Disclaimer: Surprise! I don't own Ninjago, just the original content.

I'm back guys! I know its holiday season, but I'll try my best not to have things go crazy with updates and such. Speaking of updates, our new update schedule after this week will be Wednesdays and possibly Saturdays once holiday season is over. However, I may upload a special on Christmas Eve/Day. We'll see (; Also, feel free to glance at my tumblr, CrystalliaWriting, for story related art and chapter art! Also, bear with me, my internet is down and my whole family is relying on a portable hotspot, so for a few days hopefully, I will be able to go online and post chapters and stuff…it's just gonna be super slow. :\

Now on with the story!

"I don't believe you ever get closure on anything. Things leave a permanent mark on you." Allison Anders

Chapter 3: Full Disclosure

Dear everyone,

I'm sorry to just leave suddenly like this up and out of nowhere, but it was either this or lie to all of your faces. We should all know by now I'm not fond of lying so here's the thing: I'm leaving. It's not permanent, it's just a short break for me to process…things. It's hard knowing you've been out for three days after indirectly releasing a demon of mass destruction back into the world. I don't feel good inside, and I mean in my mind and heart in a sort of metaphorical sense, I guess. I know it doesn't make any sense, all I know is it's not healthy for me to be like this. I need to just get some fresh air, walk around the city, and then, swear to all that's good, will be back in time for dinner.

Sincerely,

Maria.

P.S.

If we can, whether I'm depressed or cheerful, let's have that birthday dinner that you guys planned. I know you made my favorites which means spinach and tomato pizza with a stuffed, herb crust. I need the food and we all know I get really hungry.

Lloyd's eyes scanned over the note once more, only stopping to look up and make sure his dragon wasn't close to crashing into his teammates. He sighed as he folded it back up and tucked it away in his gi, tired of rereading the text and the confusing message in it. No matter how times he read it, he couldn't figure out what exactly was going on his sister's head. She said she hated lying, but from the way she worded something, it was obvious Maria found it easier to lie when she wrote.

Whatever it was, he intended to found out and bring her home. She needed to be home. She belonged with them. She belonged with hi-

"Kid, watch it!" Kai's voice called out to him, bringing the young Ninja back to reality as he bumped into the Red Ninja's dragon with his own. The two went swirling briefly, nearly hitting the treetops of the forest had they not caught themselves at the last second. As they straightened out their dragons, Kai sent a concerned look towards his friend. "You alright, Lloyd? You fell to the back of the group and nearly crashed into me even after I called your name several times."

The young leader took a clearer look at his surroundings, remembering the signal Zane got from his falcon, leading them to follow the nindroid on dragon back over the Forest of Tranquility. He remembered convincing Zane to take the note Maria left behind to read it for himself, getting lost in her parting words. Thankfully, he wasn't actually lost, but as Kai had said, the two of them were a good distance away from the others. "I-I-I'm ok," Lloyd finally replied, uncertainty in his answer. "I'm just fine."

"Then pick up the pace, we're getting ready to land," he said as he sped up to reach the others. Lloyd copied his actions, shaking off his previous thoughts that clouded his mind. As he reached his teammates, they already had commanded their dragons to fold in their powerful wings to lower themselves between the narrow gaps of the trees. As he began hovering over them, he quickly commanded his energy dragon to prepare to descend.

Once they were close enough to the ground, they ordered their dragons to vanish, no longer needing them to travel. They gathered on the ground as the nindroid tried to track down his falcon's signal. "Man, it's been a while since we've been here," Cole thought aloud. "Takes you back to our earlier days, huh?"

"Yeah," Nya agreed while looking up towards the trees barely touching the sky. "I mean, I really only remember getting kidnapped and the Fire Temple being destroyed. It's not exactly a happy memory, but it's something to look back on. Speaking of which, what else could be here that's significant to Seraphina?"

"I'm looking into that now," Zane said while looking off into the distance. "My falcon picked up something down south of here. That's where we should find something that'll lead us to Maria." He lead the group once more through the thick forest. "I feel it, as well. Memories of our time here are coming back to me."

Jay chuckled in agreement. "Yeah, those were good times- hanging around a campfire, crashing the Bounty down here after we got attacked by Morro. Well, they were mostly good, but the thing is we've been here before. I'm curious, too, what did your falcon find?"

"I'm not quite sure, yet I'm certain what it found will help."

"Ok, but if we get lost in here and attacked by a wild animal, I'm blaming you."

It was Lloyd's turn to laugh at Jay, finally letting a smile form across his face. "There's nothing left in the forest that could hurt us, Jay. I opened the Fangpyre tomb when I was little and released them, now this place is deserted. I mean there's the graveyard at the center of the forest and the Well of Souls, but we're not headed there."

Zane looked over his shoulder with his eyebrow arched. "Pardon, but did you say the center of the forest?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh, then we are headed there."

"Hold up!" Jay exclaimed while stopping the group with his sudden outburst. "I'm not going to any graveyard, especially if your falcon is there because he found something spirity related there. If a graveyard is somehow connected to Seraphina, then that means we could get attacked by some demon or something!"

"Oh, come on, Jay," Kai said with a roll of his eyes. "There's no demon or evil spirit that would be hanging around some graveyard."

"Actually, I glanced over Maria's book and gathered some data of a few creatures," the Ninja of Ice stated. "Moryō, low ranking members of the Onryō species, can be found robbing graves for corpses, then there's also nuppeppō-"

"Nope!" Jay turned and marched away from the group. "Nope! I don't care if Maria's lost! I didn't sign up to be caught again by a smelly, sweaty nuppeppō! I'm not having it!"

Nya groaned as she turned back to follow after her boyfriend. "I'll go get him. You guys keep going and we'll catch up in a bit."

As the two left from the others sight, Cole whispered over to Zane. "Do nuppeppō really hang around graveyards?"

"Sometimes, but they are rare in the wild and have distinct odor we would've smelled by now." The other Ninja sighed in relief as they continued on their way, a thick fog beginning to disperse from the supposed center of the forest. "I sense my falcon is nearby which means we're here. The graveyard of the Forest of Tranquility."

Towering over them where two black arcs with a red orb in the center, allowing them to stick out enough from the darkened graveyard. Rows of headstones, slightly cracked with age and weather, circled around towards the center of a mutated tree resembling two snakes. Below the tree was the opened tomb that once held captive the Fangpyre tribe before Lloyd had come along.

"Yeah, we're at the center, alright," the Green Ninja confirmed as he walked up to the snake tree. He rested a hand along the rough bark, a sense of familiarity rushing back to him. "It feels like it wasn't that long ago that I triggered the events leading up to me becoming who I am today. Now we're back here because of who Maria once was."

"Speaking of which, is anyone getting past life memories?" Kai asked. "Just curious so we won't panic if anyone of us suddenly passes out because we remember something from our past lives."

They shook their heads as Nya, gently dragging an unsure Jay by his arm, regrouped with the others. "What'd we miss?"

"Nothing much, just talking about this place a bit,"Cole replied. "That aside, where the heck is the falcon?"

A squawk echoed above their heads, making them look upwards at the titanium falcon hovering above. It refused to perch down on Zane's arm when its master held it up, nor did it show any noticeable reaction towards the other Ninja. It insisted on flying around the graveyard in a sort of circle pattern before landing on top of the arc farthest from them, pecking at the ruby orb.

"Yeah, your bird has gone nuts," Jay declared. "It's gone glitchy. So much for finding Maria."

"No, it can't be. My falcon has never failed me before," Zane gasped sadly. "My father made him to be intelligent and assist me when I need his help. There must be a reason he's acting this way."

"Ok, well, while you figure that out, I'll be standing close to the exit."

"Don't worry, Zane," Lloyd assured, "maybe he does know something and we need to figure it out."

"What is there to figure out?" Nya asked. "I'm sorry, but I'm a little confused, too. It ignored your command and flew around in circles. Now it's just up there pecking out the arch."

Zane broke apart from the group and walked over to where his companion was rested atop. Carefully, he climbed up the arch's pole and reached a hand out to the falcon,trying to calmly coax it to come down. The titanium bird still had no reaction to his master, insistently pecking on the ruby orb. The White Ninja reached out further to tempt his bird to come back when he stopped, staring straightforward into the orb. His blank expressions confused the team at first until he finally gestured for someone to join him.

Lloyd walked over cautiously, unaware of what his friends intentions were. Carefully, he climbed up the pole of the arch just as Zane had and held himself up on the aged wood. Zane pulled his head back away from the orb and looked over to Lloyd. "Look closely," he said.

Still confused, Lloyd slowly aligned his eyes with the orb and let out a gasp. While looking through the orb, everything was noticeably a shade darker to a dark gray. What really caught his eye was the tombstones, the two inner most rows dotting a splotch of pink on their tops while the outer rows had markings that were more scattered across. He pulled back and looked at the graveyard looking completely normal as an old, creepy graveyard should. "It's a puzzle," he whispered to himself.

"Did you say something, Lloyd?" Cole called up.

"The orb and the tombstones! It's all a hidden puzzle. When I look through the stone, I can see some of the tombstones are marked with a pink smudge."

"Well, how the heck are we supposed to solve this puzzle?" Jay asked. "Sure, you can see from up there, but what are we supposed to do?"

"Hang on a minute," Nya interrupted. "Remember how the falcon was circling above us? It looked weird to me how it wasn't a perfect circle, it looked more like he was making smaller circles from the way he dipped in and out. Maybe it's some kind of symbol he was trying to draw out."

Zane climbed down from the arch and joined the others on the ground. "Not just a symbol, the spirit symbol." He walked towards the center of the graveyard and stood under the shadow of the bare tree, looking upwards at its twin branches. "I believe once we form the other spirals, the tree will be at the center and reveal something to us."

"Ok, good idea," Cole said, "but what if this a trap and we end up summoning a half dead army that'll kill us on sight?"

"Then we should run."

"Alright, focus," Lloyd ordered as he looked back through the red orb. "Ok, if move them at the right angle, it should work like Zane said. Now listen closely."

Blue's warm tongue kept sympathetically licking her cheek as cold tears poured down and dripped off her chin. Maria trembled and hugged herself in comfort, trying to understand the phenomenon she had just went through. "It can't be true," she told herself. "Forget it, forget her."

"Brawwr?" Blue whined as he nuzzled his fuzzy head into the crook of her neck, his blue green fur popping out from her pink curl. "Blue…bad?"

Maria wiped her tears away, sniveling as she tried to speak. "No, you're good, Blue. You're a really good boy," she softly chuckled while hugging him around his neck. She slowly began crying again as visions came back into her head of her…birth mother.

She hated every little bit of it what it stood for and herself. The sight of herself as a baby in Seraphina's arms still made her try to convince herself it was all a lie. It was a lie she set herself up for by accepting tea from that old woman that brought her here. She wasn't ready for this as she previously thought she had, she rushed it.

"Why?" she asked Blue. "Why bring me here to shatter my life as I know it? What even is this place?"

The furī backed away from her embrace with a saddened look on his face. He stared at her for a second before leaning in and gently grabbing her sleeve in his mouth, gesturing to follow him again. "Blue, fetch?"

"How are you even alive?" Maria asked, ignoring his actions. "The Knights of Life existed, like, a million years ago, and so should've Seraphina! How am I even here? Why did she leave me with-" her voice caught on a lump that she forcibly swallowed, "why did she leave me with Elise?! Why did she leave me like this?!"

Blue's ears flattened against his skull, yet he wasn't phased by her volume raising. "Fetch…Peter play-"

"Peter is dead!"

The young girl's voice seemingly silenced all sounds around the forest. Any chirping from birds, buzzing from insects, any rustling of leaves halted as her scream echoed briefly before becoming silent. Both Maria and Blue stared at each other in shock at the words that left her mouth. She broke the moment by standing up and fully wiping away any tears she had left on her face. "He's dead," she confirmed.

"All of them who fought with or were with Seraphina died…expect me." She sighed as she glanced over the furī's widening eyes. "I'm sorry, but it's the truth, Blue. Peter isn't coming back, and I don't know how long you've been waiting for him to come back, but that's the truth. He's not coming back at all.

"I've been waiting, too," she continued while looking him straight in the eye. "All my life I've been told I don't belong in Tranquilville, and sometimes, people said I have no place to even live. They were right, you know. My whole life is lie and my home is all of southern Ninjago, but what good is that? Maybe I should've died, too."

Memories of her childhood came across her mind; all the moments of being shoved to the ground, laughed at, teased, being chased down, made almost perfect sense. She didn't act like them or look like a normal human because she wasn't the least bit human in the first place. It was undeniable that she was a spirit, the Spirit Princess, she denied herself to be. Princess…just the thought of that word made her shudder in disgust at what it meant. For her, it always meant old storybooks the teacher would read at nap time, leaving her questioning why each story was told the same way.

It meant someone who was praised by every little girl to the point where they aspired to be one themselves, or someone who every little boy wanted to have for his own. A princess was someone who didn't try to be strong and break free from their dangers with what power they had; that task was the purpose of prince or knight. A princess was someone who was always being oppressed by an evil dragon or monster, screaming their lungs out. They didn't know how to fight or be happy without finding true love they had always dreamed of. It was someone she always questioned about, someone she didn't understand or see the great potential of.

A princess…was who she was now.

"Brawwr!" Blue suddenly shouted as he quickly grabbed ahold of her sleeve again, dragging her away with more force and hastiness. "Leave! Leave!"

"Blue, stop! What're you doing?" Maria asked while trying to stand her ground. "What's the matter?"

CRASH!

Out of nowhere, an uprooted tree came flying across the sky and landed not far from the pair. They nearly fell from the aftershock of its landing, Maria finally complying with Blue to lead her away. He released her to allow her to run from whatever danger that threatened them. "Blue, fetch a safe place!" Maria commanded. "Do you hear me? Fetch safety!"

The furī let out a short bark as he picked up speed down the rockier, thicker areas of the forest, her feet nearly slipping on a few jagged rocks. Behind them came a slow, thud of footsteps, indicating the creature was very large and had not yet caught on to them yet. She heard low growls rumble through the trees, scaring away any nestling birds from their homes to the sky. She didn't dare to look back at what it was in fear she would be paralyzed with fear and doom herself.

Blue released another quick bark just before they approached a nearby cliff. The two stopped just before they could've fallen off into the grove below them. Blue took the lead of carefully climbing down the rocks and compacted dirt as fast as he could. Maria, mentally cursing herself for not packing her weapon, followed suit, trying her best not to place her feet or hands on any of the slippery rocks or loosening dirt. From above, the silhouette of the creature creeped over them, the sun in her eyes making it hard to place what it was. They continued to climb down further to reach the safety of the ground, keeping a close eye on the beast in case it caught on.

After a moment, it walked away calmly, never truly knowing of their existence. A sigh of relief left her lips as they continued down their way. Maria's arms began trembling from exhaustion, nearly making her slip a few times had she not caught herself immediately after she lost her grip. "So what's down here that makes this place safe, Blue?"

"Safe," the furī chirped "safe…Queen say safe."

Maria tensed up a little but brushed it off, focusing instead on finally making it to the ground. "What is safe about this place, Blue?" she asked again. From where she stood it looked like an ordinary grove, with scarce trees and more openness than a regular forest. In the distance she heard water pouring and bubbling nearby, sparking curiosity in her as she investigated.

As she neared the sound, a low pain grew in her head. She began to lose her footing, quickly grabbing on from one tree to another for support. As she reached for another, Maria felt an oddly smooth texture amongst one of the trees instead of rough bark. She lifted her hand and found a small, rounded prayer charm tied around the tree with rope. Carved into was a pink spirit symbol that looked bright and newly made.

"What…what is this?" she questioned. She felt Blue nudge her leg, signaling her to look down. By her foot was another forget-me-not flower by her foot, though it was wilted and not fluorescent as it should be. "Is that for me? Another memory I'm meant to find?"

"Fetch," was all Blue said he sat calmly beside her.

"Alright, fine," she replied. Cautiously, she leaned down and gently plucked the dying. It didn't jump at her like the previous one had, instead it weakly faced her with the little strength it had, slowly opening its petals to her. She brought up to her face and sniffed it's fading fragrance, letting it sink in.

Other than the pain she felt in her head growing faster, nothing else had happened that triggered any sort of memory. She waited while trying to contain her headache, getting more frustrated as time progressed and nothing happened. "Oh, come on! I'm willingly accepting it this time!" she shouted out loud. "I cried like a baby and had a breakdown. What more do you want!?"

"Isn't it beautiful, Cliona?" Seraphina's voice finally answered Maria's pleas, though it surprised her at first. She hadn't blacked out and Blue showed no response to hearing the voice, making her realize it was different this time. Out from the trees came a faint and blurry vision of Seraphina cradling a baby Maria in her arms, and Cliona looking around the grove. "I think it's the perfect place to set up a spirit spring."

"Are you sure, Phina?" Cliona asked. "There's a graveyard nearby that could attract some demons, not to mention there's been some sighting of onikuma in these woods."

"Positive, Clio," she said with a smile. "The upper cliff will separate the demons and add on to this spring's protective barrier once it's charged with energy. I've also been meaning to use that graveyard as a shortcut so anyone looking for this place can easily-"

The Spirit Queen was interrupted by baby Maria's soft whimpering turning into cries. She focused all her attention on her child, gently shushing her as she rocked her in her arms. "That one will grow up to be a real crier when she's older," Cliona chuckled. "I don't understand why you even brought her here with demons lurking about."

A serious look spread across Seraphina's face as she was nuzzling her baby's own, the closest thing to anger Maria had seen from her. "No one will ever touch my baby girl, not if I have anything to say about it." She straightened up and returned to her queen like stature, appearing graceful and perfect once again. "Besides," she warmly said, "Maria deserves to know the beauty of her culture as a spirit and potential Great Elder."

"There you go again, talking about her that way," the White Witch groaned.

"Talking about her in what way?"

"Seraphina, you're only exposing her to half of her culture. You know fully well you can't keep lying to your subjects and Knights forever about her hybridity."

Maria covered her mouth with her hands as she gasped, though it was useless since no one else could experience what she was now. "I…I have a dad? Wait, I'm a hybrid?" she whispered to herself.

"I'm trying my best, Cliona," Seraphina sternly said, refusing to face her friend. "I know Maria will encounter challenges being part human, having my face and powers reborn in her. However, I believe it should be taken slow, she's just a child and deserves to be a child. She doesn't deserve to know of this while she's still so innocent, and you have no right to be bringing up this conversation while she's right here.

"Besides, you're the one who kept urging me to come with you on missions not long after her birth. She needs me, and I can't miss out on time with her anymore."

"If you were a good mother, you wouldn't blame others for your own stupid mistakes!" Cliona bellowed, waking up the baby and causing her to cry. "You've been fooling around with that Psyche man and look where you are now. You've got a mutt as an heir to the throne!"

Seraphina stood calmly as she shielded her baby by holding her close to her chest. With her eyebrows narrowed down slightly, she quickly slapped the old spirt across the face. The hit was enough to send her falling backwards and onto the ground, holding her mouth in pain. "The south is my kingdom," Seraphina coldly rebuked, "and as its Queen and Great Elder, I order you to head back to your own territory. Your presence is no longer wanted here."

Without a word, the Elder of the West stood up and slammed her staff on the ground. In a puff of smoke, she had vanished, leaving the Spirit Queen to shush her baby once more while trying to hold in her own tears. The vision ended, leaving Maria and Blue alone together. She found herself in tears, falling down to the ground while holding her head in disbelief. She felt a strong power surge through her body and saw flashes of pink come across her eyes, but she ignored it.

"Why?" she asked herself, body beginning to glow with a faint pink energy. "Why do I live like this? Why a hybrid? Why a princess?"

With a final yell, her left eye stared to glow bright pink as her body released a small wave of energy. "Why did you leave me like this, Seraphina?!"

"Why?" Jay groaned. "Why isn't it working?!"

"Hey, we got the symbol right," Lloyd called from his position on the arch. "It looks like the spirit symbol to me. Maybe just we have to wait for something to happen."

"That's what you've been saying for the past hour! An hour of my life I can never get back. Never!"

Sadly, that was true for all of the Ninja right now as they were tired and sweaty from trying to solve the puzzle. Over the past hour, they kept arranging and rearranging the tombstones into forming the symbol under Lloyd's command. When nothing happened as expected, they rearranged them again by the slightest angles and directions after waiting for a few minutes. It was tiring for all of them to move the heavy headstones again and again, plus Lloyd could feel his legs and arms cramping from hanging off the arch for the past hour.

"Can we just go home?" Jay whined. "I'm hungry, I'm tired, and I've tried holding it in for so long, I swear, my bladder's gone numb!"

"Fine," Lloyd gave in as he slowly climbed down the arch. "Anyone who wants to head back, go. I'm going after Maria."

"By yourself?" Cole asked. "You sure, kid?"

"Yeah, it was wrong of me to leave you guys to do a lot of the heavy lifting. If you need a break, go ahead. I'm sure I'll find a way to reach her, somehow."

As his teammates guiltily walked towards the entrance of the graveyard, a sudden surge of energy course through them all, giving them chills. "Did anyone else feel that?" Kai asked, scared for the response he would get.

"I did," Zane answered. "It felt like…like Maria's energy."

"Wait, so she's nearby?" Lloyd excitedly asked. "Maybe she's closer than we thought."

RUMBLE…RUMBLE.

The ground slightly shook as the tombstones suddenly lit up, revealing their hidden pink marks. They glowed brilliantly, their glow reaching into the ground and making its way toward the tree. Instead of lighting the tree as Zane had previously predicated, the abandoned Well of Souls light up with a beam of pink light, opening up to a short of portal.

"Are we supposed to go in there?" Nya thought aloud. "It looks kinda sketchy to me."

The Ninja had little time to rethink their decision as the portal began quickly fading away. With their second wind taking effect, they stumbled towards the fading portal before it was completely gone. As they reached it, they all tripped over the other and fell into the portal, whisked away to where they hoped to find their friend.

It was a moment they quickly wanted to forget as soon as they landed. They wanted to forget falling from the sky and into the trees in a painful fashion. Some would soon deny they fell flat on their faces or on top of another when it was over. Lloyd painfully sat up, looking around for his teammates. "Are we all here? Sound off. Kai?"

"On your right," he weakly replied.

"Nya?"

"Over here," she waved as she sat up.

"Jay?"

The Blue Ninja spat out a mouth full of grass. "Bleeding internally."

"Cole?"

"Up here," he called from above as his gi was snagged on a branch that snapped under his weight. He fell to the ground with yelp. "Now I'm down here."

"Zane?"

"On this fuzzy rock," the nindroid said as he climbed down from the rock and headed towards the others. "I was lucky it broke my fall."

"What are you talking about, tin can?" Cole asked as he limped over. "There's no such thing as a fuzzy rock."

Zane tensed up a little as he turned back to his landing point. "Then…then what did I fall on?"

A rough yawn erupted as the 'fuzzy rock' stood up on its hind legs, blinking open its beady eyes. It stood tall at around 18 feet tall, a deep roar escaping its lips as it stared down the Ninja. The demon bear licked its lips, quickly diving towards them to snatch them up.

"Run for it!" Lloyd screamed as they dodged its attack, darting off right after. "Zane, what the heck is that?!"

"An onikuma!" he shouted between breaths. "A demon bear that is born once a bear lives a long life and gets bigger as time passes. In ancient times-"

"Skip the history lesson and just tell us how to kill this thing!" Nya demanded.

"And just to save you some time, buddy," Kai panted, "my armor still isn't working. So don't think too much about it!"

"Then a fire would suffice and buy us some time!"

Kai, catching onto his friend's idea, skidded to a stop and faced the bear head on. As it stormed closer to him, he conjured up a huge fireball and aimed it at the beast. Without warning, the onikuma ate the fireball and chewed it up like it was real food. After it had swallowed it down its stomach, its dark fur began alighting with flames, continuing to chase them down.

"I think I made it worse!" Kai cried out as he ran towards the front of the group. "Why couldn't she have been teleported to a flower garden or something?!"

"Kai, wait!" Zane warned. "There's a cliff ahead!"

"Thanks for the heads up!" As they neared the cliff, Kai had no hesitation jumping off and carefully landing this time with his airjitzu. The other Ninja quickly did the same, narrowly escaping the onikuma's long claws. It roared angrily and watched them lower to the ground from its spot on the cliff. Tired of them, it walked away in an upset manner.

Once the beast had left, they all breathed a breath of relief. "Oh, thank goodness, it's gone," Nya sighed. "I can't take this anymore. I'm done with the day."

"I'm done with life," Jay added on. "I just wanna go home, curl up in bed with something nice to eat, and sleep for 10 hours. Is that so much to ask?"

Murmurs of agreement came from them, that slowly broke apart with a faint sob. "Jay," Cole asked, "are you crying already?"

"That's not me!"

Though his head pounded from what he had been through, Lloyd walked over past a few trees to the source. To his delight, Maria sat unharmed with a strange creature by her side comforting her. "Maria!" he laughed, causing her to look up with fading pink eyes. "You're ok! I've been worried!" He walked over to her with open arms, ready for a hug, but she shook her head before rushing to get up and run away.

"Wait!" he called out to her, following her through the grove. "What's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?"

"Stay away!" she called back.

Lloyd continued to follow her, trying his best to ignore the throbbing pain in his body. He followed her to a small bubbling spring, a marble statue of Seraphina standing perfectly straight with open arms atop a small cliff. She stopped for a moment looking at the statue, but quickly continued running to the spring, tearing away at the still water. The Green Ninja was beginning to catch up with her just as his foot tripped over the soft ground, causing him to land on his head. He let out a yell as he held it tightly, succumbing to the immense pain.

"I'm sorry," Maria soft voice apologized. He looked up at her from his spot on the ground and saw her face. It was full of guilt instead of sadness as he half expected as she barely looked at him. "I've been causing so much trouble and now you're in pain."

"It's fine, bud," he assured. "I've been pushing myself to hard. Goryō's the one-"

"He should've killed me!" she snapped.

Confusion spread across Lloyd's face. "What? How can you say that? You're alive and deserve to be."

"You're wrong," she disagreed. "He told me himself; I should've died long ago, and he's true. I shouldn't even be the way I am but I am." She pointed towards the marble statue, now a disgusted look on her face. "It's all because of her…my birth mother."

The Green Ninja let out a nervous chuckled after hearing what his sister had said. "I'm sorry, Maria. I think I hit my head lot harder than I thought because it sounded like you just said-"

"You heard me right, that woman is my birth mother," she confirmed. "Goryō told me, I've seen two memories that confirm it. I'm her baby, but that makes me the actual Spirit Princess." Maria choked down a sob as she fully faced her brother for the first time in a long time.

"I heard her and Cliona in a past memory that I'm also spirit human hybrid, a mutt as Cliona called me. Guess who dad is?" Her voice cracked as tears began flowing freely from her trembling eyes. "Christophe Psyche, a man who had a child out of wedlock, a man who I looked up to for so long, gave me his hair. Everything else from how I look to my powers is from my mother…the Spirit Queen, Seraphina."

Her sobs overcame her as she fell to her knees, now nearly waist deep in the spring. She coughed from crying too hard, her voice becoming raspy and tired as she wailed. With all that he had, Lloyd walked over and wrapped his arms around her, nearly becoming emotional at sensation of holding her again. "Is it true? You're really a princess and a hybrid?"

He felt her head nod yes from what room she had in his arms. "It's all true, every little bit is true. I'm a hybrid and I'm a princess that never belonged here or with my own people. Cliona was disgusted by me in the memory I saw, calling me a mutt. Then my mother left me like this, all alone with nowhere to go."

"You're wrong," he denied. "You're more than a hybrid or royalty name, you're a part of our team. You're family and you're my sister." Lloyd pulled back from the hug and wiped her tears away with his hand. "I could care less if you were part oni, part Onryō, part animal demon, I don't care. The you I know is someone who I want to be there for and wants to be by my side when I become a full fledged Sensei, remember that?"

"I do," she sniffled. "I promised that, but-"

"Nothing's changed," he declared. "You're the Spirit Princess and southern Ninjago is your kingdom, but you're still that same nice girl that I met on the street that came all the way from Tranquilville. You're a hybrid, but you're still that girl who wants to get stronger for her own reasons. You're an outcast, but you're someone I can't be without anymore. You're still my Maria."

Completely calmed and dumbfounded by his words, Maria sat perfectly still, no longer shaking from sadness. He stood up and helped her up as he kept ahold of her arms. "There's things in everyone's lives they have to learn to accept, but not embrace. They don't have to be defined by them either or be consumed by them. There's more about yourself you're going to have learn, but you're still you."

A smile, simple and small, finally appeared on Maria's face. "Thank you, Lloyd. Thank you so much."

The two rolled their eyes as they heard sniffling coming from behind the trees. "You can come out now," Lloyd called over his shoulder. As they expected, the other Ninja came out from the shadows, tearing up slightly from the earlier conversation. Jay and Cole, however, were full on crying, touched very deeply by Lloyd's words.

"Oh, that was beautiful!" Jay sobbed as he hugged them both. "Does this mean we have to bow down and call you Princess, though?"

"Of course not," Maria chuckled as the returned the hug, the other joining in. "Just being Maria will always be fine. Plus only Goryō knows for now, so maybe we should keep the 'undead, hybrid princess' a secret between the seven of us."

"Speaking of which, we haven't seen the demons yet," Cole mentioned. "Wonder what's going on with them."

"Then there's the Great Elders," Kai sighed. "They probably don't know yet and might have a heart attack knowing you're alive."

"Save it for another day," Lloyd shrugged. "Why cram everything life changing in just one day? I think we should go home and get some pizza."

"Here, here," Jay agreed.

"Here, here," a voice mimicked. Jay broke the group hug apart as he fell backwards, the strange creature latching onto his legs. It rubbed against his face before licking it with its long tongue.

"Gross!" Jay shuddered, trying to break away from its embrace. "Seriously, what is this thing?"

"That's Blue, a furī," Maria explained. "He was Peter's pet from way back and guided me. When this tea lady, Mistaké, gave me traveling tea, it lead me to him. He kept leading me to safety and past memories."

The furī quickly proved her claims by staring straight at Jay, wagging his tail like a puppy, chirping, "Peter! Master…fetched Blue!"

Jay couldn't help but give in and awe at the creature, pulling it in for a hug. "Ok, that was pretty cute. But my name is Jay, Blue." He hopefully looked up at Lloyd with a smile on his face. "So can we keep him?"

The young leader just shrugged. "Why not? He kept Maria safe and might be able to reveal more about the Knights of Life, seeing as he can talk. Let's all go home."

One by one, the Ninja summoned their dragons to takeoff. Blue hopped up and sat close to Jay, happy to be with his 'master' once again. Maria did the same, both her and Lloyd happy to have each other again. Their dragons gave out a roar as they lifted off into the sky, flying away from the forest. For a moment, Lloyd swore he heard Maria quietly whisper something to herself that made him smile, but decided not say a word.

"I love you, brother."

"Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have- life itself." Walter Anderson

Next time on Ninjago: Legend Undone…

Until then, God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.