Author's Note: asdfghj! Well, it's certainly been awhile, hasn't it? This quarter of college ended up being… a lot for me, but it's spring break, so! I'm excited to get back to doing what I love. Which, of course is writing. "Of Broken Bonds and Rooftop Sunsets" Takes place during and directly after the Stone Army episode of season 2, which happens to be when Misako first appears. Hopefully I have done the emotions surrounding this event justice for you all. Please enjoy!

Replies to guest reviews:

Jbomb217: Oof. That would be tough!I watched it on YouTube as it aired in Australia because I knew I couldn't resist. Be sure to watch out for spoilers! Yeah, poor Lloyd, but it is a pretty funny image, in my humble opinion. I had fun coming up with the idea. And I absolutely love the idea of Cole teaching everyone else how to dance. Thank you so much, that's incredibly sweet of you to say! I always appreciate your feedback! Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Guest: thank you for taking the time to review! In glad you liked it!

"This is Misako, Lloyd's mother..."

Lloyd felt as though he'd been punched. His mother? The person who had left him at Darkley's, forcing him to suffer… a lot of torment, if he were really being honest with himself? This was too much... He couldn't... The braided woman stared at him. He choked out a startled,

"My... My mother?"

"Ah. Lloyd? My little boy. You're so much bigger than I remember..." She told him, stepping forward. Well. That did it. There was no way he could handle this right now. She had left him... On purpose, and it hurt... He felt dizzy and sluggish. What was it Jay had told him that day in the mall? Focus on your breathing...in and out. In and out... Yeah, breathing was definitely important. Lloyd sucked in a gulp of fresh air. Slightly better. He really didn't need to have a meltdown in the middle of the museum when there were living figurines on the loose. Could this day possibly get any stranger? Wait - no. He really, really didn't want to know the answer to that. She reached towards him, intending to grab his arm. He glared.

"Yeah, well, it's been a long time." The blonde replied quickly, in a voice tinged with the slightest trace of bitterness.

"I didn't want us to meet like this. I have a reason why I've been away." Misako said.

"Well, I don't wanna hear it." Lloyd wrenched his arm away from her and fled from the room, already feeling hot tears dripping down his cheeks. There was no way he could face his estranged mother any longer. Not today, and possibly not ever. He raced down the slightly cluttered hallway before dashing through a door to his left. The room on the other side was blessedly empty. For now, at least. Someone would probably come looking for him here pretty soon. He just… really needed some time alone first… Some tapestries hung along the far wall, but that wasn't what his attention was drawn to. Surrounded by a rope fence, with a warning sight not to far away, a gaping hole in the center of the room could be seen. Feeling reckless, he moved closer. Just how deep was this pit? He wondered, peering down when he stood not far from the edge. It seemed to go on forever… Lloyd sank down, using the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away the dampness from his eyes. He swung his legs over the side and relaxed slightly in the calm, quiet atmosphere of the room. The blonde knew it was probably a dangerous place to hang out, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Unfortunately, his suspicions had been correct. A few minutes later, he heard someone's echoey footsteps drawing near him. He'd been discovered (hopefully it wasn't Kai or Zane. He'd get a length lecture about his lack of self preservation instincts from either of them if they caught him like this). Turning slightly, he saw that it was… his mother. Just his luck. She called his name with a sense of urgency. What now?

Nya has been added to the "Misak-no!" groupchat

Nya: What the heck is a misak-no?

Kai: So. Don't like freak out or anything, but. We might have kinda sorta found Lloyd's deadbeat mom.

Kai: Maybe.

Nya: WhaT?!

Jay: It was an accident. She was at the museum.

Nya: Please tell me someone kicked her stupid butt to the moon?

Kai: Unfortunately no…

Jay: Sensei pulled a dumb and invited her to come back with us…

Nya: Haha. Good one.

Jay: It's not a joke.

Nya: No. This. isn't. happening.

Kai: it is. Wanna set fire to her bedding later?

Nya: Do u even have to ask?

Jay: not sure thats a great idea, but ok.

Nya: Ur either in or out. What's it gonna be, sparky?

Jay: fine. But let's check on the kid 1rst.

Kai: Yeah. Ok. Smart plan.

Nya: She's going down if he says so much as ONE word about being upset. I swear on the fsm, guys.

Lloyd was very much aware of the several pairs of eyes that were watching him closely as the group of ninja plus one unexpected (and only partially welcome) guest exited the museum. To miss them would have been impossible, but he was doing his best to pretend he hadn't noticed. It wasn't like he had much of a choice, anyway. Yes, he had a lot of stuff going on mentally right now, but there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it until they got home and he could go off and hide somewhere with a plate of cookies for a couple of hours. Provided they even had cookies at the moment; he lived with several ginormous sweet tooths (including himself), so finding sugar wasn't necessarily a sure thing. Neither was privacy, for that matter. But his mother was back in his life, now, for better or worse. He just had to get used to it. And hope he didn't make too many lightbulbs spontaneously explode while doing so. They really didn't need to deal with that on top of everything else that had happened lately. And besides, they had talked… a little… He stepped out into the sun, brightening slightly as he felt its warmth on his face. At least the world around him didn't reflect his current mood - whatever that might be. He wasn't quite sure what he was feeling – his emotions were too jumbled and conflicting to make sense of.

"So," Misako began, glancing about awkwardly, "Where exactly is this Destiny's Bounty of yours?"

"I hope you like walking. It's a few blocks away from here." Lloyd told her. The weather had been too nice for them to justify borrowing Nya's vehicle (again) when they had just saddled her with a sick (gross) Ultra Dragon.

"I can live with that. I suppose it gives me plenty of time to hear what you've been up to lately..." "Well... I guess all of this kinda started when I got kicked out of school..." He said hesitantly, unsure if this was really the best time to get into the whole story. Or if he even wanted her to know about some of it at this point. Could he really allow himself to open up to her when she'd been absent for so long?

"...Darkley's kicked you out?"

"Yeah." And you would know that if you bothered to check in on me at any point after you abandoned me... Of course, Lloyd would never say the last part out loud, but the rebellious, slightly bitter part of him that was still screaming for him to call her out further was definitely tempted. Face falling, Misako seemed surprisingly upset by this revelation. He focused on maintaining his balance, unwilling to meet her eyes, and not wanting to face plant in front of her, either. His coordination had improved greatly, but he wasn't taking any chances. Not today. She really didn't need to know how hard it had been for him to… adjust, both physically and mentally. Not… not when she hadn't been around for it herself. He had started to heal now, anyway.

"I mean... I was homeless for awhile, and kinda released the Serpentine to get revenge on somebody cause they wouldn't let me steal candy, and destroyed my totally epic tree house… but... I did end up getting to know uncle Wu, and the guys, and Nya – you'll meet her when we get back, she's really cool – so. It definitely could've been worse, I guess..." He asserted, wondering, not for the first time, where he'd have ended up if they hadn't found him. Certainly, he would never have gained such amazing adoptive siblings. One of whom was currently attempting to send him a subtle thumbs up. He rolled his eyes at the culprit – Jay. Still. He could live with their antics if it mean he'd be surrounded by people who actually cared.

"I'm… glad you haven't been on your own this whole time..." Misako offered, having a feeling she was going to hear quite a few… colorful truths from her estranged son. She'd been gone far, far too long…

"Yup! Green Bean's got plenty of honorary brothers to keep him outta trouble." Cole agreed, edging closer to Lloyd in a show of support. It was nice to know his family wasn't gonna let him face this on his own. Even if they were being incredibly obvious about it.

"I still don't understand why you insist on calling him that." Wu interjected wryly, walking beside the blonde's mother.

"Nicknames among those who are close are very common, Sensei. And Lloyd does wear an impressive amount of green. It suits him." Zane observed with a pleasant smile. The others nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Just wait til you see his fedora." Kai stated, smirking.

"A fedora?" Misako repeated, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, mom. Some people think fez's are cool. I think fedoras are cool."

"We were gonna get him a dragon onsie, but he turned us down." The green ninja rolled his eyes. Again. This was gonna be a long walk.

"For a reason, Kai. It would've been embarrassing. And I thought you wanted to hear about ninja stuff, not my taste in fashion." He complained loudly, turning a corner.

"O-of course. Though, if you happen to have any pictures of this onsie, I'd love to see them sometime."

"Sadly, we don't. But we do have some great pics of his bowl cut phase!" Jay informed the archaeologist. Seriously? Lloyd thought. Weren't they supposed to be on his side?

"Oh dear."

"It was pretty bad..." Kai said, emphasizing his words unnecessarily. The youth cringed.

"Hey! Why don't we talk about Cole's ballet skills, or how Zane's a nindroid, or literally anything. But. This. Okay?" Thankfully, his mother chose to have mercy on him and decided not to pursue the somewhat humiliating topic further. He had to give her credit for that, at least. Even if she'd done pretty much nothing else deserving of it.

"Those all sound fascinating, Lloyd. Clearly a lot has happened since your uncle found you."

"That's… Kinda the understatement of the century. See, this Anacondrai named Pythor – he was a major jerk - stole the map with all the Serpentine tombs on it from me, so then we had to…" Lloyd rambled on and on (with the others jumping in as needed, since there were some things he couldn't explain on his own), attempting to explain it all while glossing over the more traumatizing parts, because maybe if he just kept talking, he'd forget about the awkwardness of the situation. Forget the unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach that stemmed from years of resentment towards a parent he barely even knew. Just a few more blocks, that was all. He could do this.

A raven haired girl was waiting on the deck of the Bounty for them when the group returned. She caught sight of Misako and immediately frowned. There had been a part of her that was still secretly hoping that her brother and boyfriend had been pranking her, but that was obviously not the case.

"The Ultra Dragon is feeling much better, now. You're welcome, by the way." She shouted down at them.

"Thanks for taking care of him for me! We… it was for a good cause, I promise! There was this giant stone warrior that came to life. And an entire gift shop, too..." Lloyd called back apologetically, temporarily ignoring the presence of his mother. It was a relief to be home.

"Well, that's not something you hear every day... You guys owe me all the details later. Now come aboard already," Nya instructed. This was news to her; all the museum had told her over the phone was literally just that 'you'd have to see it to believe it'.

"It's getting late, and I am not interested in taking over your cooking duties. One sick dragon was plenty for me to deal with today, thank you very much."

"Sure thing, sis." Kai said, giving her a look that probably meant no straight up murder on sight. She rolled her eyes. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. But, she was fully prepared to roast the living daylights out of this woman (both figuratively and literally) if she so much as looked at her baby brother the wrong way. As the others made their way onto the Bounty, Nya watched Lloyd carefully, doing her best to gage the level of damage control that would be necessary by the end of the day. If she were lucky, the batch of cookies she'd thrown together earlier would go a long way towards cheering him up. He was obviously a bit out of it.

"There's a fresh pan of cookies on the kitchen table," Nya quietly mentioned to the blonde when he arrived on the deck. He smiled gratefully, recognizing what she was trying to accomplish.

"Now that we're all back in one piece, I should probably go help Zane get started with the cooking. I'm sure uncle Wu would love to give you a tour, though." The green ninja told his mother apologetically. Zane shot him a confused look.

"I was not aware that I was-" He started to say, before catching on, "Oh. Right, yes. I do in fact require Lloyd's assistance… in the kitchen… for at least an hour."

"Oh. Well, Wu and I have a lot of work to do anyway I suppose. I'll find him eventually. You go help with dinner." Misako said looking slightly disappointed. The ninja dispersed, leaving Lloyd's mother and Nya alone on the deck.

"So. You're Lloyd's mother." The samurai stated in a surprisingly calm tone considering how little first impressions had done for her opinion of the woman.

"And you must be Nya. Lloyd's told me so much about you." Misako replied awkwardly.

"We have been the closest thing he had to a family for a long time…" Nya shamelessly pointed out.

"I really appreciate your kindness towards him. I can tell he really looks up to you." The older woman informed her. It should have been a compliment, but she couldn't bring herself to simply accept it and move on.

"Yeah, well, when your mother abandons you, forcing you to stay at a sketchy boarding school crawling with bullies that beat you up on a daily basis, giving you enough anxiety and trust issues to last you years, you gotta find positive role models wherever you can." She snapped. Misako stiffened.

"Oh… Oh no… I… He didn't tell me it was so awful there… I never mean to…. " She whispered.

"Of course he didn't say anything…" Nya told her, "you've only been back in his life for what? An hour? He doesn't even willingly talk about those things with us, and he trusts us way more than you… You left him! Clearly you have no idea how damaging that was!"

"O-oh. I-I never meant to…"

"Look," The girl commented, running her forehead, "I don't like you. If it were up to me, or Kai, or literally anyone else, you wouldn't be here right now. But I care about Lloyd and respect his decisions, and I want him to have some closure so he can finally move on and heal from what happened so I'm gonna do my best to put my feelings for you aside and be nice to you. But if you ever do anything to hurt him? Everything I just said goes out the window. I will not hesitate to make your life a living hell." Misako sighed heavily and stepped closer to Nya.

"I… have made a great many mistakes over the years, and I have no doubt that I will make more in the future. Honestly, I'm surprised any of you are letting me within 15 feet of him. I would comply understand if you asked me to leave, right here, right now. And I know that I will probably never be able to make up for my years of absence, but I want to try to have some sort of relationship with my son, if it's not already too late." The raven-haired girl regarded her quietly for a few moments before replying, as if trying to determine whether or not she was being genuine.

"An apology is as good a place as any to start." Nya noted simply, before vanishing into the bowels of the flying ship.

Nya found Lloyd perched atop the roof of the uppermost portion of the Bounty, hoarding a plate full of cookies a few minutes later. How on earth had he even gotten up there? She wondered. It probably wasn't worth dwelling on, considering his tendency to locate bizarre hiding spots whenever the need struck him, but it was still a bit surprising to find him up here of all places.

"Enjoying my hard work?" She asked him, smirking slight.

"Yeah. I…. Yeah."

"How'd you manage to get these up here?" The samurai wondered, snagging a cookie for herself.

"My amazing cat like reflexes?" Lloyd offered. She raised an eyebrow, thinking back to the doorknob incident a few days back. There was still a trace of bruising around one of his eyes.

"Okay, fine. I got like really, really lucky."

"Now that, I can believe." Nya commented, ruffling the blonde's hair. Lloyd sobered slightly.

"So. You, uh… talked to my mom." It wasn't a question.

"I did. I'm not gonna lie – I was very honest with her. About a lot of things." She told him.

"O-okay…"

"She knows about what…what happened while you were at Darkley's. And maybe I should have asked you first, but… I just…. I wanted her to understand that it was going to be a long time before you were going to ready to truly trust her. To understand how damaging it was to…" Lloyd stared out across the horizon for awhile, watching the sky as it started to turn a fiery shade of pinkish red.

"It's alright... She needed to know, and I'm not sure I would've told her anytime soon, to be honest..." He stated eventually. She gave him a sidelong glance, and held out a cookie. He accepted it with a weak smile.

"How… Are you feeling? About...?" Lloyd had heard these words from Nya far, far too often. So many of their conversations these days seemed to follow this familiar pattern. But he was grateful for these quiet moments in which the emotions of a rough day could be expressed to someone who understood. They helped keep him sane. And he suspected that Kai and Nya knew a lot more than they let on about having family members disappear without bothering to say anything.

"I was so angry at first…. It all felt… like… like everything was crashing down around me. She showed up so suddenly and I just… I couldn't take it. And I ran away… b-but… she still found me and tried to talk and then the stone warrior attacked and it was all so…. Much and…. Do you think he knew? Do you think Wu knew she'd be there? Why didn't he warn me?" All the words spilled out of Lloyd's mouth in a torrent of disconnected fragments of conversation. The raven haired teen scooted closer and wrapped an arm around his shoulders (once again ignoring the significance difference in size from just a few short weeks ago). He leaned against her gratefully.

"I-I dunno, Lloyd… I really don't... But I doubt he meant for it to hurt you like this if he did…"

"He's the one who invited her to come back with us and…. What was I supposed to say? That I wasn't really comfortable with having the person who ditched me at Darkley's living under the same roof?I mean, sure, we talked. Some… but… it wasn't really enough for me to…"

"Want to forgive her?" Nya finished. He nodded.

"No one's asking you to do that… and if they do? Well… you know I'll make sure nothing comes of it til you're ready. And for the record? I think she really is interested in making amends. She just has no idea what she's doing.. "

"Thanks, Nya. I think I needed to hear that."

"No problem. You're family, Lloyd. I knew as soon as Kai and Jay texted me that today was gonna be rough. But we'll get through this. I promise." The green ninja almost laughed at his sister's comforting words.

"Of course. Of course they texted you. I shouldn't even be surprised."

"They were worried about you… we may have plotted to set a certain archeologists stuff on fire…" Nya admitted. Lloyd wriggled around to face her.

"You didn't."

"Oh, I assure you, we did!" A voice said as a head of spiky brown hair came into view.

"I tried to talk them out of it, just so you know." Another voice commented. Kai and Jay.

"Did you really think you could start this party without us?"

"Uh… Hey guys… So. Are Cole and Zane coming up here, too? Cause I'm not sure there's enough room up here for all of us…" Lloyd greeted awkwardly.

"Nah, they should be cooking dinner right about now." Kai informed him. Jay shrugged, taking a seat next to Nya.

"Or at least, Zane's cooking… Coles kinda just there for support?"

"Shamelessly burning our best friends, I see?" Nya declared, elbowing her boyfriend.

"Ouch. Someone better find some burn cream for Cole…" Kai agreed.

"Oh, shut it you two… he doesn't need to know anything about this. And besides, we came up here to check on Lloyd, anyway."

"Guys, I'm fine… ish…" The blonde protested, though he appreciated their concern.

"Oh. Okay… then I guess you wouldn't be interested in relieving me of this pack of peach rings I've been holding onto for a rainy day, then, huh?" Kai smirked, dangling the treat in front of his adoptive brother's face. His eyes widened.

"Fine, I take it back… maybe I'm still kinda upset about all of this…. Now gimme." The master of fire lightly tossed him the treat, which he tore open immediately. His family definitely knew his weaknesses. He could never say no to candy.

"So. Do we need to set something on fire?"

"Not sure yet." The green ninja confessed, mouth full of sugary goodness, "I'm still… trying to figure it all out, I guess? But I'll keep you posted."

"Okay. But I'm telling you, I've been looking for something to use as kindling, and..." Kai started. Nya threw the gummy she'd been about to eat at his head.

"Kai!"

"What? I bet that ridiculous bandana of hers would make a glorious fire…" The teen mused jokingly.

"Kai!" It was a horrified sounding Jay, this time.

"Don't worry, I'd be sure to remove it from around her neck first. Don't wanna get arrested for murder so young, haha."

"Seriously, Kai. You sound like such a delinquent right now it's not even funny. Just stop…" Lloyd told him, half laughing, and putting an end to the pyromaniac turn the conversation had taken.

"Let's just enjoy this sunset, and the rest of the sugar we've managed to smuggle up here, guys." Nya suggested, smiling tiredly at her companions. It had been a long day for all of them. And sadly, it was unlikely that tomorrow would be any different. They needed to enjoy any peaceful moment they could get.

"Yeah, okay. That sounds… Nice." The blonde agreed. After admiring the striking colors that had been painted across the sky by some invisible hand in silence for awhile, he asked,

"Why can't it always be like this? It's so beautiful out here right now… So calm…"

"Dunno. Maybe it's to keep us from taking it for granted?" Jay suggested quietly, "Like. If we saw too many cool sunsets, we'd lose our appreciation for them? That's what ma always says."

"That makes sense." Nya affirmed, reaching for another peach ring.

"Yeah." Lloyd said, a faraway look in his eyes.

"I'm glad we're all here to share it."

"Yeah. You suppose Zane and Cole have dinner finished yet?" The master of fire pondered.

"Oh. Yeah. We should probably go check on them, huh?" Commented Jay reluctantly. Lloyd breathed deeply.

"Could we stay here… just for a few more minutes….?" He begged.

"Sure, Lloyd. We can do that." Nya assured him. The others nodded. It was nice to feel so loved.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! It was a lot of fun to write, even if it took ridiculously long to complete and post. I hope that it brought you joy, and that you have a wonderful weekend! If you feel so inclined, I always welcome feedback or suggestions!

~GwenBrightly