Phew, here's chapter two and Kai's turn - he's holding out, but there's only so long he can deny his overpowering big brother instincts. Again, I can't express how grateful I am for all the positive feedback you guys have given this story - it honestly makes my day, so thank you so much!

Chapter 2: Kai Curses his Own Inability Not to Parent Literally Everyone

Nya's A Marshmallow Group Chat

Kai: so jay

Nya: oh fsm

Nya: don't be lame kai

Kai: i just wanna know what the deal is!

Kai: if i'm getting stuck with him as a brother in law u know

Nya: go jump in a lake kai

Kai: cruel

Lloyd hates that he's so short. He gets it, he's still just a kid, but it makes it so much easier for the bad guys to loom over him and look intimidating while they're threatening to, say, eat him.

Lloyd was a bad guy too, though, so it shouldn't scare him, he doesn't get scared-

Pythor looms over him, his eyes glinting in the moonlight. Lloyd backs away, his feet unsteady on the deck of his uncle's ship.

"W-what are you doing here?" he demands, his voice cracking. Maybe he's a little scared.

Pythor says nothing. He just smiles, the awful, creepy smile Lloyd should have seen from the start. There's a rattle of scales as he slinks forward, and Lloyd stumbles back, putting as much distance as he can between him and the Anacondrai.

"Stay back!" he yelps, continuing to walk backwards. "Y-you can't get me here, my uncle will hear you and he'll – he'll-"

Lloyd pauses. What will his uncle do? Uncle Wu has been nothing but kind, but Pythor is only here because Lloyd let him out. Just another problem Lloyd's caused his uncle and the ninja. One mess after another, like one of his uncle's vases – cracked and cracked and cracked again and never put back together.

It's at this moment that Lloyd abruptly realizes that Uncle Wu's ship doesn't have railings anymore. He realizes this because he backs right over the side.

Lloyd's stomach plummets as he hurtles through the air, the wind tearing at his skin and screaming in his ears. He would be screaming, too, if his voice wasn't frozen in terror. Through blurry eyes Lloyd can see the ground rushing up to meet him, faster and faster, and a part of him wonders if he'll squish flat like a pancake, like in the cartoons some kids used to watch at Darkley's-

Lloyd blinks. He's suddenly standing on ice, so clear he can see his reflection beneath him. The cold seeps through his clothes, and he shivers. He looks around warily. He recognizes the hideout of the Hypnobrai, but there's no one around now – no Hypnobrai, no Fangpyres, no Pythor. Just Lloyd and the shiny ice floor.

Lloyd looks down again. His own reflection stares back at him, his creepy red eyes bright against the blue ice. He scrubs angrily at them, blinking away the tears that started to form when he was falling.

The glass cracks.

Lloyd jumps as ice around him splinters, jagged cracks running all along his feet and through the cavern. He gasps, moving to run, when a flash of purple catches his eye. Lloyd freezes, staring at the growing shape beneath shattered glass. Something dark is spreading out under his feet, staining the blue ice a dark purple-black. Lloyd's breath quickens and his eyes go wide as a dark silhouette spreads out beneath him. He can just make out a pair of huge, skeletal wings, glinting claws, and rows and rows of sharp, shiny teeth. He blinks again and the cracked ice beneath him falls away, sending him screaming toward the mouth full of sharp teeth that snap closed over him-

Lloyd wakes up with a strangled gasp, his heart in his throat. It takes him a minute to recognize where he is, in his little room on the Bounty. The room is unusually dark – the lamp must have died while he was asleep, Lloyd figures. But it's clear that there's no one in the room but him, and the only sounds are from the winds rustling through the sails up above. No Pythor, and definitely no sharp-toothed dragon creature.

Lloyd lets himself fall back on his pillow with a flop. Ugh, he's spent so much time trying to act like a tough guy, and all it takes is one tiny little nightmare to scare the heck out of him.

Well, it wasn't really a tiny little nightmare – it was a pretty scary one, actually, the more he thinks about it.

He immediately wishes he hadn't. Now all the shadows in the room are looking like Pythor, and the wind whistling outside the ship sounds like the flapping of giant wings. Lloyd squeezes his eyes shut tight, pulling the blanket up over his head. He's not scared. He's Lloyd Garmadon, son of Lord Garmadon, and he doesn't get scared like a little baby-

There's a small thump from over Lloyd's head. He jerks upright, eyes darting wildly around the room. That – that didn't sound like anything bad. It could have just been the wind. But just to be sure, Lloyd slides out of the covers, tiptoeing toward the door-

"Ouch!"

He gives a strangled hiss as he clutches at his foot, hopping precariously around on the other. He quickly scrapes at his foot awkwardly, managing to dislodge the sharp piece of – is that glass? Lloyd squints at the tiny fragment in his hand. It's shiny and translucent, kind of like a lightbulb.

Oh, Lloyd realizes, looking down. It is a lightbulb – or it used to be. The shattered remains of the lamp's lightbulb are littered all over his floor. At least that explains why it was so dark-

Something bangs up on the deck above him, and Lloyd has to stifle a shriek. He streaks out of the room, ignoring the broken glass under his feet as he heads toward the deck. Forget this, he's not about to wait around to get murdered in his room by Pythor. He's gonna catch him in the act and then – and then-

Lloyd stops so quickly near the top of the stairs he almost wipes out. What is he going to do? He's just a defenseless kid – he doesn't even have shoes on, he thinks, glancing down at his bare feet.

Maybe he'll just scream and wake everyone up, Lloyd decides. They aren't his uncle's hand-picked ninja for nothing.

And Nya can always swoop in the the Samurai suit and beat the heck out of any snake.

Tiptoeing quietly up the last few steps, Lloyd peeks his head up, looking around the deck. He feels a slight swell of relief. There's nothing but training dummies and the ship masts, he must have just heard – aha! There's a sudden flash of light near the back of the ship that quickly fades, drifting off the back of the ship. Craning his head up further, Lloyd recognizes the red ninja, the one with the cool hair – Kai, Nya's brother – leaning up against the railing, messing with something in his hands.

Lloyd watches, fascinated, as a tiny flame sparks to life in Kai's hands, setting a crumpled piece of paper on fire. Kai holds it for a second, watching the flames consume the paper, before he lets it go, where it drifts briefly before it's caught in the air currents, whisking the tiny ball of light away from the ship.

"I know you're there, demo- …kid," Kai says, without even glancing up.

Lloyd jumps, flushing at being caught so easily. He inches forward, hesitant. "I-I'm not doing anything bad," he says. "I just – I just wanted to get some air. I wasn't gonna pull any more pranks, or anything, I promise-"

"Chill out, kid, I believe you," Kai says, finally looking at him, amused. "Using our busted washing machine that many times would scare anyone straight."

Lloyd shudders. "Oh, it did," he says, fervently, relaxing a bit. "I should've made it my life's goal to destroy laundry machines instead of vegetables."

Kai gives a surprised laugh – a real one, not the mocking, fake laughter Lloyd is used to hearing at Darkley's. Kai's laugh is warm and open, and Lloyd begins to relax a bit.

"You might have regretted that one," Kai says, still smiling.

"Yeah," Lloyd says, offering a tentative smile back. "Yeah, maybe."

They fall into silence after that, the only sound the crinkle of the paper Kai's balling up. Lloyd bites his lip. He's not intimidated by Kai, really – Nya told him he wasn't really scary, and besides, Lloyd Garmadon isn't intimidated by anyone, but Kai is – Kai is a ninja, the fire ninja, and that's a little…maybe a bit intimidating. Then there is still the fact that he got hit by Venomari poison because Lloyd let the other Serpentine out. And he's got really cool hair, too.

(He wonders if it would be rude to ask Kai how he even gets his hair like that, all sharp and spiky and stuff.)

In the end, his curiosity over Kai's actions wins out.

"W-what are you doing?" Lloyd says, wincing at the way his voice cracks. He sounds stupid.

"Ah, nothing much," Kai says, as he finishes balling the paper up. "Just messing around."

A tiny flame sparks from Kai's hands again, setting the ball of paper on fire, and Lloyd's eyes go wide. "You can create fire?" he asks, awed.

"Huh? Oh – no," Kai says, letting the tiny fireball go, where it floats up and over the ship's side. He flips his hand up, showing Lloyd the tiny lighter glinting between his fingers. Lloyd's face falls in disappointment. "Yeah, same," Kai says, ruefully. "I wish I could, that'd be awesome."

"I thought you guys were elemental masters," Lloyd says. "What's the point if you can't actually control any elements?"

"Well, there's our Spinjitzu, and our weapons can, sometimes," Kai says. "And supposedly we'll be able to eventually. We just gotta unlock our 'true potential' first, whatever that means."

"That's…cool, I guess," Lloyd says, trying to sound like he understands. Judging by the way Kai's mouth quirks up, he failed.

"It's annoying, right now," Kai says. "But we'll figure it out eventually. It'll probably make more sense once we've actually gotten a full night's sleep for once. Speaking of," he narrows his eyes at Lloyd. "Why are you out here in the middle of the night? And don't tell me 'fresh air' again, we both know that's a lie."

Lloyd flushes, chewing on his lip. He can't tell Kai he's out here because of some dumb nightmare. Kai is way too cool for that sort of stuff. "I couldn't sleep," he finally says. "I – I guess I'm still used to watching out for Serpentine trying to eat me when I sleep," he says, huffing. That part, at least, is true. He may have had them working for him at one point, but that didn't mean he was stupid.

Kai winces. "Yeah, that'd make sense," he says, his dark eyes soft. Lloyd breathes a sigh of relief when he doesn't pursue it.

"So…why are you out here in the middle of the night?" Lloyd asks.

"So many questions," Kai sighs. He hesitates, looking for a moment as if he won't answer Lloyd. "I'm making lights," he finally says, hesitantly. "It's…what I do when I have nightmares. I'm not…a huge fan of the dark after bad dreams," he says, turning a bit red. "So I make fires to sort of…chase it away, I guess. It…helps."

Kai is flushing bright red by this point, but Lloyd is too distracted to care.

"You get nightmares?" Lloyd gapes. "But – but you're the fire ninja! You're like, the bravest person I've ever seen!"

Kai looks at Lloyd in surprise. "Wow," he says, slowly. "I didn't know you – thought that much of me," he says, looking thoughtful.

It's Lloyd's turn to flush. "I don't!" he exclaims. "Well, not that much – being a ninja is pretty cool, and you're…fire is cool?"

Kai snorts. "Fire is cool," he says. He looks down, his fingers tightening around the tiny ball of paper. "But sometimes it hurts people more than it helps them."

"Oh," Lloyd says, quietly. Kai looks kinda sad now, and still a little embarrassed. Lloyd sighs. "I lied, about why I was out here," he says, scuffing his feet along the wood of the deck. "I had a nightmare, too."

"Guess that makes two of us hiding out here, then," Kai says, wryly, but his eyes are kind. "D'you – uh, wanna talk…about it?" He looks like jumping off the ship might be more appealing, but Lloyd can appreciate the gesture.

"No," Lloyd says, fiercely. "I wanna punch it in the face."

Kai gives a huff of laughter. "You know what," he says, taking Lloyd's hand. Lloyd feels a jolt as soon as Kai's hand wraps around his – almost like tiny flames just licked his fingers, only they don't hurt - they just feel warm. Kai ignores his flinch, carefully spreading his fingers open. "Here," Kai says, and he sets a crumpled piece of paper in his hands. "The trick is to let it go before it burns you, but not too soon, or it won't float. Ready?"

"Yes," Lloyd says, solemnly, running over Kai's instructions.

Kai shakes his head. "Relax, kid," he says, with a small smile. He flicks the lighter, the tiny flame sputtering against the wind as Kai cups his hand around it. "And, three, two, one – let it go!"

Lloyd releases the tiny ball, lifting it up so it catches the air currents. He gives a small laugh of delight as it floats up, tiny sparks drifting behind it as it floats off the ship. Lloyd runs to the railing, craning his head so he can watch it disappear.

"Cool," he says, grinning.

"Yeah," Kai says, watching the tiny fire ball. "It always is."

Lloyd relaxes, letting himself hang limp against the railing, his arms dangling over the side of the ship. Maybe the ninja are pretty nice after all. At least Kai (ha, because he's Nya's brother!) is pretty cool.

Even if he can't throw fire from his hands.

Nya's A Marshmallow Group Chat

Nya: are you okay?

Kai: yeah why?

Nya: the dark circles under your eyes have dark circles

Nya: you can't afford the beauty sleep you're losing bro

Kai: i make dark circles look sexy thanks

Nya: kai i'm serious

Kai: i'm fine nya don't worry about it

Kai: just having some not so fun dreams lately

Kai: i'll be okay tho

Nya: you sure?

Kai: promise

Kai's beginning to wish he'd never accidentally found that stupid green ninja scroll.

Not really, because it's obviously something that's going to affect them, and who knows when Sensei Wu would've told them anyways – he's got a terrible habit of keeping big things like that a secret until the absolute last second possible – and because it gives Kai something to hope for.

Not that he's in a bad place of mind, or anything, it's just…among a team of incredibly smart, strong, and perceptive people, it's hard for a half-rate blacksmith not to feel lost. He's a good fighter, he knows he is, but he's reckless and passionate to a point where he can constantly feel Sensei Wu's eyes on him in training, just waiting for him to screw up again.

(Okay, so he doubts that's actually the case, but it sure feels like it.)

It doesn't help that the rest of the team still seem to regard him as the 'reckless one', the hothead. Sure, they were here before him, but he earned his place just as much as they did. Cole and Jay and Zane are his best friends, his brothers, but…it's hard not to feel inadequate next to them. Jay is brilliant, Cole is strong, and Zane is the calmest strategist anyone could ask for. Kai is just…he doesn't want to say angry, but his temper is definitely what gets noticed most.

But if Kai can become the green ninja, the legendary hero destined to defeat Lord Garmadon and rid Ninjago of evil…if he can just prove, once and for all, that he's truly a ninja, that he's earned his place on the team just as much as the rest of them-

Kai needs to be the green ninja. He's got to be more than just the hothead on the team, right?

"Y'know, you're really boring when you're not kicking and spinning and stuff." Lloyd's voice yanks Kai out of his musings with all the delicacy of a car crash. Speaking of which-

Kai blinks rapidly, refocusing on the road in front of him. "Hate to break it to you, but it's not our job to entertain you, short stuff," Kai says.

"No, just to be all quiet and brooding," Lloyd says, poking lazily on the back of Kai's seat. "It's not as cool as it looks in the comics. It's lame."

Kai snorts. It's not often he gets called quiet.

"At least you have a cool bike, I guess," Lloyd continues, leaning precariously over the side to survey it.

"Woah – no you don't!" Kai reaches back with one arm, yanking the kid back in place before he can give Kai a heart attack. "Geez, kid, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"No, I just wanted to look at the bike!" Lloyd says, defensively. "I never get to do anything with you guys around."

"No, you don't get to fall under the Blade Cycle's wheels and get squished into a pancake when I'm around," Kai says.

Lloyd wrinkles his nose. "I wouldn't get squished into a pancake," he says.

"Yeah, you would," Kai says. "A flat little Lloyd pancake served up on the road – and you'd taste like brattiness with extra whining."

"Ew," Lloyd says, giggling in spite of himself. "I wouldn't taste like whining!"

"I dunno," Kai says. "I bet that's why the Serpentine didn't eat you. Too much whining makes you taste bad."

"The Serpentine didn't eat me because I was a terrifying villain," Lloyd says, proudly. Kai actually turns around at that, raising a skeptical eyebrow at the kid. "Okay, fine," the kid deflates. "I was a lame excuse of a villa- look out!"

Kai jerks around just as the car coming towards them starts honking loudly. Cursing under his breath, Kai yanks the bike back on track, wincing at the look on the other driver's face as he passes. He gives mental thanks that Nya wasn't here to see that. He relaxes his death grip on the wheel, opening his mouth to ask if the kid's alright.

"That was fun!" Lloyd says with a wide grin on his face, before Kai can even get a word out. "You should drive all fast like that more often!"

Kai has to shake his head. This kid might be crazier than he is. "Yeah, how about I don't, and we just pretend that didn't happen the rest of the trip?"

"Aw, c'mon," Lloyd pouts. "Don't you wanna go just a little faster? I bet this bike can do super cool tricks and stuff!"

Well, actually, it can do some really cool tricks, Kai just hasn't taken it out for that sort of stuff in a while. Normally it's just Jay showing off with his jet in the air, but Kai can put on a show when he wants to – wait.

"No," he says, even as Lloyd's grin grows wider. "Not gonna happen."

"Please?" Lloyd says. "I know you want to…" he sing-songs, poking Kai's shoulder this time. Kai shrugs him off, and Lloyd sticks his lower lip out. "I won't tell anyone about what happened earlier! Just one little trick?"

Kai resists the urge to groan. Of course the demon spawn is blackmailing him. Well. If Kai doesn't have choice, then he guesses it wouldn't hurt.

"Tell you what," he says, as they pull into the city. "If you're good, we'll take a little shortcut home. I'll show you why it's a fire bike."

"Deal," Lloyd says, grinning excitedly. His smile quickly fades as they weave through the city streets. "But I still don't get why I have to wait around at some dumb arcade all day," he complains, as they hit a stoplight. "You guys are always talking about fixing your own mistakes, let me fix mine!"

"No offense kid," Kai says. "But you'd be snake food in minutes."

"I would not," Lloyd huffs. "I survived three whole tribes on my own, and one of them was an Anacondrai!"

"One Anacondrai," Kai says. "The rest didn't kill you because you were just a defenseless little kid. Which, oh wait - you still are."

"I'm the son of Lord Garmadon, I'm not defenseless," Lloyd sulks.

"Your father won't do you much good if he's not around, kid." The quiet words slip out before Kai can stop them. He bites his tongue, cursing internally. He promised Nya he wouldn't be a jerk, and that really wasn't his intention. "I mean, I-"

"No, you're right," Lloyd says, quietly. He doesn't sound upset, though, just…resigned. "I – I haven't even seen him since I can barely remember, anyways."

Kai winces. Fathers aren't really a…good subject for him, personally, but this kid actually has it a lot worse than he does. Lloyd's chosen a side with them, even if he is a little demon spawn, and that means he won't be on his father's side when he returns (Kai hopes). At least Kai knows his father wasn't an agent of evil. At least he would never have to see him on the other side of a battlefield, even if it would mean he'd at least see him again, he'd at least know why-

He cuts off that train of thought violently. This isn't time for him to go into his own tragic backstory – not while the kid's in the middle of picking up the pieces of his.

"Maybe that's for the best right now, kid," Kai says, quietly, as he remembers the dark laughter, the glowing red eyes that are much less threatening on Lloyd. "You might not like what you see."

"I don't care what he looks like," Lloyd says, hotly. "He's my dad. He's family. I'll still-" He cuts off. "I'll still love him," he mumbles, almost inaudibly.

"Well…" Kai hesitates. He doesn't want to give the kid false hope or anything, but the sentiment he's talking about is one Kai's pretty familiar with. "Family is family," Kai finally says, firmly. "Your dad is lucky to have you caring about him."

"Like you do for Nya?" Lloyd says, leaning forward and craning his head over Kai's shoulder. "She told me you took care of her ever since she was a little kid."

"Uh-huh," Kai says, planting a hand over the kid's face and pushing him back. "And what else has Nya told y- ew!" Kai yanks his hand back, wiping it against his gi in disgust. "You licked me, brat!"

Lloyd giggles deviously. "You shouldn't have put your hand on my face!" he says, cheerfully. Kai grumbles darkly beneath his breath. Thank FSM, they're finally at the arcade.

The kid hops off before the bike's even come to a full stop, somehow managing not to face-plant horribly. Not that Kai's had experience with anything like that. Lloyd looks at Kai expectantly.

"Stay here, and stay out of trouble," Kai says, pinning him with a firm a look as he can. "I'll be back."

"Wait, so you're just gonna ditch me here alone by myself?" Lloyd says, indignant. Kai winces. When he puts it like that- "But Cole said you were gonna make sure I don't die horribly of my own reckless volition!"

"Your own reckless – what?" Kai blinks. He shakes his head. "Look, I know it's my turn to look after you," he says. "But just play a few games and stay put while I look around." He hands Lloyd what should be enough money to entertain the kid's devious little soul. He glances at the sky. "I have a feeling the Samurai might show up."

"Let me help?" Lloyd says again, his face upturned in hopeful determination.

"No," Kai says, emphatically.

"C'mon," Lloyd pouts, his face falling. "At least manage to drop me off at a decent arcade."

Kai hides a grin beneath his gi at the petulant look the kid's giving him. He doesn't have time to entertain the demon spawn now, though – Jay or Cole or Zane could be cornering the Samurai any minute now. "Sorry, shortie," he says, revving the engine.

"Kai- !"

Kai's already taken off, the roar of his bike drowning out the rest of Lloyd's yelp. He can't help glancing at Lloyd in the rearview mirror as he drives off, though. The kid looks smaller than usual, slumped in defeat as he turns toward the arcade. Kai feels a pang of guilt - he knows what it's like to be left out, to feel like-

He'll make it up to the kid later, he tells himself. For a demon spawn, he's really not so bad.

Nya's A Marshmallow Group Chat

Nya: YOU LOST LLOYD

Kai: it wasn't my fault!

Kai: i left him alone for 5 seconds and he went after the serpentine!

Kai: not my fault the kid ran off!

Nya: KAI

Nya: he's just a kid

Kai: who can take care of himself

Kai: he'll be fine nya he hung with the serpentine before

Nya: this is different kai

Nya: he's one of us now

Nya: and he's been through enough already

Kai: look we'll get him back nya i promise

Kai changed the chat name to Save The Demon Spawn

Nya: thanks kai

Sensei Wu is furious.

It's hard to tell, because he maintains that constantly serene air he always has, but it's not exactly easy to miss, either. There's a hard light in his eyes, his mouth set tightly, and his knuckles are white where he grasps his staff. It sets everyone on edge, and for good reason – his nephew is gone, just barely after he'd found him, and a significant part of the blame is falling on the ninja.

Nya is furious as well, but her fury is resolved mostly for the Serpentine. She's ticked at her brother for leaving Lloyd alone, but she's also ticked at Cole and Jay and – heck, all of them - for the casual way they reacted when they couldn't find him. The guys are well-meaning, and she loves them to death, but FSM can they be oblivious idiots sometimes.

She's less furious with them right now, though, and more concerned and desperately trying to save their lives, because for all that her guys are a well-trained, highly efficient ninja team, sometimes they really aren't.

Like right now, when they've managed to get themselves stuck in some twisted Serpentine fight pit without their golden weapons.

She's had her fun pulling them along lately – the more aggressive they get in their attempts to figure out who Samurai X is, the easier it seems to be to keep them from the truth. If anything, she's come closer to blowing her cover than they have - seeing Jay fully dressed as a damsel in distress on the train tracks had her choking back hysterical laughter the entire "rescue".

It isn't fun right now. Cole, Zane, Jay, and Kai's lives are on the line. Lloyd is on the line. And this, this is the reason Nya built Samurai X – to protect the people she loves.

And like heck is she going to let the Serpentine take them away from her.

Her plan is – or was - relatively simple: crash their giant snake gathering, bust Lloyd out, and fly out of there victorious partners-in-crime before the guys could even clue in. What actually happens is…more along the lines of Nya seriously underestimating her opponents. Now her plan includes fighting the ninja while not really fighting them, getting them out of there the first opening she has, busting Lloyd out, grabbing the golden weapons, and then flying out of here victorious partners-in-crime.

Okay, it's a lot more complicated than her first plan, but it would've worked fine if the guys hadn't pulled the Tornado of Creation on her.

"Agh, can this get any worse?!" Cole yelps from where he's hanging on beside the other ninja, his eyebrows creased in frustration. Nya almost tells him to shut up before fate takes him up on the dare.

"We must continue to make it appear that we are fighting for real!" she says instead, the mask distorting her voice into something that sounds eerily like Darth Vader. Which was not purposeful at all, nope.

"Wha – we're not fighting for real?"

Nya fights back a grin behind her mask at the dumbfounded way Jay's looking at her. "Keep up the charade," she says. "And hold on to my exo-suit!"

To her eternal gratitude and complete surprise, the guys comply without hesitation, clinging to the sides of her mech. Yes, that's part one of her plan in place. She brings the mech up quickly, boosters straining under the combined weight of them all. But Nya was expecting that – before the others can do anything, she's unbuckling herself from the mech, tapping at her bracelet before leaping back into the ring. She can just hear Kai and Jay's frustrated cries before they're launched into the sky, her mech taking them neatly out of harm's way.

Part one completed.

"Go ninja, go!"

She whips around, Lloyd's cheering reminding her sharply that she's got one more member of her family to save. Punching two Serpentine solidly out her way, she springs forward, rushing at Lloyd's cage. His face splits into a smile as he finds her eyes, his obvious faith in her spurring her forward-

Pythor unlocks the cage, and in one short movement, he's got Lloyd pinned against him. The other Serpentine are quickly surrounding him, protecting their leader and blocking Lloyd from Nya.

No, no, no! She wants to scream. She's good, but she's not this good, she can't fight them all – but she can't leave Lloyd here, either, she'd promised him, she'd promised him she wouldn't just abandon him-

Through the oncoming crowd of Serpentine warriors, Lloyd catches her eye. His expression is set, a little scared, but determined. He nods at her.

Biting the inside of her cheek in defeat, Nya skips part two of her plan and switches on her magnetizer. The golden weapons shoot towards her, and she gathers them quickly, flicking a disc at the pit's controls. The floor slants beneath her once again, only this time Nya doesn't hesitate to activate her jetpack, soaring neatly out of the Serpentine warriors and coming to rest on top of the giant stone statue.

With a heated, hateful glare at Pythor that she knows he can't see, she gives a mocking bow. She can't bring herself to look at Lloyd.

And with that, she flies out – but not victoriously.

That's three parts out of four of her plan completed, and she's managed to fail at the only reason any of them were out here in the first place. Nya clenches the golden weapons tighter against her, biting back the tears of frustration. She failed. She failed Sensei Wu, and she failed Lloyd-

And now her jetpack is shorting out.

With a muffled curse that quickly turns into a shriek, Nya plummets towards the ground. At least it's sand, she thinks, before she hits the ground with an almighty crash, tumbling head over heels before skidding to a stop a foot into the sand.

Nya gives a low moan as she waits for the world to stop spinning, slowly pushing herself up. Her brain feels rattled and out of place, but miraculously, nothing's broken. She's escaped relatively unscathed, then.

She spits sand out of her mouth, wincing at the gritty taste as she swipes more of it from her helmet, shaking it off. Drat, this is going to take a minute to work out. It's going to take time she doesn't have, what with the ninja this close. At least it'll distract her from the fact that she just left Lloyd with the Serpentine. That she failed-

"…Nya?"

Oh, FSM reborn, there's Kai. She really doesn't give her brother enough credit.

"Steer clear, ninja!" she barks, pulling her helmet back and turning around to point at him threateningly. "Don't look-" Nya finally gets a good look at Kai's face, and the fight in her dies abruptly.

She can't lie to her brother. Not to Kai.

"-at me," she finishes, pulling of her helmet, her head lowering in defeat.

"I don't understand," Kai says, his expression awed as he walks over to her. "You're the Samurai?"

"It was always a boy's club," Nya says, wearily. "You never let me try to help, so I found my own way to…to be a hero." She pauses, unable to meet Kai's eyes as the beginnings of fear latch onto her heart. "Are - are you mad?"

"Of course not." Nya's head jerks up abruptly, and she looks at Kai with wide eyes. He's looking at her with a bit of a surprised, but undeniably proud, smile. "It's just – all this time I've been trying to protect you, and you've never needed it. You're amazing!

Nya's heart swells. "Girl power," she says, punching Kai's arm lightly. "You're, uh…you're not gonna tell the others, are you?"

"But we have a bet!" Kai says, his expression eager. "We said whoever caught the Samurai would be the green-" He pauses, having caught the look on her face. "Of course I won't say anything," he says, deflating – but his voice is sincere. Nya gives him a relieved grin of thanks, and Kai shakes his head. "How did you make all this stuff, anyways?" he says, gesturing to her suit.

"You'd be surprised how much spare time I have waiting for you guys to come back from your missions," she says, shrugging. She hands him the golden weapons, the time pressing on her. "You better head back before anyone gets suspicious." She takes a breath, closing her eyes as guilt sweeps her. "We'll…have to rescue Lloyd another day."

Kai says nothing, but he clasps her hand, squeezing it in reassurance. He hesitates. "Nya," he says, his voice shot through with concern. "Whenever I get into trouble, the other three always have my back. But you-" he breaks off, taking an unsteady breath. "Just…be careful, will you?"

Nya's heart is close to bursting. He's letting her go. He knows, and he's letting her do this. "Promise," she says, squeezing his hand back.

Kai gives her a weak grin, then glances at her sparking jetpack. "But, um…how are you gonna get back?"

Nya gives him a crafty smile. "I have my ways."

The mech takes seconds to come back to her, and she's treated to another awestruck look from Kai as she blasts off, leaving the desert and the Serpentine far behind her.

Leaving Lloyd alone.

I'll come back for you, she promises herself fiercely. I'm not going to abandon you, too.

Kai changed the chat name to NYA THE SLAYING SAMURAI

Nya: kai no

Kai: I STILL CANT BELIEVE UR SAMURAI X AND U DIDNT TELL ME

Nya: a girl's gotta have her secrets

Nya: kai i couldn't save lloyd

Kai: it's not ur fault nya

Nya: i should've saved him

Kai: u had ur hands full saving us

Kai: he'll be fine nya i saw him

Kai: he's a tough little demon spawn

"Okay, okay, but - show me again."

"Kai, seriously, this is the sixth time," Nya huffs at him.

Kai sticks his lower lip out. "Come on, Nya, I'm keeping your deep, dark, scandalous secret for you-"

Nya whacks him in the head with a pillow from her bed, sputtering as Kai laughs. "Scandalous – don't be such a drama queen, Kai!" she sighs, relenting her pillow attack. "It's not that big a secret."

Kai raises an eyebrow at her, and she flushes. "Okay, so it's a bit of a big secret. But you already promised you wouldn't tell, so you're blood-bound now!"

"I don't remember signing anything in blood," Kai says, tapping his chin. "Jay, maybe, because he'd gladly bleed all over if he could get near you-"

"Shut up!" Nya yelps, whacking him with a pillow again. Kai waves his hands in surrender at her, his laughter ebbing. Teasing his sister to infuriation is one of his sworn brotherly duties, but he's got to look out for his hair, too.

"I meant that we're siblings, so any promise is a blood promise," Nya huffs.

"Geez, who's the drama queen now?" Kai says. "You know I won't tell anyone, Nya. Plus, it's really fun now since none of the others know - and it's driving them crazy, heh."

Nya rolls her eyes, but she finally shifts closer to him where they're sitting on her bedroom floor, pulling her bracelet up so he can see. "I tap here to summon the mech to me," she says, her fingers tracing the red gem on her bracelet. "Easiest command possible. Two taps get it to blast off. Three to turn it off. The rest is in the mech itself, though I do have an emergency guidance system I can use if worst comes to worst."

"And the whole thing's rigged to your bracelet?" Kai says, studying her workmanship. It's good. Really good.

Of course it is, though. This is Nya.

"Yeah," Nya says, and Kai can't help but grin as she starts to get the proud, eager excitement she does whenever she's explaining her inventions to him. "I built an entire system in it that links back to the Samurai mech. That way, it can find me wherever I go, and I can find it. Plus," she grins, lowering the bracelet. "Convenient GPS when you need it."

"Nice," Kai says. He smirks. "So I'm guessing you've either stuck us all with trackers, or you've found another way to track our signatures?"

Nya cheeks tinge pink. "It was the second thing I did," she admits, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "The golden weapons are super easy to track. But, uh – there might be something attached to your gi as well."

"Supervillain in the making, you are," Kai says, shaking his head.

"You never know when I might need to find you guys in an emergency!" Nya defends, her face bright pink now. "And I did, by the way – I saved you from the Venomari, remember?"

"Alright, alright, fine," Kai says, eager to get away from that memory. "It's…super cool, Nya. Everything is."

"It's a giant pain of a secret, is what it is," Nya sighs, flopping across the pillow dramatically. "It's starting to get kind of way too stressful, keeping it a secret from everyone."

"Well, it's now the best-kept secret sibling – uh, secret – ever, and no one else has figured it out yet," Kai says. He pauses. "Wait, I am the only one that knows, right?"

Nya hesitates, biting her lip, and Kai tries to stop the flare of jealousy in his chest. If she went and told Jay before him, he's gonna have some words-

"I, uh – Lloyd knew," she says. Kai blinks. Well that…wasn't what he was expecting. "We spent a lot of time stuck on the ship together," she says, catching the look on his face. "I wasn't as careful as I should've been, and he's sneakier than I expected, so – he caught me."

Kai snorts. "Should've seen that one coming."

"Yeah," Nya says, with a slight smile that quickly fades. "Kai…" she takes a shaky breath. "I know what you guys thought of him – or still think of him, I don't know, but – I don't care, Kai, he's just a kid. A good kid, that got dealt a sucky hand in life, and he doesn't deserve to be-" Kai's heart twists as Nya's face crumples. "I was supposed to keep him safe."

"Hey, hey, it's not your fault, Nya," he says, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. He pauses, exhaling wearily. "It was my fault, Nya. I should have stayed with him. The blame's on me."

Nya shakes her head. "If I hadn't gotten so obsessed with showing off to you guys – if you hadn't been trying so hard to find out who the Samurai was-"

"It's not your fault, Nya," Kai repeats, firmly. "Whatever choices we made were our own. The blame's on us, okay?" He nudges her, getting her to look him in the eyes. "And I meant it, Nya. Sensei's already working on it. We'll get him back. All of us will."

Nya studies him. "Promise?" she says.

Kai goes quiet for a beat. Lloyd has caused them trouble – a lot of trouble. There's a significant amount of blame that falls on the demon spawn when it comes to the Serpentine, and the kid can be an insufferable brat when he feels like it.

But…he doesn't know the kid's story, not like Nya obviously does, but it's not hard to piece together that the kid hasn't had it easy. The way he flinches when any of them get too close, the nervous way he's always looking at the exits, the almost-paranoid way he's always expecting one of them to lash out at him - they're all very disheartening signs of an upbringing that wasn't good. And try as he might to deny it, the overly-soft part of him that's always watching out for Nya, watching out for the rest of his family, has inexplicably umbrella-ed out to include Lloyd. Nya's right – he is just a kid.

Also, the conversation Kai had with the kid the other night is still fresh in his mind. Lloyd had managed to bring a surprising amount of light that night, his childish awe of Kai lightening the heavy weight that had sat on his chest from the nightmare.

Lloyd Garmadon. FSM, Kai really doesn't need to start actually caring about random, troubled kids of his sworn enemy like this.

"Promise," he says firmly. He's rewarded by the grateful smile that splits across Nya's face.

Who is he kidding, he'd probably save Garmadon himself from the Serpentine if it made Nya happy.

(Okay, maybe that's stretching it a bit, but he's made his point.)

He gives Nya one last hug before he stands, stretching. "Now, I've gotta go join the guys – we're gonna see if Zane can break his record staying underwater."

"Again?" Nya says, raising her eyebrows. "But you know - he's already way past what any normal human should be able to do!"

"Yeah, Zane's inhuman," Kai says, with a laugh. "He's pretty incredible – hey, maybe he'll reach his true potential!"

"Not that again," Nya sighs.

NYA THE SLAYING SAMURAI Group Chat

Kai: so uh

Kai: be really chill about this but

Kai: zane's kind of a robot

Nya: excuse me?