Well, we've officially reached the final chapter of the fic. Thank you for all of your support! And thank you to all of the people -mainly Cachat and Kay- who helped me while developing this story and the series as a whole.

Nya

If pressed, Nya could honestly say that she enjoyed her life. Was it perfect? No. Did she still suffer through more than her fair share of hardship and tragedy? Yes.

She'd lost her parents at such an early age that she didn't remember much about them, and what she did remember, Nya couldn't be sure they weren't phantom memories created by the stories Kai had told her, as he was two years older and remembered them better. And though she'd never say so out loud, Nya often thought she was better off for this. She'd grown up seeing how much pain the loss caused Kai, so was it so wrong to be glad that she didn't have to share it? Beyond the loss that colored her earliest years, Nya grew up with little as she and Kai did their best to survive. Through the kindness of other villagers, her brother's hard work, her own endless attempts to make whatever money she could, and their bond, they'd managed to survive. Even if sometimes only just.

Despite this, she still enjoyed it.

Years passed. Master Wu came along and things got even better, if infinitely more complicated. Suddenly there were prophecies and elemental ninjas and a sinister Lord of Destruction looking to destroy them all and rule Ninjago. Needless to say, it was an adjustment.

But life marches on, and as it turns out, you can get used to just about anything.

She and the boys trained. They fought, she built and waited until the day came she could fight too, even if in secret. She teased Kai, helped Master Wu keep the base up and running, spent time with Cole and Zane, and danced around her growing feelings for Jay. Life was good. Strange, yes, but good.

Then fate —and as a sign of how weird things had become, Nya meant that quite literally— dropped little Lysandra Meredith Montgomery-Garmadon into their lap.

To say Nya hadn't reacted well to being forced to babysit a feral, wannabe evil brat who acted like she hated everyone and everything that wasn't candy and her uncle. She'd done her best to ignore the half-pint, doing the bare minimum necessary to keep the girl from setting the Bounty on fire while secretly working on her Samurai X armor. For the most part, Nya had been content to ignore the scrapy brat, even if that meant ignoring the way her stomach would turn at the blatant distrust and barely hidden fear in the kid's ruby red eyes.

As time passed and it became increasingly clear that Lissy wasn't actually bad, just confused and mistreated. As she began opening up to them, Nya found herself melting to the young girl. She'd always wanted a little sister, as illogical as that was, and never had many dolls as kids. Lissy served as a weird combination of both, someone who Nya could dress up and take care of, while also imparting her wisdom onto and scheming to prank Kai with. The first time Lissy let Nya brush her hair had been an immense show of trust, and now after they'd been through so much together, it'd become a common activity for them.

"It was just so weird seeing Brad again," Lissy said, turning her head to the side.

Nya pulled the soft-toothed brush through the hair above the girl's right ear. "Good weird or bad weird?"

The girl scrunched up her face. "Weird-weird! I mean, he looked so... young!"

"Well, I hate to break this to you but..."

"I know, I know," Lissy rolled her eyes. "Still, it was weird."

"I imagine, for both you and them. You're seeing the age you're supposed to be while, to them, you might as well have grown, what? Five? Six? Years overnight?"

Lissy didn't respond, ruby red eyes still staring off into the corner of the room.

"Lis?"

The girl blinked, "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking... Seeing Brad, seeing that he was still a little kid, it made me realize that there really was no going back."

Something in Nya's heart tightened. Lissy didn't sound angry or sad, just... resigned. The kid had accepted her new normal with as much grace as one could expect from someone in that situation, but Nya supposed that part of Lissy had always hoped there was a way to go back to the way things were before, when she was still a semi-carefree gremlin, and the prophesied battle with her father was still years off.

"So you and Brad," she said, trying to keep the conversation light. "Is there a story there?"

The tips Lissy's ears turned bright red. Nya's eyes widened; she'd just been joking!

"Brad was one the first people I ever met when I came to Darkley's," Lissy explained. "I was super young, maybe three or four? Five at the most? Young enough that I don't really remember anything before that. Anyway, he put fire ants in my bed my first night there and—"

"WHAT?"

FSM, Lissy had actually liked that kid? That either said something about the girl's taste in boys, or how lacking her choices of companionship were at that damned school.

"—he later took me aside to explain how things worked there. He showed me the ropes. Weird as it was to say, he was the closest thing to a friend I had there."

'That is incredibly sad,' Nya thought, though she bit her tongue to stop from saying it out loud. If for no other reason than the earnest look of fond remembrance in Lissy's eyes.

"I don't know, maybe if I stayed up at Darkley's and we'd grown up together more than we could have been... something. But that's never going to happen now, so it isn't important."

'Oh boy.'

"Well maybe not with Brad, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other guys," Nya said. "There are plenty of other fish in the sea. No need to label yourself as a spinster just yet."

"Ha, spinster," Lissy chuckled. "Seriously though, can you imagine me dating? What would I even say to a guy?"

"I admit it wouldn't be easy. You know, given your unique... circumstances, but that doesn't mean it's impossible," Nya replied. "You could talk about your hobbies, what's going on in your lives, your family."

"Well, I study martial arts and use those martial arts to protect Ninjago from my evil warlord father and his snake-men minions."

.

.

.

'Ignoring that.'

"Or..." Nya separated out a section of Lissy's hair and started braiding it. "You could say that you live an active lifestyle that your family shares."

"My family?"

"An uncle and four overprotective older brothers who love you very, very much."

Lissy met her eyes in a mirror, "And a big sister?"

Nya smiled. "Who also loves you to death." Then, after a moment, she added, "But who also isn't ridiculously overprotective as the others."

"Ridiculous is right," Lissy, rolling her eyes. "I know they mean well, but sometimes it's so stifling. I mean, I'm an equal part of this team too! I don't need coddling."

"Honey, I was dealing with all that wayyyy before you arrived," Nya said. "And, admittedly, I'm kind of glad you're taking the brunt of it now. Don't hate me."

Lissy tilted her head forward, allowing Nya to pull her hair taunt as the older teen worked towards a ladder braid. "As if I ever could. How'd you deal with it? Kai and the others?"

Nya let out a low hum. "Well, I've dealt with Kai's smothering for as long as I can remember. And I get it, we were two vulnerable kids and he was doing his best, but as I got older and stronger it did get on my nerves. I won't lie, I was ticked off that Kai got chosen to be the Master of Fire instead of me. You've got to remember, when we first came under Master Wu's care, I actually did better in training than he did! I was more willing to learn, more willing to train, but it still wasn't me.

"You'd be an awesome ninja," Lissy said.

Nya pressed a kiss on the girl's forehead. "Thank you. Anyway, after I realized that, no matter how much I trained or how capable I actually was, the guys would never let me fully join them, I... started to sneak around."

"So you're suggesting I lie to Kai and everyone?" Lissy asked. "That'll really make them not trust me!"

"It's not that they don't trust you," Nya promised. "It's that they don't trust the rest of the world. And, no, I'm not saying you lie. I'm saying that sometimes it is okay to leave things out. I'll even help you, so long if you let me in on the plan, and it isn't crazy stupid. Like, if you ever want to go enjoy some time with friends out in the city or, you know, go on a—"

"Date?" Lissy cocked an eyebrow. "Circling back around to that, are we?"

"I'm just saying that it, if you want, it should be something you can the ability to experience without a pack of stupid brothers hovering around dripping their male hormones everywhere." Lissy wrinkled her nose at the mental image but said nothing. After a moment, a thought occurred to Nya. "Do you... want to date, Lissy?"

'I want you to date, kid. I want you to have at least something normal in your life. I want you to be able to pretend you're just some normal teenage girl having a burger with your crush.'

Lissy shrugged, looking away again. "I don't know! I mean, I like boys! I know that, now more than ever. Brand new raging hormones and all that! But dating? Until a couple of months ago, that was something characters in TV shows did, not anything I ever thought about!"

"And that is perfectly alright," Nya said quickly. "You're young, you've still got plenty of time for dating and boys and all that. I mean, do you even know what your type is?"

"Type? What do you mean?"

Nya fought the urge to grin at the girl's confusion. "Oh, you know. Your ideal type of guy. Some people are more specific than others, but it's normal to have preference for, like, a certain hair color or body type. Some people like someone with a jokester personality, while others like the serious type. You get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I... think so," Lissy said. "Hmmm, what is my type? I guess I like boys with dark hair? Yeah, dark hair but with light eyes. I think that looks really cool. And I like people who are quiet but not overly gloomy or anything. Tough too, they'd need to be able to protect themselves. Does that make sense?"

"So you want a bit of a mysterious loner type? I get that, very classic," Nya nodded thoughtfully. "Just make sure you're actually into the guy and not just his mystery."

"And now you're getting ahead of yourself again. For now this dream guy just exists inside my mind; not like he's showing up outside the Bounty with some flowers looking to take me out for dinner and dancing."

"Maybe not now, but you shouldn't rule anything out."

Lissy didn't reply but grinned at Nya all the same. "So what's your type?"

'Smart, tousled brown hair, a scar over his eyebrow, and a bit of a jokester.' Nya flicked her little sister's earlobe, "I'm not going to answer that, you little brat. Besides, you're smart enough to figure that out."

The future Savior of Garmadon giggled. "~Nya and Jay, sittin' in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g!~"

"Alright, that's enough!" Nya put the final touches on Lissy's ladder braid and swatted at the girl. "Go! Shoo! Away with you!"

With another laugh, this one open and bright, as Lissy jumped up and spun away. "That's for the best! After all, I've got a hot date waiting for me!"

As she went to leave, Nya quickly pulled the girl back into a quick hug. "You know you can trust me, right Lis?"

Lissy hugged her back, "Of course I do."

Her voice sounded confused, something that made her sound younger.

'No, it makes her sound her actual age,' Nya thought sadly, squeezing her sister tighter. "Good, because when, or if, you decide you want to date or do... other things, then I hope you'll trust me enough to tell me. Because as much as I want you to have fun and be a real teenager every once in a while, I also want you to be safe."

She pulled back, looking the girl in the eye. "I'll never judge you, Lissy. I might not be Kai and the other guys, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to support you when the time comes to fight your father, but I promise to help you in any way I can."

Lissy blinked up at her for a moment, tears starting to shine in those beautiful ruby eyes. Without warning, she surged forward to hug Nya again.

Squeezing her tight, the girl buried her head in Nya's shoulder and choked out, "I wish I had a mom like you!"

Nya felt something in her heart break. Lissy never talked about her mother, not even to ask Master Wu about the woman she didn't even remember. And while Lissy never gave the impression that this lack of knowledge bothered her, Nya was beginning to suspect that this came more from a lifetime of ignoring that hurt rather than true apathy.

'If I ever meet that woman she's getting a punch to the mouth.'

Fighting back her own tears now, she said, "I might not be your mother, but I'll always be there for you, sweetheart. So long as I breathe, I'll always be in your corner. We all will be. That's what I mean to have a family that loves you."

"I finally understand that," Lissy admitted, nuzzling closer. Happy and sad all in once.

For those who are sad this fic is at its end, don't be! This story will eventually have a prequel and a sequel. In fact, the storyline of the sequel is hinted at in this final chapter here.