Wow. That was quick.

That's right, I'm back! It's getting late here and I've been losing sleep to write these stories recently, since I wrote Soulmates (my first one shot in case you didn't know). So yeah, I'm tired. Not to mention I had a rough, long day in London today and found out that my precious dragon figure I recently bought had fallen out of my window and smashed on the driveway... so yeah, tough day. Anyway, here's the next two chapters. Enjoy.

Chapter 6

Skylor wakes. It's dark. Still. She can feel soft pajamas on her body, with a thick cover over the top, as well as a comfortable mattress supporting her weight. Of course, she's in her bed back home. Duh, it was just a bad dream. Claire isn't in Ninjago, she's in the Cursed Realm with Chen. At least, she was until it was destroyed... oh right, the Departed Realm. Of course. She was one of Chen's army.

Calm down, Skylor, it was just a dream. Go back to sleep. No need to worry. But is this her room? She doesn't recognise the small round window near her feet, or the oval door whose knob handle gleams in the moonlight that streams through the uncovered open window. Nor does she recognise the wardrobe in the far corner, the shape of the room, the colour of the walls, of the duvet over her body. Suddenly, Skylor remembers where she is - the Monastery of Spinjitzu. Of course! That makes more sense. Skylor pushes the duvet off herself and twists out of the bed. Her wrists twinge with pain from the day's fights, and she winces, trying to keep her sharp intake of breath as quiet as possible so as not to wake anyone else up. Skylor slowly tiptoes her way over to the window and looks out over the landscape laid out in front of her eyes. The view from here is similar to the view she had in Kai's room - the mountain face drop a few hundred feet away, the dark green smudge of forest that is just visible past the rocks, the dark sky scattered with jewels, a small lake off to the left of the forest, the sea to the other side, invisible from behind the Monastery due to the sheer drop in the mountain and the permanent mist and fog obscuring the waves. In both sunlight and moonlight, it's a glorious sight to behold. Peacefully, Skylor pads back to her bed and drops down into it. Burrowing down under her covers, she thinks back to her conversation with Claire earlier that day. She would have to explain her story to the ninja one day. And that day would have to be the next one. It was going to take a long time and a lot of energy. Exhausted, Skylor passed out and slept until daybreak.

Chapter 7

"Claire isn't my blood sister." Skylor begins. It's the next morning, and despite the few hours since her midnight awakening, she's still shattered and unprepared to share her history with her attempted murderer. The ninja all nod in unison, accepting Skylor's beginning. She takes a beep breath before plunging into a detailed recount of her life on Chen's island with her 'sister'.

"And just before I joined your alliance to fight Chen, Claire swore that she would get me. That she would kill me. She's had murder on her mind since, and her attack on me has proved that." Skylor got to the end of her story, having left out some of the unimportant or personal stuff. None the less, it's taken an hour to get to that point of the conversation, and Skylor is even more fatigued than before, if that's physically possible. Almost every ninja in the room nods again, but Kai, Jay and Lloyd all look slightly confused.

"Wait," Lloyd interrupts, "if Claire is part of Chen's army, why wasn't she taken into the Cursed Realm with the rest of them when my father sacrificed himself to it?" Skylor knew they'd get confused about that, and she had prepared herself the previous night in case of that question rising.

"She doesn't have a tattoo." This explanation causes confused expressions to appear on every ninja's face, and Skylor shakes her head. "She was going to get hers the day after the battle at the Corridor of Elders, but my father and all those with the tattoos got taken into the Cursed Realm. She also wasn't present at the fight, so her soul wasn't taken in unlike the rest of them. She was in New Ninjago City at that point, though she didn't have a squadron of Anacondrai my father had... made. She was alone with... my ex." Skylor rubs the back of her neck out of shame, and Kai wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his embrace, to comfort her. Smiling, Skylor leans into his hold before plunging back into her story. "I don't know if he was taken into the Cursed Realm too, but I have a feeling that he didn't. That he's still in Ninjago City. He didn't have a tattoo either as he was new and Chen wasn't sure if he could be trusted." Kai gasps quietly upon receiving this information, but Jay's, Lloyd's and Zane's gasps are much more audible than Kai's.

"So... is that who the guy in the mech was?" Cole asks, his voice dripping with confusion.

"Yes." Skylor nods in response. "That was Steven."

Woah, two uploads in one night? Well, I say night, it's now twenty minutes into the morning, and I'm more shattered than Skylor, which is saying something. If you got the question from my previous Note correct, saying it was her ex behind the mask in the mech, congrats, you get a gold star sticker *slaps sticker on own chest* well done! *thumbs up*

So yeah, those were the next chapters. Have fun thinking those over.

LunaPikazard