Hello everybody! Thanks for the reviews- so, this chapter is sort of short. Because I have all the other chapters written and I had to go back and do this one because otherwise the story didn't make sense. Anyway I wrote most of this chapter to Avicii's The Days. It also had a load more dialogue than any other chapters are going to.

A few more months went by, and the months stretched into seasons. Nobody seemed to pay much attention to Lloyd, unless he talked to them directly. It wasn't that they didn't care, they just didn't seem to notice.

"Why can't I go on all the missions, again?" Lloyd asked one day.

"Because everything evil tries to capture you, Lloyd, you're too big of an asset." Kai replied as he spun Nya's newest sword in a few experimental circles. "Whoa, this thing is awesome! Hey, maybe you could get Nya to make you one," he added unhelpfully.

"The new way she's tempering them makes the blade really well balanced-"

"Yeah, I'll talk to her," Lloyd answered without much enthusiasm.

"Look, we'll- we'll go on a mission in a bit," Kai said, looking a bit sorry. Behind them, Jay hopped in on one foot as he pulled on his shoes.

"Give it a week or two, new supervillain, new use for your powers!" he said cheerfully before falling over onto his side. "Ow."

"Thanks, Jay."

Lloyd wandered away as the other ninja left. He really had thought that he'd be able to go on all the missions from now on, since the Overlord had been defeated. It occured to him that his powers hadn't even defeated the Overlord the second time around, it had been Zane.

"I should think you'd be gone," Misako called from the bridge as Lloyd walked by.

"They didn't need me for this one," Lloyd replied. Maybe he'd go hang out in his bunk and… think of all the ways he could take over Ninjago, or something. Of course, he wouldn't ever do that, but he'd started doing it when he was seven and it was still fun.

Or listen to music, or read, or something. He figured he might dig out some of his old comic books, they must still be on the Bounty somewhere, and tt wasn't as if there was any point in training.

"Not if I'm never going out," Lloyd said under his breath as he opened the door to the bunkroom.

His mom came in almost as soon as he settled down to read, and stood at the foot of the bed.

"Lloyd,"

"Yeah?" Lloyd replied, noticing that his mom looked worried.

"How old should you be now?"

"I dunno, maybe seventeen? Eighteen?"

"Oh." Misako paused for a long time, running a hand nervously over the plait of silver hair draped across her shoulders. "Lloyd, I- I wouldn't know, since to me you should still be a little boy… but shouldn't you look older?"

Lloyd shrugged and sat up. "What're you saying?"

"I'm saying, we should talk to Mystake and Meifen."

Meifen, the small, nervous woman who had spoken to Lloyd months before. He remembered where he'd seen her before- hooded and avoiding eye contact in the back of the Ninjago City tea shop.

"We probably should," Lloyd said as he rolled out of bed and landed on his feet. "Like, now."

"I just don't know," Meifen said nervously as she readjusted her glasses. Lloyd hadn't recognized her before since, apparently, she'd stopped wearing the green hood. "You didn't tell us there was going to be a lot of excess elemental energy flying around, that stuff might have a bad effect on the tea. And, if you'll pardon my saying so, the Green Ninja is practically shining with elemental energy."

"Do you have any idea what the effects might have been?" Misako asked anxiously.

"Ms. Mystake will be here soon, she's worked with elemental masters before. She'd have a better idea than I would." Meifen straightened up and nodded towards the door. "Here she is now!"

Misako turned to Mystake, who looked a bit irritated at all the people in her shop. "Hello, Mystake."

"Misako? What are you doing here?"

"I assume you know my son, Lloyd. He was aged magically, using Tomorrow's Tea. We think about four years?"

"Hmmm," Mystake grumbled as she circled Lloyd. Lloyd tried to stay still as she poked his shoulder.

"Oh my," said Mystake, sounding surprised for the first time. "Oh dear."

"Uh- what's wrong?" Lloyd asked as Mystake raised one of his hands and began to twist it back and forth. "Can you not do that?"

"So he's the grandson of the First Master?"

"Yes," Misako said anxiously. "Is there something wrong with him?"

Mystake nodded grimly as she replied, "The Tea wasn't meant for demigods, especially ones charged with this much raw energy. I'm afraid it's affected his aging process." She looked over at Misako, who had gone very pale.

"Your son's never going to age."

They told him it wasn't fair, they told him they were sorry. And Zane spoke to him aside, after that strained and painful dinner, and said that he would stay for as long as Lloyd wanted him around.

But then, they just sort of seemed to forget again, as the weeks of sad glances and awkward conversation faded away, and life went back to normal.