Yakunan sighed as he pulled away from his child. "Shall we?" His voice was soft, tired from emotion. "Shall we go home now?"
Xenudah nodded, wiping away the last of his tears. His father was really here. In his life. And he wasn't going to leave.
"We'll get through this." Yakunan squeezed his son's hand tight before a deep blue-black swirl of energy surrounded him. When the energy dissipated, an energy dragon of the same color stood in its place. "Now come, and we'll go home."
Xenudah climbed on the back of the dragon behind his father, holding him tightly, not letting him go. "Do you think they'll be glad I'm back?" he asked.
"Well, son... I don't honestly know." Yakunan replied. "But I don't think they'll turn you away."
"But what if they do?" Xenudah was getting scared.
"Then we'll leave." Yakunan had thought of this contingency. If they were going to stay here, Xenudah was going to have to accept that people might not want him, that he might not belong. "We'll go wherever you want to."
"I want to stay..." Xenudah whispered, tears streaming down his face.
"Shhhhh... Even if they refuse to accept us..." Yakunan looked back at his son. "...We'll stick together."
Xenudah smiled softly, before laying his head against his father's back. "Remember when you said that you had to leave for a while?" he whispered.
"Every day," Yakunan said, his voice trembling ever so slightly as he reminisced their past. "I remember every second… I remember that moment I wouldn't see you for years..."
"I missed you every day." Xenudah sighed sadly. He laid his head against his father's back, letting his eyes fall shut for just a moment.
"I missed you more, Xenu," Yakunan chuckled. "Now stop talking about it."
"Well, it just made me sadder," Xenudah blinked away the last of his tears.
"We'll wait until we get home," Yakunan promised. "Then we can talk."
Xenudah nodded. He knew that he was going to enjoy talking with his father. "What are we going to do if they don't let me stay?" he asked.
Yakunan looked back at his son. "Well, we'll leave together again," he promised. "And we'll find someplace we want to be."
"I want to stay here," Xenudah whispered. "It's where I belong."
"Then we'll stay, no matter what," Yakunan said. "Because you are the most important thing in the world to me." He turned his head, looking down on Ninjago City. "We're almost there."
Xenudah looked down too. The destruction the Oni caused sent a wave of dread through his soul. A great maelstrom of power and destruction and death had gripped it. "What've I done...?" He so vividly remembered the moment when he unleashed the horde of primal beasts. It reminded him of just how dangerous the powers he possessed were and that he had to learn to use them properly... Otherwise, he was going to do more harm than good and might even destroy the entire world again.
"Are we almost there?" he asked, once again putting his head against his father's back.
"Almost," Yakunan said quietly, before speeding up again. Xenudah held on tight, determined not to fall off again. "We're almost there."
"Almost?" Xenudah asked, looking back at his parent.
"Almost," Yakunan assured. "We're going to have to land soon."
"Do you think they'll let me stay?" Xenudah asked glumly.
"Well..." Yakunan hesitated again, not sure exactly what to tell his child. "I really don't know."
"What should I do if they don't want me?" Xenudah asked.
"Well...we'll find somewhere else to go," Yakunan answered. "We'll find someplace to be happy." He looked at his child. "We'll always have each other, no matter what."
"I want to be here, father..." Xenudah said, turning his head away from his paternal guardian's back.
"Then we'll find someplace we can be together," Yakunan promised. "You can be happy here if you want to. But we'll always be together."
Xenudah nodded. He'd go with his father. He'd find a way to make the entire world trust him. He would not repeat his mistakes.