Zane asked. "Was there an issue amongst the hybrids?"

"There wasn't an issue among us, the issue was us."

Maria was slurping her soup at this time, but nearly chocked on it when she heard this. She tried acting normal, but continued to listen in on the conversation.

"People didn't trust hybrids," Frostina said. "They were scared, so they made us slaves, put us in camps if we weren't useful enough or didn't look pretty enough. Kingdoms were built on our ancestors backs."

"You mean to tell me that people made a living off of your ancestors' pain?" Kai asked in disbelief.

"They did," Vixxie said, "but Seraphina saved them!"

That did it, that was all she could take. Maria jumped from her seat and ran. She didn't care if the others called after her, she didn't care if she made a scene that caused worry among the villagers. She just had to run away from hearing this, run away from it all.


Tears had blurred up most of Maria's vision, but she was able to find her way back into Cliona hut. Back to that picture of….her? No, Seraphina, smiling and looking all perfect. She couldn't stand the sight of it anymore.

She began to reach for the picture and thought of all the things she could do. She could shred it into tiny pieces, throw each piece into a fire, bury the ashes deep into the ground. She could just get rid of it all.

"Child, what are you doing?"

Maria stopped at the sound of Cliona's voice, but held her position.

"Child, don't do this. I'm not sure why you feel upset, but-"

"Why didn't you tell me about Hybrids? Why did you keep it secret from me?"

Cliona took in a deep breath. "You became a daughter to me in the time we spent together, Seraphina."

"I'm not Seraphina!" Maria cried out as she whipped around. "Don't you see? I can't be her, she was terrible! She died and became me, and made me forget everything! Those people out there look up to me, but I just left them to fend for themselves!"

She walked close to Cliona, lifted her chin up and showed her her scar. "Do you see this? It's a reminder that I was terrible once, a coward. Don't try and convince me that I'm reincarnated from this woman who left her people to die after she saved them! Do you know what that would make me?! A MONSTER!"

Maria fell to her knees and began to cry after screaming all that was on her mind. She buried her hands and let it all out. It wasn't until she felt a hand go through her hair that made her look up at Cliona's face. It was a face of not a mother, but a friend.

"Child, Seraphina didn't always do what was best for her, even when she could. She always had a plan, but I never doubted it wouldn't turn out for the best. She made the Knights of Life and made us more unified during both wars. Her best plan yet was when she became you."

Cliona kneeled and pulled Maria in for a hug, letting her rest her head on her shoulder. "You may be reborn from her, but that doesn't mean you must be exactly like her. You can be someone and something better. Maria, you get to be you."

"Cliona, I-"

KA-BOOOM!

"What was that?!" Maria screamed as they both shot up.

"Maria! Cliona! Open up!" Jay voices was heard as he pounded on the door. Neither had a chance to open it as it was kicked open by Cole, with the rest of the Ninja on the other side.

"Jay, are you nuts!? We're under attack, there's no time for knocking!"

"How'd you guys know I was here? What going on?"

"Cliona was the one who sensed you were headed here," Lloyd explained. "There's an explosion happening near the field. We checked it out and found out we're under attack!"

"Child, I have a barrier around the village that allows only those with pure hearts to enter. Nothing can hurt us."

Jay let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, I think you might wanna rethink that because, and it's not that big of a deal, but… ALL OF ONRYŌ'S CAPTAINS ARE ATTACKING THE VILLAGE!"


QUESTION TIME!

Ebony Umbreon asked: Does Seraphina have a mother?

Nope, if you recall, she was made out of the hope of people who passed away in the war. So technically she has a million mothers, but at the same time, she has no parents.

Next chapter on Ninjago:Legend Reborn…..

The First Strike

Until then, God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.