What?! The next chapter a day early?! Yep, updates are moving to Sundays! After I finish Lost Soul, updates will then move again to Saturdays! :D

As I stated last chapter, these one shots do go in order. This one takes place shortly after the last one, meaning we're still in between "Can of Worms" and "The Snake King" (i.e. Lloyd doesn't know he's the Green Ninja yet).

Special thanks to ABCSKW123-IX, RandomDragon2.0, rbrill345, Tex1412, Wyrenfire, musicalsaregood, SpitfirewaterNinja, Star, SnowNinjaAJ, TheYellowNinja, Guest, PrairieSkies, Peanut2196, StoriesAreMagic, Ninja Pony, and Nali Nali Nalina for reviewing!

Replies to guest reviews:

rbrill345: Haha, I'm glad you thought it was cute! I hope you like this one as well, even though it's a *bit* more angsty. ;D Thanks for reviewing!

Star: Aw, thank you so much! :D

SnowNinjaAJ: Yay! Standards met! I'm so happy to hear it brightened up your day! I actually did not rewatch season 1, so I was very worried about keeping them all in character. I am SO happy to hear you think I succeeded! :D I can't wait to see the cover ;D Thank you so much!

TheYellowNinja: I love Kai and Lloyd's relationship too! Haha, yeah, I kind of realized after I wrote it that Kai lost his temper... which is the story I just finished... Oh well! I hope you like Nya's chapter! Thank you so much for reviewing! :D

Guest: Aw, you are way, way too kind! Your review made my whole day! Thank you soooo much! :D

Ninja Pony: Haha, I'm glad you thought it was cute! I hope you like this too! :D Thanks for reviewing!

Nali Nali Nalina: Yeah, I think you were the one to suggest Lloyd pranking the other ninja! The other chapters will feature Lloyd being annoying in plenty of other ways! (In this one, he complains a lot XD) Kai is definitely a good big brother to Lloyd! :D Thank you so much for reviewing! :D

The first time Lloyd was forced to stay behind, he complained.

He had been contentedly playing video games with Kai while Jay and Zane played chess nearby. He was just starting to feel like maybe this could be his normal, like this could work, when Cole ran in shouting, "There's been a Serpentine sighting in Jamanakai village!"

And, the peace was shattered. Jay and Zane were on their feet, the former knocking over the chess pieces in his haste. Kai tossed the controller to the floor without even bothering to pause the game, causing his character to be dealt a very grisly death by the slow but relentless snail enemies on screen.

Lloyd couldn't stop the whine from escaping. "But-"

"Sorry, Lloyd," Kai called over his shoulder as he followed his brothers out of the room. Lloyd struggled to keep up on legs that were about half as long. "Duty calls."

"Can I come?"

The four teens started, turning as one unit to face him. They all shared a look before Cole said apologetically, "Lloyd, you know it's dangerous. We can't be worried about protecting you while we're fighting."

Lloyd crossed his arms. "You won't have to protect me. I can help!"

Zane placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look at it this way, Lloyd. You get to stay here and help Nya out!"

"Lucky," Jay muttered.

Lloyd rolled his eyes, huffing. "That's boring! I mean, she doesn't even do anything!"

When he didn't receive a response, he raised an eyebrow at their expressions. They seemed frozen with shock, but they weren't looking at him. They were looking over-

Preemptively cringing, Lloyd turned around… to see Nya right behind him with a very unhappy expression on her face.

Lloyd sputtered, backpedalling. "Nya! I, uh- that was out of context-"

"Hmph." She turned on her heel and stalked into the cockpit of the Destiny's Bounty, slamming the door behind her.

"Look at it this way, Lloyd," Zane said after a moment, replacing the hand on his shoulder. "You can use this time to think up a good apology."

The second time Lloyd was left behind, he moped.

"You guys have to go again?" He complained from where he was leaning against the doorway, watching the four ninja equip themselves with their golden weapons.

"We cannot ignore a cry for help, Lloyd," Zane stated. "Ninjago City suspects the Serpentine are gathering nearby, so we must investigate."

"You know, we wouldn't have to if somebody hadn't opened the Serpentine tombs in the first place…," Jay joked as he took up his nunchucks.

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" He snapped, pouting.

"We wouldn't have to bring it up if somebody wasn't complaining…," Cole pointed out, earning an appreciative chuckle and high five from Jay for making a callback to his joke.

"We all know you're talking about me!" Lloyd shouted, frustrated. "You don't have to keep saying 'somebody.'"

The ninja began filing out of the room, making to leave the Destiny's Bounty. Kai ruffled his hair on the way out. "We'll be back later, Lloyd. Why don't you hang out with Nya?"

Lloyd barely stopped himself from making some biting remark, recalling how well that worked out last time. He lingered on the deck, watching the ninja jump off the Destiny's Bounty and convert their golden weapons into vehicles mid-air and drive away.

Sighing, he decided to try to find something to do to entertain himself. This consisted of: replaying their limited number of videogames, all of which he had already beaten a million times before; rereading his meager collection of Fritz Donnegan comics, all of which he had read a million times before; raiding the ninja's stuff to look for candy, all of which he had searched a million times before. It culminated in him flopping face first on the couch with a loud groan.

"Why don't you hang out with Nya?"

It was true. He was desperate enough to hang out… with a girl.

He trudged into the cockpit where he saw Nya studying a map of Ninjago that was pinned to the wall.

"Hi, Lloyd," she greeted distractedly.

"Hi," he muttered, plopping down in a chair and placing his chin in his hands.

"What's up?" She asked, finally tearing her gaze away from the map and pulling out the chair across the table from him.

"I'm… booored," he grumbled. "Is this what you have to deal with all the time while they're gone?"

"Welcome to the glamorous life of the ninja," she smirked.

"How do you stop yourself from going insane?" He asked quite seriously, dropping his forehead to the table with a thump.

"Simple." He looked up when she suddenly spread books and papers out on the table in between them. "I work."

"Work?" He repeated disbelievingly. Not that he would ever say it to her face, or to any of the ninja's faces for that matter, but he'd always thought that Nya was… kind of useless. She couldn't fight, she wasn't on the team, and she was only allowed to be here because she was Kai's sister. It didn't really have anything to do with her being a girl, but, then again, that didn't help her case.

"Of course," she gestured to the ancient scrolls she had procured from Wu's library on board. "If I can figure out what the Serpentine want, then maybe we can come up with a way to beat them."

"What do you mean what they want?" Lloyd raised an eyebrow. "They want to, like, rule the world or whatever."

"Well… maybe," Nya placed a hand on her chin. "But, if that is their end goal, then they must have a plan. Even if Pythor can unite all the tribes, they don't have the numbers to just attack Ninjago, especially considering they only came close to winning the Serpentine Wars because of the Anacondrai generals, which, as we know, were banished to the Cursed Realm.

"Not to mention that, after being locked underground for so long, their technology is light years behind our own. Pythor must have something else in mind besides a full frontal assault, something he can't accomplish by himself. I've studied all of our texts on it, but I'm only part way through translating the ancient Serpentine hieroglyphics. You'd be surprised how little information there is on the Internet about them."

Lloyd blinked, a little overwhelmed, because all that was… really smart.

He had been in contact with the Serpentine, seen the inside of their tombs, been the only human among them for an extended period of time, talked personally with Pythor and had the opportunity to ask as many questions as he would have liked. And yet, Nya, this girl who he'd only seen leave the Destiny's Bounty a handful of times, had figured all that out.

"...Wow," is all Lloyd said after a minute, wincing at how lame it sounded coming out of his mouth.

"And, when I can't look at that anymore without wanting to rip my hair out, I work on my machines," she added, gesturing to a side table that housed several disorganized piles of scrap metal, screws and bolts, and tools like wrenches and screwdrivers. "You want to help me?"

"Um…," Sure, he had been bored, but tightening screws honestly sounded worse than literally doing nothing.

"How about we make it a game?" Nya offered, moving to a cabinet on the side of the room and pulling out a huge, bulging, beautiful bag of candy. "Every time we finish fixing something, we both get three pieces of candy."

"Is-is all that yours?" Lloyd asked, mouth practically watering as he eyed the sack of candy Nya placed in the middle of the table.

"Of course not," she smirked. "I took it from the boys' stash."

"I knew they had a stash!" Lloyd exclaimed triumphantly. "Where is it? I've looked everywhere for it!"

"I'd say that information is worth… twelve pieces of candy," she decided, nodding confidently. "So, if we fix four things and you trade me back the candy you earn, I'll tell you."

Lloyd gaped. "That's… that's cruel!"

"Take it or leave it, kid."

And so, Lloyd found himself handing Nya different machine parts, connecting wires, and, yes, tightening screws. But, he was talking and laughing and finding out he actually had a lot in common with Nya. He almost forgot he was doing this for candy (or rather, the promise of future candy.)

Almost.

The third time Lloyd was left behind, he finally got it.

He found himself eagerly helping Nya once again while the guys were on a mission and Master Wu was out on some errand. "Helping" meaning she attempted to translate the Serpentine hieroglyphics while he played computer games until she told him to type something into the search engine. Oddly enough, being in her company, even when they weren't talking, was… nice. Almost like they were… kindred spirits.

He looked up when Nya's phone rang.

She picked up, "Hello?"

Lloyd could only faintly pick up some yelling on the line, but he recognized Kai's voice. Almost immediately, Nya was pushing her painstakingly organized stacks of papers and books to the floor without a thought to how they landed, moving the chairs to the side of the room, and then pulling the rarely used white tablecloth out of the cabinet beside her secret stash of candy, all while she kept the cell phone tucked between her cheek and her shoulder with a grim expression on her face.

"What is it?" Lloyd asked, feeling his heart pick up speed. He gasped when he heard a thump outside- at first he feared they were being attacked by the Serpentine, but then he recognized Kai's voice, obviously still speaking to Nya on the phone even though they were less than fifty feet away now.

Suddenly, Nya hung up the phone, spreading the tablecloth out on the now completely empty table.

"Nya, what is it?" He asked again, rubbing his sweaty palms on his pants. He had no idea what was going on, and yet he had this horrible, horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Nya walked up to him, placing both hands on his shoulders. "Lloyd, I need you to go to the kitchen and get a bowl of water, as many clean rags as you can find, and the first aid kit, okay?"

"First aid kit?" He repeated, his voice coming out thin and quiet. "What-"

The door slammed open, banging against the adjacent wall.

Cole barrelled in, carrying an unconscious Jay in his arms.

Lloyd's eyes widened when he saw that the entire left half of Jay's chest was soaked in blood.

Zane and Kai came hobbling in shortly thereafter, the latter's arm slung around the white ninja's shoulders as he limped and tried not to hiss in pain.

"Lloyd," Nya squeezed his shoulders, momentarily drawing his attention away from the sight of Cole placing Jay on the covered table, already taking off his brother's gi and revealing Jay's bare, very red chest. "Can you get those things for me?"

Her voice was gentle.

He nodded before hurrying off, sparing only one more glance over his shoulder at the red stain steadily growing on the white tablecloth.

The next hour wasn't so different from all those times he had helped Nya with her robotics projects. "Lloyd, hand me a rag," "Lloyd, heat up the needle," "Lloyd, check his pulse again."

Except of course it was a person's life- Jay's life- in her hands and not an unfeeling machine.

He did what he was told mechanically, Nya's very calm, very straightforward voice flowing in one ear and out the other. He didn't want to look at Jay, didn't want to see his pale face drawn with pain, didn't want to see his chest that had been slashed open, didn't want to watch the needle going in and out of his skin as Nya slowly stitched the wound closed.

The only reason he forced himself to keep helping was because he knew Nya didn't want to either. But, she was doing it, for Jay, for someone she loved, and so Lloyd helped because he wanted to emulate her strength.

The strength he had never seen in her before, even though it had always been there.

Once she had finished stitching Jay's wound- forty five stitches (he had counted)- and wrapping it in gauze, she did not rest. With an order to watch Jay, she turned her attention to the other ninja. Kai had a sprained ankle and possibly several broken ribs; Cole had taken a pretty vicious hit to the stomach, revealing a nasty red and purple bruise, but was otherwise okay; Zane had taken a knock to the head, and they suspected he had a concussion.

Nya took care of all of them, and one by one, they fell victim to exhaustion, slumping over in slumber wherever they found themselves on the floor. She helped them lie down, ordering Lloyd to fetch blankets for all of them while she tirelessly checked them over once again, making sure they hadn't missed anything in their adrenaline-addled, mildly panicked states.

When Lloyd finally fell asleep, Nya was holding Jay's hand.

Lloyd started awake, shaking his mind free of images of blood and wounds and stitches (forty five- he had counted.) Gathering his bearings, he saw he was on the floor, a blanket tucked around him, another one of Nya's efforts. He sat up, noting that all of the guys were still sleeping in the positions they had left them in, and from the dark window, he decided it must have been some time in the middle of the night.

He expected to see Nya sleeping sitting up in a chair, possibly still holding Jay's hand.

He did not expect to see her at her robotics table, scribbling furious on blueprints.

He pushed himself to his feet, slowly padding over to her. He peered over her shoulder to see… some sort of huge robot suit? Or maybe he was completely off-base; blueprints were just as foreign to him as the Serpentine hieroglyphics.

"Lloyd!" She whisper-shouted when she realized he was behind her, scrambling to hide the blueprints under the numerous other papers spread around the desk. She had been busy. "What are you doing awake?" Her gaze shifted from one of anxiety to concern. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, though his eyes drifted to Jay's inert body on the table. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"I have to wake up Zane every few hours to make sure he doesn't have a concussion. So far, so good, but we can't take any chances," she replied, nodding at the white ninja lying under the window. "Besides, Jay might need something. He'll certainly freak out when he wakes up, and I need to be there for him." She shrugged, gesturing to her work table. "Don't worry. I have plenty of things to keep me busy."

He balked at her. "But, when do you sleep?"

"Whenever I don't have anything else to do."

He pressed his mouth into a line, glancing at Jay yet again. "Are you…," he trailed off. Steeling himself, he turned back to Nya and began again. "Are you always this scared?"

He took a deep, shuddering breath and continued before she could respond. "I mean, I guess I never really thought about it before, but every time they leave… they leave to fight. They risk their lives, and… what if they don't come back?" He finished in a whisper.

Nya sighed, taking both of Lloyd's hands. Usually, he would have pulled out of her grasp, but right now, he was grateful for the comfort. "That's… always a possibility." She glanced at the sleeping ninja. "I love them; I do, with all my heart. Would it be easier if I could make them stay here where I know they'll be safe? Of course!" She shook her head. "But, we can't be selfish. Sometimes, they're the only things standing between Ninjago and total destruction."

There was a pause, and Lloyd dropped his gaze to their hands. "I'm… I'm sorry for saying that you don't do anything. I mean, obviously that's not true."

Nya laughed. "Thank you, Lloyd. Apology accepted." She let go of his hands, turning back to her work table. "Now, get some sleep. I've still got some work to-"

"Can I help?"

She looked back at him in astonishment as he grabbed a chair and set it softly on the floor beside her so as to not wake the ninja. "You want to help?" She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I'm not sure I can get the candy out without them finding out that we stole it from their stash."

"'We?'"

"You ate it. That makes you an accomplice in the crime."

Lloyd laughed quietly. "I guess I can find it in me to help, even without candy."

She smiled at him, and Lloyd knew she enjoyed the company in these lonely, stressful hours of the night. And, it… felt good to do something for someone else, a feeling he'd never experienced at Darkly's.

"Okay, then." Nya handed him a screwdriver. "Get ready to tighten some screws."

Lloyd groaned.

I hope you guys liked it! Next chapter is Jay! (It takes place shortly after this one, so Jay will still be injured :D)

Feel free to leave suggestions! :D