Five years ago, fate had gifted Editia and Iris the impossible. A baby girl, who they'd named Deity.

Iris thought it was only fitting, seeing as her conception had almost seemed like an act of divine intervention.

Lifting his head from chopping vegetables, Iris watched Deity pleading with Editia to tell her how they met.

Editia chuckled a little, lifting the bright eyed five year old up into her lap after sitting down. "Alright, alright. You wanna know how your dad and I met, huh?"

Deity claps her hands together and nods, peeking at her father in the kitchen. "And then, then we can eat dinner after the story, and go outside and watch the sunset."

Editia chuckled again and rubbed Deity's head, tugging on a wavy curl. "Alright, but the story does tell you a bit about mommy's old job...is that okay?"

Deity only nodded, getting comfortable on her mother's lap.

Editia took a moment, trying to think of how to properly tell the story. "About..oh, I think it was about sixteen years ago..I was eighteen, and your father was twenty." She shook her head. "Anyway, ages aside, sixteen years ago in Kibo village...there was an assassin. The Nightingale-that's me." Editia tugged on Deity's cheek, hearing her giggle. "No one was faster than me, or stealthier than me. I took all kinds of rather...questionable jobs. Sure, it wasn't the most stable line of work...but I did what I could to get by. I'd been on my own since I was about fourteen, after all." Editia knew Iris was listening-but she knew he didn't mind Deity knowing this story. "One day, I got a contract to kill."

Deity's eyes slowly widened. "Momma killed people?" She gasped and hid her face behind her stuffed Oni toy.

Editia patted her head. "I used to, Sunshine. Let me finish, okay? Now, a certain farmer in the village had racked up an extremely heavy debt with a bunch of bad people."

Iris chuckled from the kitchen. "Yeah, I used to bet on falcon races a bit too much before I met your mother."

Editia shook her head and chuckled. "Yes, yes you did. I came behind him when he was working in his garden and tossed a small pouch of sleeping powder at him, and he was out in an instant. I took him back to my hideout but...he smiled when he woke up from the powder and saw my face."

Iris poked his head out of the kitchen, pointing a knife in Editia's direction. "Ain't my fault you've got such pretty hazel eyes, my Flower. But my fascination with your beauty did get you to freeze up and let me go after you stared at me with that blush on your face. Ya looked like a doe caught by a hunter. All confused and wide-eyed."

Editia rolled her eyes and turned a little pink, turning back to Deity as Iris went back to chopping vegetables. "Yes, I did let him go...I felt like someone had stabbed me in the chest after, but I let him go. I tried my hardest to forget about him and kept taking jobs in many other villages...but somehow, he always found me."

Iris chuckled from the kitchen again. "Kinda hard not to smell ya, Flower. You always smelled like fresh jasmine from my garden, so I knew where you'd been. Anyways, Deity...I finally showed up at one of your mom's jobs with a small bouquet of blue roses. I hadn't quite perfected the crossbreeding, so they were a sky blue."

Editia shook her head and smiled. "Yeah, and now you grow them in the garden permanently. We talked until sunrise after I let the guy go that I was supposed to kill."

Deity tilted her head at her mother. "And then what happened?"

Iris poked his head out of the kitchen and wiped his hands, coming over and picking Deity up. "Then we lived happily ever after, and had a bright ray of sunshine come into our lives after a while. Now come help me get dinner ready." He paused when he saw the sky outside the window darkening, shifting Deity to hold her in one arm.

Deity pouted. "Aww...now we can't see the sunset.."

Iris shook his head. "Nah, we can't but-" He stood still, holding Deity a bit more securely.

Those clouds were coming in fast..dark and ominous looking.

"Editia, darlin'...you remember what I told you that night we talked until sunrise about Kibo village getting some real nasty thunderstorms before?"

Editia frowned and came into the kitchen behind Iris, seeing the dark clouds rolling in faster. "Of course I do! You once told me it was so bad that your parents had to evacuate." She swallowed. "Are you saying this is one of-"

Deity jolted in slight shock upon hearing the first crash of thunder in the sky, curling in her father's arms.

They'd had bad storms before, but only one bad enough to evacuate.

"I ain't sure, Flower. It could be, it could not-" Iris's eyes widened when one of the houses on a hill was struck by lightning and caught fire.

Houses in this village were mostly wood, so it was time to evacuate.

Iris handed Deity off to Editia while he packed what they could carry. He made sure to grab Deity's stuffed Oni toy, chuckling a little at the fangs and horns on the packs up on his back, Iris mentally checked what they had as they walked out the door.

Food, water, clothes, medical supplies...some of Editia's weapons for self defense and maybe hunting if need be.

Handing Deity the stuffed Oni doll as they headed along the evacuation route, Editia shook her head and tugged Iris off the path to a faster one-toward Ninjago City. She shifted Deity in her arms, as Iris shook his head.

"You sure about this, Flower? We're supposed to-"

Editia shook her head again and kept walking, swallowing when she heard another thunder crash, and turned around to talk to Iris. She lost her words when she saw a lightning bolt strike a barely a hundred feet from them.

Maybe seventy five feet.

"Iris, we need to run!" As Editia and Iris ran with Deity, the lightning strikes began getting closer.

Iris shoved his wife and child out of the way as a bolt neared...and struck him down.

Editia watched the light leave his eyes almost instantly, as lightning caused instantaneous cardiac and respiratory arrest in some strikes.

Gone.

Her husband and Deity's father was dead on the ground before them. Editia ran a good distance away from Iris, and then sat Deity down on the ground after they reached the top of the hill. "I'm going to go get Daddy, you stay right here...okay? Hide under a tree if you must."

Deity didn't understand what was going on, her bright sapphire eyes filling with tears that spilled down her cheeks. "Is...Is Daddy okay? What was that? Why did the light from the sky make him take a nap?" The little girl shook, squeezing the stuffed toy as though it might help ease her confusion.

Editia gently stroked her cheek. "I'll answer all your questions soon. I'll be right back."

Deity shakily nodded, as Editia stood up and began running back to where Iris lay. But as soon as Editia got all the way down the hill, Deity saw the bright flash again...and saw her mother drop. Running down the hill as fast as her legs can carry her, Deity made sure to listen first. The thunder sounded a bit further away, so she walked to her mother and knelt down, gently shaking her. Editia's skin tingled against Deity's fingers. "M...Momma? Get up, Momma. This isn't funny..." She frowned and shook her mother harder. "Momma, it's not nap time, daddy is prolly awake and waiting for us...-" Deity sniffled and laid her head on Editia's chest, wanting to hear her heartbeat. The color slowly left her face when she heard silence inside. Lifting her head back up, Deity started to cry.

Of all the things her parents taught her, she knew that they had said when you didn't hear a heartbeat..that person or animal wasn't coming back. She wiped her eyes and picked up her stuffed monster, watching her mother's body.

Deity had remembered when her dog had died last month.

Scratches had been pretty old.

They'd let her hear the silence in his chest so they could properly explain why he wouldn't wake up.

She couldn't lift her mother to bury her like they did Scratches. So she carefully lifted Editia's arm up and tucked her stuffed monster under her mother's arm, putting it back down so Editia was holding it. Deity wiped her eyes again and forced herself to smile at her mother. "I...I love you, Momma. I see you later, maybe."

Heading off in the direction her mother had been going, Deity finally found her father and watched his empty expression, nodding to herself. "Papa is gone too...that's okay...maybe he can see Momma.." Deity dug around in the discarded packs until she found a few vegetables, she also pulled out her father's favorite handkerchief-he often used it to tie around his forehead to absorb sweat while he worked in the garden. It was clean now, so she tucked it in her pocket. "Papa, I see you later too, okay? You and Momma are too heavy for me to carry. I'm gonna go get help. I love you.." She kissed his forehead and began walking away with the food and water.

Her mom had said they were going to the big city, right?

So that was the path she followed. Deity swallowed in slight fear as she walked along the forest path, knowing she was near the storm again. She made sure to listen for the thunder as she walked in the rain, slipping and falling in the mud. "Ouch..stupid ground!" Deity got up and wiped her eyes again, kicking the ground as she wiped mud off her chin.

As she traveled, Deity kept an eye out for anyone coming down the mountain to help her at least bury her parents and get to a safe shelter from the storm. No one so far...she was getting a little tired. Stopping to eat and drink something, Deity tried to remember how far away her parents had said the city was. "Momma said..big city too many footsteps to count. Maybe...two days?" Deity looked at the sky getting darker as the storm raged on. "Almost sleep time..no sleep, gotta keep going." She nodded to herself, prying the seeds out of her eaten apple and planting them in the muddy soil. "There. That's better." Dusting herself off as she stood, she gathered her things up and began walking along the path again. She didn't know how to tell time too well yet, but she knew the sky was getting darker, so more time had passed..and the rain was getting stronger and harder to see through.

As she walked, Deity felt a strange breeze blowing through. It smelled a bit like ocean air-but she was nowhere near the beach. Maybe she was just tired and imagining things. Then, she heard it.

A loud crash of thunder, much too close.

Deity began to run, smelling the ocean air again right before a bright flash surrounded her. It was over just as soon as it began, but...she was alive?

Was she?

Everything was black and she couldn't see.

Deity calmed when she felt a wet hand on her face-but it was gone as soon as she had felt it. Despite the ringing in her ears, Deity could hear muffled talking, which became clearer as the ringing subsided. Over the weak pulsing of her heart in her ears, she could barely make out the raspy voice of an older woman, focusing on the one phrase she spoke when she got close.

"My...look at you. Come out here for tea leaves after the storm and find a child. Come on now, let's get you fixed up."