12 REVIEWS. I might faint. But I'll reply to them first...

DeliciouslyDangerous1:

Aw, thank you! Yeah, I think I ship GreenCircuit more than Pixane... Hehe.

Ninjagirlrocks120:

Thanks so much! I don't do many OCs, but I'll do this one for ya! :D

Astrid16:

You complimenting me?! I may or may not have fangirled like an idiot when I saw your review. But I'll try to keep my love of your stories contained to my reviews of them. Speaking of which, I've got to read your newest chapter of True Grit! And thank you so much for telling me about that mistake. Ugh, I hate it when I leave stuff out. Should be fixed now though. I wasn't sure whether Zane and Nya should be a couple or not, so that's up to the reader... xD Zaya? Will do!

Tranquil as a Nindroid:

Thank you! Oh my goodness, that is a brilliant idea! I love it when the Ninja get pranked... Watch out, Lloyd, they're coming for ya... (Jaya and Zixal teasing? Hehe, oh yeah...)

2embaresed2login:

And this is the point where I realize I had PMs turned off. Well done, Scarlett. Wow. But sure, I'll write that! Why do I get the feeling it's gonna be really amusing? xD

If anyone's wondering, this occurs in between King of Shadows and Home.

Requested by a guest.

Jay slowly opened the door to his family's trailer and cleared his throat. "Hello?" the Blue Ninja called quietly. Receiving no response, he repeated his question, louder. "Hello?"

No one's home. Good.

Walking quickly and lightly, Jay slipped through the door and crept into the messy, cramped living area of the metal can. He dropped his heavy duffle bag onto the yellowing tile with a sigh. It sent up a small puff of dust, evidence that it had been quite some time since the trailer had been thoroughly cleaned. Normally, Jay accepted and even welcomed a chaotic environment, but dirt was too much. Where were his parents anyway?

Oh well, it'll get cleaned up soon enough. Not much worse than your own space on the Bounty, eh, Jay?

Chuckling, the Ninja took his eyes away from the dusty, stained floor and scanned the rest of the room. Gears were piled on the table, scribbled blueprints lay spread out in the middle of the horrendous pink and brown rug that occupied the room's center, oily footprints stretched from the door to the base of the fridge. The whole environment sent up a sense of nostalgia to the young man. How long had it been since he had set foot here? Months… A year? Jay couldn't seem to remember.

What was I... Oh yeah.

Jay suddenly remembered the reason he was being so quiet in the first place and picked up the navy duffle bag once again. His long legs crossed the room in only three strides as he entered the closet he called a 'room' for the first twenty years of his life. Unzipping the bag, Jay removed the items he had come to know and love – a blue gi, steel nunchucks, his journal, and a variety of random gears and wires that had been packed 'in case'. He gently touched the gi, marveling once again that he, Jay the Jokester as everyone called him, was more than a failed inventor. He was a Ninja, a protector of Ninjago.

Pain pulsed from his right arm and made him yelp in surprise. Jay hadn't really listened during Sensei's speech about the dangers of being a Ninja. At the time, he'd been more concerned about his newest prank, which Cole had been the recipient of. Shaving cream between the sheets of a guy's bed doesn't exactly make him a happy camper, as Jay had discovered while he ran for his life, being chased by the enraged Black Ninja. Now, Jay realized he should've listened.

Peeling off his blue T-shirt, the young man examined the bloody bandage encompassing his right bicep. Those skeleton warriors might have been stupid, but they could still swing a blade. A blade that really hurt. While fighting those blasted pieces of bone, Jay had been surrounded by five warriors at once. Doing spinjitzu to get rid of three, the Blue Ninja had been left with only two opponents. He quickly disarmed one, but while thinking of a smart comment, the other warrior nicked his arm. Well, sliced, to be more specific. It wasn't too deep a wound…

But it hurts like the Dickens.

Of course, he would never admit to his pain, how minimal or strong it might be. Jay, the guy with a smile on his face and a joke before his lips. That's who he was, that's who he always had been, and that's who he always would be. It wasn't a bad lot, being the funny one in the bunch, but it did have its downsides. At least he did keep the mood light even when it seemed hopeless.

Cole tends to get grumpy anyway. All that extra weight on his face from his eyebrows probably gives him a headache or something.

A crash resounded from the front door, making Jay jump and struggle to slide his back over his head.

"Whew! Half-price on spur gears! I'm sure Edna won't mind that I got this many, since they were on sale…" Jay knew that voice, it belonged to his father. At least his mom wasn't home yet, or else she'd come and discover his injury and panic.

Just what I need. My parents to find out my secret.

He stood and opened his room's paper-thin door. "Hey Dad!" Jay called, entering the living area. Ed Walker dropped his pile of gears with a crash and stared at his son.

"Jay! You're home!" The man ran forward and bowled his son over in a bear hug.

"Yeah, I'm home," Jay squeaked, his lungs devoid of any air. When his father finally released him, the Blue Ninja gasped for oxygen and tried to keep his arm as still as he could. "Where's Mom?"

"Oh, she's been out for a few days."

Which explains the mess.

"There was a ladies convention in Ninjago City, or something of that sort. She talked about visiting you at Mr. Borg's shop, but I guess she never got around to it. Where ya been off to, son?" Ed asked.

Though his father would undoubtedly be more accepting of his new occupation, Jay still thought it best to keep his position under wraps. Especially since he had told his parents that he was going to learn new inventing techniques from a guy named something-Borg. Apparently Borg was gaining fame in the invention community and Jay had heard the guy's name somewhere, so he used that in his excuse for leaving.

Jay gulped. "Uh, oh ya know, just learning some genius tips from, uh, Borg."

Wow. Well done, dude.

Ed was too ecstatic to notice his son's discomfort. "Well come on, come on! Tell me all about it! What's Borg like?"

"Uh…"

Just then, the door burst open to reveal a woman lugging several huge suitcases. Edna Walker, Jay's mother, was able to get two of the bags through the door, leaving three behind on the tiny porch. She sighed. "Well I never! Look at this mess! How men can live in such conditions is beyond me. Ed! Help me with these suitcases! " Edna stopped her rant when she saw her husband's grin. "What?"

"You blind, Edna?" The man motioned to Jay, who was perched on a wobbling stool.

Her mouth dropped and she immediately dropped the luggage. "JAY!" His mother shouted as she flew across the small room and threw her arms around him. Small sobs came from her throat while she clung to her son. "Oh honey, I missed you so much!"

Tears welled up in Jay's eyes. "I missed you too, Mom." He had forgotten how homesick he was during all the training. Being there again, inside that tiny trailer in the middle of a junkyard, brought back countless memories. His parents might be overbearing at times, but they truly did love him. And he loved them.

Guilt. Guilt took the place of nostalgia. How could he have lied to them when they cared about him so much?

But I had to. They wouldn't have let me go otherwise! I had no option.

"You're so big!" Edna exclaimed, running her hands over his arms. "Do you do a lot of heavy lifting with that Mr. Borg?"

He laughed. "Not exactly."

Both his parents chuckled. Edna stopped suddenly with a puzzled look. "Jay? What's this?" She felt a lump beneath the fabric on his left arm.

"NOTHING!" Jay yelled and shied away.

"Jay Walker, what are you hiding from me? Ed, tell him to stop hiding whatever that is from me!"

His father scratched his head. "Eh, do what your mother says, son."

NO, NO, NO! I almost made it... Now this.

Jay tried to crack a joke. "That's just muscle, Mom! From all my 'heavy lifting'!" She wasn't impressed. With a sigh, Jay pulled his sleeve up to his shoulder, revealing his bandaged arm.

Edna gasped and his father's eyes widened. "W-what happened to you?" his mother stuttered.

The truth. I can't hide it from them anymore.

"I…" He took a deep breath. "I'm a Ninja, Mom."

"A WHAT?!" both his parents shouted.

"A Ninja! You know, silence, swords, HI-YA!" Jay struck a cheesy warrior-like pose in hope that it would lighten the mood. Didn't work.

Edna moved to touch his arm, but Jay moved away. "How did that happen?" she asked, still shocked.

Better avoid the whole 'skeleton army' thing for now.

"We got into a bit of a scuffle, nothing big," the Blue Ninja said. His father was silent, which worried him more than his indignant mother.

"We? You mean there's more than one Ninja?" Edna inquired.

"Yeah, there's four of us all together. And I have the element of lightning!"

Ed Walker rubbed his temple. "Element? Lightning? Son, what are you talking about? You… you lied about being taught by Mr. Borg, didn't you?" he asked sadly.

Jay poked at one of the peeling tiles with his foot, too ashamed to look at his parents. "I had to."

"Oh Jay, why?" His mother asked.

A tear slipped down the Ninja's cheek, abashed by what he had done. "Would you have let me go if I had told you?"

"Of course we-" Edna stopped and looked at her husband. They shared a long look and finally turned back to face Jay, both wearing an understanding expression. "You're right, Jay. I don't think I would have," the woman said.

His father put a hand gently on her shoulder. "We're not condoning the fact that you lied to us, but we do understand why you did."

Hope returned to Jay's heart. Perhaps he would not lose his parents' love after all, for that had been his greatest fear in all of this. "So… I can still stay here?"

Laughing, his parents both simultaneously yelled, "Of course!"

The laugh faded from Edna's lips as she realized what her son had said. "Jay, never doubt our love for you! No matter what you say or do, we'll love you more than anything in the world."

Grinning mischievously now, for all this serious jazz was really messing up his flow, Jay asked, "Well, what if I told you I could handle nunchucks like the First Spinjitzu Master?" Whipping them out, he demonstrated and promptly knocked himself in the head. His father smothered a laugh while his mom rushed to his side. "Guess I need some more practice…" Jay mumbled from the floor.

Laughter echoed from the trailer. Finally the family was united, in body and heart. When Jay left a week later to resume his training, he was at peace for the first time in years, knowing there were two people he could always run to.

Jay always seemed a little ashamed of his background, because of his mother's overprotectiveness and where he lived, so I thought this would be a good way to kinda smooth out that relationship between parents and son.

Yes, I brought Cyrus Borg into this. Would he really have done nothing until the Final Battle and then suddenly became a billionaire inventor? Not likely. Plus this sets up how Jay knew about him and came to be such a fan of Borg's work.

Personally, I liked the last two chapters better, but hey, dramatic romance always tends to be better than a mostly one-sided stories. TRAGEDY IS BEST OF ALL. Don't hate. xD

About requests: I would prefer to only use characters that are in the actual series, but if you've already requested an OC story, I'll do that first. You can request character deaths, unusual parings (OUTSIDE OF YAOI and etc.), backstory, non-canon events, future lives; heck, basically whatever as long as it fits within my writing rules.

Wow, hope I don't sound really strict or anything…

Please review! Flames! Golden sparkles! Eh, as long as you use that box down there, I'm happy. xD