(A/N: :))

Benches are surprisingly uncomfortable to sit on, considering they're literally built for sitting.

This was about the only normal thought cycling through my mind as I sat tensed on the layers of cold metal beams outside the Departed Official Headquarters. The sun was long gone, and I had no way of knowing what time it was. For once, there was no clock in sight to tell me how long I had to wait before seeing my… before seeing them again.

I sat alone; Agamya had left to find her friends and let them know what was happening and where she'd be, and she'd taken Owen with her, promising to help him find the other static orphans if she could. At first I thought it was odd that he was so willing to be thrown from adult to adult (although whether or not Morro counted as an adult was up for debate), but then I remembered that he hadn't been raised by any parents, and my heart grew heavy. I hoped Morro kept his word and took care of him. I hoped Morro would be able to take care of him. What would his work schedule be like? I shuddered, thinking of all the crimes he'd committed. Even without all the rift-crossing that had just gone down (which I knew wasn't of malicious intent, but the D.O. did not), he certainly hadn't been an angel during his lifetime. Or even after that.

And what about Garmadon? Surely the D.O. wouldn't blame him for all the evil he'd done while under the influence of the Great Devourer's venom; he would never have caused anyone harm if it were up to him. He always seemed to think he could've fought it more, but… he did try to fight it. They would see that, wouldn't they?

How long had it even been since Garmadon and Morro had shown up at my door? I tried to recount the days, but I swore my total must be wrong. It felt like I'd been living with them for a lifetime— it couldn't have been only a week. All my memories seemed to blur together in one big haze of events. I'd never forget the first time they showed up out of the blue; the way Morro strolled in like an old friend and the way Garmadon would keep whacking him with a rolled-up piece of paper. Then there was the Great Kite Duel, which seemed eons ago, like some great war in history book. That was when my Nights of Flashback started, which were of course more than just flashbacks now. We went grocery shopping and Garmadon started teaching me how to cook, only for Morro to decide that ice cream counted as a meal, which was a good decision in my book. In fact, the memories of us eating together were probably my favorites— just under playing Escape from Dark Island, that is. It hurt an unreasonable amount to think that I might never play that game again.

The idea crossed my mind— not for the first time since I sat down on the bench— to invite Garmadon and Morro to stay. It felt to me as if the moment they came through my door, we'd entered some strange alternate reality that was entirely separate from our lives on Ninjago and my life in the afterlife up until that point. It was almost unbearable to imagine that it had been a limited timespan, a self-contained unit of life that would pass forever, like childhood.

But the reality was, we did have lives back in Ninjago— all of us— and I couldn't ignore the fact that we all had different families we would eventually regroup with, as well. Garmadon had a wife and brother and child, and Morro had pledged to take care of Owen… and it seemed to me that he might end up finding his own family in the rest of the Static Orphans, as well. As for Owen himself… as much as I wanted to believe I could take both him and Morro in, the further down the line I thought about the situation, the more hopeless it seemed. Morro would almost definitely have a long work schedule— I couldn't pretend he wouldn't— which would leave me to take care of Owen. And while I'd grown fond of the child in the little amount of time I'd known him, he was different from Zane. This wasn't an android who I could program self-defense skills into or shut down for the night when he got sleepy; this was a human child who had been abandoned by his parents and had lived who-knows-how-long as a runaway orphan on the streets of the Departed Realm. I wanted with all my heart to be able to heal that pain, but the simple truth was that I wasn't enough for that. I didn't know what it was like to grow up with no guidance whatsoever, and I certainly didn't know what it was like to be homeless and poor. I didn't like the thought of Morro raising Owen on his own, but at least he was a figure Owen could relate to. That was something I couldn't fulfill.

I was startled out of my thoughts by the door next to me swinging open. Garmadon stepped out, a mix of emotions on his face. His brow was furrowed, but not quite in anger, and he had a tight-lipped smile. I smiled feebly back and took a shaky breath as he sat down next to me, not even wincing from the cold of the bench. We were both silent for a moment.

"A year out of every five," he suddenly blurted out. I blinked.

"Pardon?"

"A year out of every five," he repeated. "That's my work shift. Same as yours."

"O-oh!" I exclaimed. "But, wait, when did I tell you my…?"

"First day we met," Garmadon replied, in a tone implying he was surprised I'd forget. "Anyway…" He coughed. "Back in there, I was thinking, ever since the D.O. told me you get to choose which years you work within your shift… maybe we could end up working together sometime?"

I blinked. "That— yes, of course! But, um, we'd have to be working the same job, of course…"

"I know," Garmadon said hurriedly. "It was just a thought. That if we were both looking for a year where we did the same type of work, we could decide to overlap it."

I blinked more quickly, definitely not trying to keep tears out of my eyes. "Yes, that… that would be nice."

The door swung open again, providing a brief but welcome break in the awkward tension. Then Morro walked out and the tension hardened like a clay brick in the sunlight. He was silent, and his pale green eyes darted around nervously. Or maybe it was my own nervousness that I was projecting onto him; I couldn't quite tell.

"So?" Garmadon asked, his voice as gruff as always. "How'd it go?"

Morro hesitated, then for some reason looked directly at me. "Well… my schedule is fifteen work years for every year off… but they gave me a special job?"

Garmadon and I exchanged a look. You ask him, I ordered with my eyes.

"What, exactly, does that mean?" he asked Morro.

"Well… it's kind of a long story. They sent me up to talk to the head of the D.O.— no surprise there, it takes the best of the best to hold me down— and we got talking, well, mostly it was yelling at first, but after a while he backed down. Probably impressed with my valiance and heroic determination." He flipped his hair, and it was honestly somewhat of a relief to see him acting like his old self again. "Anyway… we ended up having a conversation about the status of static orphans here, especially the ones who are too young to work. I said it wasn't fair that they never got a chance to learn the skills to work in the first place, and somehow that ended up turning into a proposal for a school for departed kids."

I wasn't sure when my mouth started dropping, but by this point my jaw had practically hit the floor. Garmadon was more stoic, but even he couldn't contain his surprise.

"He talked with some of his subordinates and they want to test the idea on a smaller group of kids first," Morro continued, "and I guess the head D.O.— his name is Mr. Rayiys, by the way, although some of his workers call him the H.D.O.— wants me to be the teacher for the first test group? Since it was my idea and all. And I'm technically a static orphan myself."

"Wait— you're going to be a teacher?!" Garmadon exclaimed. "But you hardly even have any education yourself!"

"No offense," I added for him quickly.

Morro seemed unfazed. "Yeah, that's why they're having me travel the Realm as a student myself first. I'll be under the tutorship of some of the smartest people here to learn math and science and stuff." He wrinkled his nose. "I don't like the thought of having someone else be the boss of me, but at least when it's done I'll get to be the boss of a bunch of cool kids."

"Very shrewd thinking," Garmadon commented, in a voice that wasn't completely sarcastic.

"Oh, and one more thing," Morro added in a too-casual voice. I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"They let me pick my science teacher. Well, I actually sorta put in a request." He started cleaning his nails in an uninterested fashion. "In other words… I'm going to be coming by on Thursdays to learn nerd stuff from you, so you might want to start prepping for that. And I fully expect cookies when I come over."

I was speechless for a few moments as I tried to find my voice. Taking off my glasses to wipe my eyes, I finally managed to laugh, "Yes, of course."

"Well, if that's the case," Garmadon stated abruptly, "then I certainly hope there are cookies for me when I come over on Fridays to play Escape From Dark Island… if that's okay."

Hearing Garmadon's voice waver was the straw that broke the camel's back. I felt a hot sting as tears started to prick my eyes, rigidly refusing my attempts to hold them back.

"Yes… yes, of course that's okay," I said, suddenly choked up.

"Hmph," Morro said, "you two know I'm the best player on the team. There's no way you could win without me. Make that two days of the week I'm going to have to come over to the nerd-pad."

"Morro," Garmadon tried to scold, but even he couldn't get his voice to sound angry with a smile so wide.

"Speaking of nerds—" Morro started, but he was cut off from a voice behind me.

"Well, well."

I spun around, almost accidentally crashing into the woman in front of me.

"Looks like all three of you are here; good, I need to—" She paused to raise an eyebrow at me. "Sanjay, are you… crying?"

"What? N-no, of course not," I laughed meekly, wiping my eyes again.

"I never thought I'd see the day," Agamya mused. "But we'll talk about that later."

"Did you talk to your friends?" I asked.

"Yes, and they're very annoyed that I keep leaving the group. I'm thinking maybe I should limit the amount of time they're allowed to wear the scarves. But they agreed to let me go when I explained the reason I came back, which is, to be frank, to discuss a very pressing matter that you all haven't told me about."

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"Me!" Owen piped up eagerly.

"Owen!" I exclaimed, startled. "I didn't even notice you there." The small boy was half-hidden behind Agamya's legs, and I'd been too focused on confirming her eye color to look down.

"According to my source of information," Agamya said, rubbing Owen's shoulders affectionately— I'd forgotten how much she liked kids— "Owen is supposed to stay with Morro once he gets settled into his new house."

"Um… yeah," Morro said, the gears in his brain visibly turning. "But, wait, I just got assigned my work schedule, and—"

"You're not going to be free very often," Agamya stated. "At least, that's what I'm guessing, considering how the D.O. reacted to you. So Owen would be left alone a lot, which is less than ideal."

Morro looked down guiltily, having clearly not considered this point. I felt bad, too, but didn't see how to amend the situation. Owen, however, piped up brightly,

"So we came up with anothe' so'ution!"

"The obvious thing to do," Agamya said with a smile, "is to switch off."

I blinked. "Switch off…?"

"Who takes care of Owen," she explained, rolling her eyes. "Say, monthly. You three are obviously the most family he has, aside from the other static orphans, who we'll eventually have to arrange something for— but that's getting off topic. I propose that Owen stays with Morro the first month, Sanjay the next, Garmadon after that, and me last. Then he goes back to Morro."

I blinked. "Wait— what?"

"You and Garmadon have both raised sons," she said casually, "I'm sure you can handle another one. Especially one as well-behaved as Owen." Owen grinned at her.

"Yes— b-but— I—"

"I think Sanjay is trying to ask when you entered the cycle," Garmadon asked, saving me from my lack of words.

"Since me and Owen just came up with this plan," she said with a youthful twinkle in her eye. "He needs a female guardian in his life, as well."

"I think you just want a kid," I laughed, my nerves going away long enough to rib her gently.

"Oh, actually, thank you for bringing that up," she said, taking a step forward. I froze in alarm and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Morro and Garmadon look at each other.

"You," Agamya said, poking me in the chest, "owe me for everything that happened back in Ninjago."

"Which is—?" I started feebly.

"Everything," she stated simply. "So you're taking me to dinner Friday night. No complaining."

Behind me, I heard a whistle. I turned around in shock and mild anger from embarrassment. "Morro!"

The biggest, most triumphant, unbelieving smile spread across the ghost teen's face. "For once, that wasn't me." He pointed at Garmadon.

"Garmadon?!"

"Feisty lass, isn't she?" he asked with a non-apologetic smile. Then, right in front of my eyes, he held out his hand and Morro slapped it.

"That's it!" I cried, throwing up my hands. "You are the biggest bunch of children I have ever met."

Garmadon's smile softened. "I suppose we have you to thank for that."

"Well, I hate to cut this reunion short," Morro announced, "but there's actually some boring paperwork I have to do inside. Mr. Rayiys just let me come out to fill you guys in. Since I assume you guys will want to go watch the lanterns, I'll see you on Thursday."

"Wait, I thought the lanterns got stuck in transaction?" I asked.

"You didn't hear?" Morro seemed surprised. "They figured out how to pull them through using some sort of metal contraptions. They'll all be at the Central Willow soon."

"Oh!" Garmadon and I exclaimed in sync. There was a pause as we silently delegated who should speak first.

"In that case, I would like to witness the lanterns, yes," Garmadon said. "Sanjay?"

"Yes, yes, I'll come with you," I said excitedly. "More than that, though, I think I've figured something out! A metal contraption that could be adjusted, not to cross through rifts, but to enter the space between them, and pull back souls that have been stuck…" My tone grew more excited as I spoke. "Yes, that would definitely be possible! I must get back home as soon as the lantern ceremony is over. I have some alterations to make to Tiya before I wake her up."

"You mean, you have to get back to the nerd-pad," Morro said with a grin.

"Ooh, the nerd-pad," Agamya commented. "I like it."

"Don't encourage him," Garmadon warned.

"I like this chick," Morro laughed. I thought 'chick' was an interesting word choice for someone of her age, but ignored it for now. "Agamya, right? Hey, Doc, we could use a fourth for Escape From Dark Island, couldn't we?"

"Oh, I love that game!" Agamya exclaimed. I blinked, startled.

"You've played it?"

"Of course! It was my favorite game! I haven't played since my lifetime, but me and my friends used to get together after really late work shifts and we'd all be sleep deprived and—"

"You two can catch up on Friday," Garmadon interrupted. "Aren't we going to get going to the Central Willow?"

"Oh! Right." I took one last look at the faces around me. "Owen, would you like to come with us?"

"I'll stay with Mo'o," he said with a smile. I caught a glint of surprise and happiness in Morro's eyes.

"Then it's settled. We'll all reconvene on Thursday," Garmadon said. Then he turned around and motioned for Agamya and me to pass him. "Ladies and their gentlemen first." I ribbed him, a little harder this time, but the smile didn't leave my face as we parted ways with the youngest in our group temporarily. I looked forward to seeing what my son had been up to on Ninjago, but for the first time, the trip to the lanterns was just as fulfilling as the destination itself.

"Sanjay, look!"

I shook myself out of my thoughts and followed Agamya's command— then gasped in surprise. Under the black blanket of sky, a thin layer of color was emerging, the first sunbeams of the morning grabbing onto the edge of the world and pulling themselves up, pushing back the darkness. All three of us halted for a moment to watch the sky in awe.

"I had no idea it was so close to morning," I commented quietly.

"Me neither," Garmadon whispered back. "Everything seemed so dark a moment ago."

"Make a wish," Agamya stated absentmindedly. I blinked.

"I thought you only made wishes on sunsets."

"No, sunrises count, too," she said. We fell silent as the sun ascended, pastel traces of blue and pink following underneath it as if a sheet were being pulled back to reveal the colors below.

Agamya and Garmadon made their wishes to themselves (everyone knew you couldn't say them out loud) while I simply took in the scene. After all, it seemed like I spent the majority of my life alone… but now?

I had all the company I could wish for.

And the rest of eternity was only beginning.

(A/N: YAY IT'S FINISHED! *confetti* Whew, when I started this project out I had NO idea it'd grow to such a scale... but I'll be giving my sappy, long ramble in the "bonus section" per say, which will be a separate chapter [maybe story], so for now, reviews would be appreciated as always. If you have any questions about the characters/plot/making of SDLPC/my writing style/ect., feel free to include them at the end of your review and I'll answer them in the bonus section! I'll probably also include at least a bit of fic in it so that I'm following FFN's rules, so stay tuned for that ;D And before I go, another HUGE thank-you to everyone who's reviewed regularly. You guys have been my primary motivation, and sometimes my sole motivation, for pushing on with this project. Ironically, your words mean more than I can say! );) )