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mcfanely · 4 years ago

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Ivory and Gold

With Ninjago finally falling into a state of calm again, the Ninja finally find a chance to take a well deserved break after the whole Prime Empire debacle. What better to have time off than to visit the Kingdom of Shintaro upon official invite of King Vangelis, for his daughters birthday celebration. Only, Cole can’t help but feel that he’d already been to the ivory city before. The name at least rung a deeply hidden bell in his mind, the only issue was that he couldn’t place the memory. 4518 words

It wasn't every day that being a ninja coincided with celebration and relaxation, but sometimes karmic justice did work in their favour.

Though it did always seem that whenever they donned their gis, it was for anything but a normal day. That the action of pulling on their masks, making sure all their weapons and armour were in place, checking the fit of the clothes and the tightness of their belts to prevent any mishaps during possible battles. It inherently meant danger. It meant that something had gone wrong with the world again, that there was another big bad on the horizon and it was their job as protectors to prevent the world from plunging into the hands of whatever evil and dark force had decided to try and play their hand and take over.

Yet this time, things had been a little different. Generally, the kingdoms within Ninjago kept to themselves, as much as everyone else did. They interacted, yes, traded goods and services, but that was as far as anything really went. It was a state of harmony, a working relationship.

Cole had heard about the Ivory City of Shintaro a while back, he didn't specifically remember who had mentioned it initially but the information was stored somewhere in his mind. He'd seen it too, or at least he'd felt he had. Stood on the deck of the Bounty, staring in astonishment as they descended amidst the towering structures that made up the city. Turrets that reached high into the sky, made to look even more vast due to the peak of the mountain that the kingdom already resided upon.

Their duties as ninja was to protect life, maintain a visage of hope. Be people to look up to, and to be relieved to see.

Sometimes, it also included showing face. It included being given opportunities and experiences that Cole would never have expected to have should he have led a normal and mundane life like anybody else. Such as being invited to a generally fairly closed off kingdom to celebrate the birthday of one of the heirs to the throne. Princess Vania, it wasn't a name Cole was very familiar with.

Honestly, he wasn't familiar with anything there. Even as they docked and promptly met with and escorted through the complex and winding hallways of the kingdom's palace by a guide with wings no less. Golden sheets that almost looked like silk flowing in an invisible wind, and it looked as though any form of flight with them seemed impossible. Yet still, the man floated gracefully above the ground.

Nothing about the kingdom was ringing any bells other than the distant inkling that this wasn't the first time he'd been there, or that he'd heard of it. Faces, names, they were all completely foreign, but the feeling the place provided…

It was so familiar, right on the tip of his tongue.

"Earth to Cole," came a voice, and Cole promptly snapped back to reality with Jay's face far too close to his own. "You're thinking pretty hard."

He took a short step back to place some distance between the two of them before answering. "Yeah, I guess." Cole took a brief second to actually take in where they had ended up in the castle. The floor they were walking on was polished to perfection that it almost felt like sacrilege to be walking across it. Patterned with gold lines that stretched as far as Cole could see, turning corners as the floor did, glinting and glimmering in the sun as it passed through the windowed walls. "Just, you know, taking everything in." And he was. He may have been distracted, but he was taking in the splendor of the kingdom.

"Awesome, isn't it?" Jay said in a wistful tone, his pupils practically blown wide. They both slowed down in their pace just slightly. They were still following along behind their winged guide and their friends, just a little bit further back. "It's not every day that we get invited to anything to do with royalty--."

"Well, I mean, we have." Cole shrugged loosely, not going into much more detail on the subject. He didn't need to anyway, since Jay just gave a slow nod, his eyes briefly tracking over to Lloyd, who seemed to be sharing a conversation between Kai and their winged companion.

"That was, you know, ninja stuff." The lightning ninja replied, in time that strongly implied the idiom of 'water under the bridge'. "We were there to do a job. But here, it's to have fun." He seemed fairly ecstatic about that fact.

They'd all been told of the reason for the trip not long before they'd actually set off. No real precursor, more of a 'pack your bags, we're heading off the following morning'. The invitation had been carefully constructed, a cream envelope with gold embossing announcing that the contents were for all of them to read.

You have been cordially invited to the Shintaro Kingdom to partake in the birthday celebrations of the crowned Princess Vania.

It had read funny, and Jay had mentioned that it sounded portentous.

An engagement that included all the ninja. It wasn't a battle to fight, it was a party to attend. Down time that they all agreed they needed and deserved.

"Finally, something that's not stressful." Sighed Jay as the group came to a flight of stairs, which led up briefly to a huge standing white door, arched with golden and near cerulean blue tones that made the white stand out even more, if that was even possible. At this point, their guide turned back with a bit more of a measured expression. It was calm, but also the face of a man doing his job.

"You are about to be introduced to the King of the Kingdom of Shintaro. He's been looking forward to your arrival." the man said with a smile, "We've all heard of the great deeds you've done. It's a pleasure to have you here. Now, King Vangelis awaits."

The man turned back to the door, flying a little higher to its centre, "It is with great honour," He began, the booming voice resonating around the now open throne room. Cole's mouth dropped at the magnitude, and it's beauty. It seemed to be an expression shared by everyone as they stepped forwards.

"That I present the famed Ninja!"

To say the day was busy would be an understatement, but Cole knew that the following day, the day of the actual birthday celebration would be a whole lot more hectic and exciting. They'd been given a proper tour of the castle after they'd met with King Vangelis, followed promptly by a walk around the city with the same royal guard as before guiding them through streets that were all filled with people setting up for the following days celebrations. There was a sense of calm to the place, a nice warmth and camaraderie that was displayed by anyone they had met. Everyone worked together, shared tasks and helped out in order to have everything done before the sun had dropped behind the horizon. Between walking through thin streets, sidestepping people walking down the paths with arms full of colourful bunting, Cole had spent a good portion of the day lost in thought.

It was always a problem when he noticed something he couldn't quite put his finger on; and this kingdom just made him feel weird. The foreign familiarity of everything, the cleanliness of the air he breathed in struck a chord in his lungs, the way the sun dipped down below the halo of clouds that circled the peak of the mountain, below the city limits. How the orange colour still glowed from underneath the blanket before it finally disappeared behind the horizon line for the day. It was incredible.

Déjà vu inducing, but incredible.

Eventually, they were all guided to their rooms for the night. Guest rooms in the Palace of all places, an entire hallway dedicated to bedrooms specifically for visitors to the kingdom. As rooms went, they were lavish. Four poster beds adorned each one, huge amounts of room space, closets and cabinets that would go unused in their brief stay in the sleeping quarters, but it was more than what Cole had anticipated. What with going from sharing a room both at the monastery and shared living spaces in the reduced size of the Bounty, to finally getting his own place to sleep when they'd remodeled and rebuilt the burnt down shell of their old training ground, it was nice to have that privacy maintained. Anyway, if Cole needed anyone then he could just head to the room to the left or right of him and find one of his friends to talk to. Privacy didn't mean constantly staying alone.

Yet, Cole was alone with his thoughts. Laid out on top of the beds quilt, the light from the day now faded fully into the din of the night, it was a time when he was meant to be winding down, not letting his mind run wild.

He just couldn't stop thinking.

It was one thing, to have a minor inkling at familiarity, but it was another thing to be so sure that he'd heard of a place before to such an extent that somewhere, deep down, he'd seen this place before. He'd seen the climbing walls of ivory white, the buildings topped with cladding of the best blue and the most perfect gold that gave such an ethereal quality to everything. It was such a unique place. Anyone who'd ever set eyes on a kingdom like Shintaro would forever have the place branded into their memories. There was nothing like it in the whole of Ninjago, yet there Cole was with one arm draped over his eyes in an effort to bring sleep to him even in his energised state, sifting through his memories for anything that would help him make sense of the feeling that had planted itself in his chest.

It brought with it warmth, a softness, the sensation almost tinted with rose in the best way.

There was something that Cole was missing. Forgetting.

However the darkened room, the softness of the mattress beneath him, the calming silence that the night always brought about; even plagued with an active mind, sleep was never really far away.

Cole fell into it, the comforting and restful silence.

For what felt like a blink.

He felt his eyes crack open far too soon, though he must have been asleep. His legs were now tangled with the bed covers and he'd migrated over onto his chest, hair falling in his face and what looked like a less than glamorous drool spot just beside his pillow. He had been sleeping.

The dim blue light of the early early morning fizzled through the windows, providing a bit of light into the previously darkened room.

Cole could go back to sleep easily, all he had to do was let his eyes slip closed.

Then a noise met his ears. It was faint, the sound of shuffling almost. Enough to make his brow furrow and get him to sit up in bed, though a short glance around his room didn't reveal anything to him other than that his vision was still blurry from sleep.

Then the noise happened again. Much clearer this time. Distinct, even, enough that Cole's eyes were open and alert in an instant.

He wasn't sure how he'd missed it, but Cole was sure that barely a second ago he had been alone in his room.

Now…

Well, now he was staring into the eyes of… Something. It was short, purple skinned and had a mouth of sharpened teeth. A hood was pulled low over its head but it seemed as equally shocked to see Cole awake as Cole was to see the nightly visitor.

Everything happened so quickly after that. The intruder started to make their escape, but even in the dregs of sleep, the earth master was quicker. Barely two steps away from the bed and the creature was laid out on the floor with Cole standing above him.

He was about to speak, to question the reason behind why this… thing was lurking in his room. Where he'd even come from?

Before a tiny glint of gold caught his eye.

Cole's eyes flicked briefly down to the locket around the intruders neck, clicked open in their brief struggle. It held two pictures inside, and before he realised it, Cole was reaching for the small piece of metal. Tugging it from the other person's neck, the chain breaking at the clasp, the pictures that were held reverently inside froze him to the spot. Half stood up, clothes still crinkled from sleep, the creature on its back just at his feet going all but forgotten as he stared at the faces that looked back from the black and white images.

On the left side, the unmistakable face of his father. A small smile on his face, as he was looking over the expanse between the open locket, over to the picture that was held in the opposing side.

A face that Cole had feared would fade from his mind for years. Being left with nothing much other than fond memories, though they were few and far between. Context and details lost over time, fading as many old memories did. The visage of his mother looked back up at him, as beautiful as she'd been the last time he'd ever seen her. He couldn't have asked for anyone better to have helped raise him.

Then, puzzle pieces began to slowly slot together, and a memory that had never even crossed his mind for a second was now pushed to the forefront.

It was clear, scarily so, for how buried it had been.

"What do you mean you're leaving." Came a high voice, almost whiny and temperamental. Small hands reached up and grabbed onto the closest thing they could reach, that being the bottom of the woman's shirt. The material was soon balled up in the child's palms, fabric stretching as it was pulled down .

There was a quiet sigh, and arms reached down beneath the young boy's arms, scooping him up as if he weighed absolutely nothing. Dark hair, in vast need of a haircut dangled in front of his eyes, it was fluffed up and looked like he'd been rolling around on the grass, or messing around in some undergrowth if the twigs and loose pieces of foliage tangled in the strands were anything to go by.

Lilly looked down at her son with a soft smile, then leaned forwards, pressing a prolonged kiss to the cheek of the boy in her arms.

Cole squealed in retaliation, voice high and arms flailing as he failed to free himself from his mother's unrelenting grip. Still, the kiss went on until eventually, finally, she pulled back. Only to dot smaller briefer ones over his cheeks and nose.

"I already told you yesterday, sweetie." Her voice was soft, but measured, as though they'd had this conversation a few times before. She crouched down, placing Cole back onto solid ground, then ruffled his hair even with all the earthly mess accumulated in it.

"But you're going to be gone for so long." Cole crossed his arms over his chest, his face dropping into a sulk.

Lilly crouched down more to her son's height, even though her toddler was still quite on the shorter side than his peers. "Only four days, Cole. I'll be back before you know it. It's only a short trip to Shintaro, your grandfather needs a little bit of help with something and he needs me there."

Cole looked up, brow furrowed in far too much suspicion for someone so young. "Because you're strong?"

"Yes, honey, because I'm strong."

"And- and," He paused, his fingers looping into a couple of the torn holes in the hem of his shirt, picking at the loose threads there. "And, you'll be okay? You'll be back? Because, you know, you're--" The words were muffled as he brought his hands up to his mouth, the sleeves of his jumper blocking the words.

Dutifully, Lilly leaned forwards further until Cole could move closer to her ear to spill his small secret.

"Because you're more fun than dad…" He whispered, and she pulled back with a wide smile and silently shaking shoulders.

"We'll keep that between the two of us." The words sounded like she'd gained some type of achievement. "But I promise, I'll be back. And whilst I'm gone, you're in charge?"

Cole's eyes only widened, "Really?" He grinned.

"Really, sweetie. Really. I need to have my little man looking out for my other older man."

Cole slowly came back to reality, still stood stock still in the centre of his bedroom, the locket held reverently in his grip as the blurred sleepy feeling that had overtaken his vision was replaced with a slight sting which could only mean the onset of tears.

He shook his head, drew one sleeve over his eyes to catch any stray droplets, before his attention shot immediately down to the floor.

The empty floor.

Cole cursed.

He'd been so caught off guard, so caught up in memory he was surprised he even remembered that whoever the intruder was, they'd disappeared as promptly as they had so suddenly appeared. The floor was bare, no inch or indicator that there had even been anyone there in the first place, or if Cole had just been dreaming.

The locket in his hands stated otherwise.

He stared down at it, his feet moving him back over to the edge of the bed in autopilot, where he slumped down and kept staring.

He'd always been told he looked a lot like Lilly. By anyone that had known her, the comparison was always drawn. Or at least, they did draw it. They looked at him, old family friends, long time neighbours. They all reverently stated that he was just like his mother.

Until any comment like that slowly came to a stop.

Cole hadn't heard it much at all, following her passing at least.

His fingers traced their way over the image, moving with the contours of her face, captured and frozen in an everlasting expression of peace and contentment.

It was the exact way he remembered her, that small smile that was always there. The warmth in her expression, even towards the end.

Cole hadn't been allowed to see her as she'd only gotten sicker and sicker, but he remembered her laid in bed at home. He'd spent most of his time there, sat quietly with a book or sharing headphones and music with her to keep her company. He could never have imagined that one day he'd leave that room and he'd never see her again.

"That same song again?"

The words came out of nowhere, an internal and forgotten dialogue that dragged sharply at Cole's heartstrings.

"Well, if you want to change the song, you can be in charge of the music," He was sitting on the right side of her bed. His mother was laid just under the covers, her back propped up with a couple pillows and her hair was pulled back from her face with a hair-tie. Even around the usual expression on her face, she was clearly sickly. Her skin was paler, a grey tone permeating the darker tone. There were bags under her eyes, ones had just got deeper and deeper with each passing day. Cole was sat cross-legged on top of the covers, music player held in his hand and a single earphone hanging from one ear. His mother had the other one.

She held up one hand to stop him, "No, no, the technology is far too complicated."

He closed his eyes, before holding the player up to her, "You literally just press this arrow button--"

"As I said, sweetie, far too complicated."

"You grew up with this tech as much as I did, mom."

That seemed to catch her out for a second, but she just chuckled and shook her head. "No, no, I didn't. This is, why you're holding the music box--"

"Player."

"And I'm just listening to it." Lilly said plainly, then rested one hand on her son's knee afterwards, squeezing lightly. "Though you don't need to be sitting there flicking through songs for me, don't you have homework? Or friends to write letters to."

At that point, Cole knew that she was just trying to make him laugh. Phones were a thing and she was fully aware of that factor, if the grin that split apart her previously stoney facade meant anything.

Cole laughed, resting his head back against the headboard. "I'm spending today with you. I'll get my homework done tomorrow, I promise."

"You'd better." Lilly smiled, threading a hand through his hair. He just paused for a second, allowing his eyes to slip closed at the contact, "Otherwise we'll have to tell your dad that you did it and then rush to get it done last minute, all the while trying not to get caught in the lie."

Cole just grinned even more, "You're words, mom, not mine." He held up his hands in mock surrender. "I'll sit in here tomorrow and do my work. Deal?"

"Or," She spread her hands, as if she was going to impart a revelation upon the world. "You could sit outside, because it's been sunny the past few days and you've been cooped up with me." Lilly pointed to the window of the room. The curtains were drawn, they always were. It kept the room dim, the light from getting too harsh, but there was a warm glow from the sun permeating the material.

Cole sighed. He could sit outside, he could sit in the middle of the flower beds. Sure, it would frustrate his dad and track mud back into the house, but with the sun shining down on everything, the colours and the smell floating in the air around him; it would be worth it to get his school work done outside. Yet, there was also the fact that he wanted to sit and spend time with his mother. He wasn't a child, he wasn't sheltered from the world. His mom had been sick for a while and she only ever seemed to get worse and not better.

He could see how it affected family life too. It was rare that Lilly got up out of bed anymore, and with his dad out working it left Cole with the lion's share of chores and jobs to get done. He didn't mind, how could he? It kept everything clean, his mom didn't get worried and his dad wasn't stressed over the unfinished tasks when he came back home from a performance or rehearsal. But it was clear that what was happening to Lilly was affecting everyone. Smiling was hard to come by whenever he left her bedroom, he was always partially focused on a task along with wondering if his mom was okay.

Which was why it made it easier sitting with her and getting stuff done. If he was worried, all he had to do was look to his left and see that she was fine.

It made the day easier to handle.

"Cole, you're going to sit outside tomorrow, right? Have a quiet day, leave chores alone for a while. Go on a walk or something." Lilly offered with a tilted head, "No rush to get things done."

"Other than homework."

She nodded in agreement, "Other than homework. Which you will do--"

"Outside." They said in unison.

Cole smiled and leant over to press a kiss to his mom's forehead, "I'll have a quiet day tomorrow then, mom."

"You'd better."

That night, he'd walked out of her room like he did every other day. The following day he'd brought her breakfast, then walked out into the middle of the bed of chrysanthemums with a maths textbook slung under his arms. The day had been far too unassuming for it to be anything but normal.

Cole hadn't thought that the final memory he shared with his mother would be something so mundane. She deteriorated rapidly afterwards. He was kept away from it, prevented from going into her room. He knew the reason behind it, the attempt to shield him from what must have been the last few days of his mother's life.

But staring down at the picture in the locket, a face that he hadn't seen, hadn't thought about properly for years, it brought everything crashing back. Every birthday, every small conversation. Every night spent with his dad's old record player spinning in the corner of the room, his small hands in her sure grip, his feet - donned in fluffy socks - were stood on top of hers as she danced her way around the living room of his childhood home, guiding Cole's movements.

She'd been to Shintaro, she may have even walked the same halls he'd walked that morning. He may have literally followed in her footsteps.

Though that realisation fell into the background as the first of the tears dripped slowly down his cheek and landed as a dark mark on the bed covers. More only continued to follow as he looked at her picture in his hand. One of his dad, the other of his mom; their family back together again in a way that Cole had never imagined, or expected to happen.

The tears wouldn't stop flowing, the hiccuped breathing that came with crying was silenced by his own hand clamped over his mouth.

He'd just had someone in his room, but he didn't care about it during the moment. He'd found his mother's locket around said creature's neck, but that fact moved to the outer reaches of his awareness as Cole sat on the edge of his bed, head and shoulders slumped forwards as if acting as a barrier between the world around him and the precious memory held in his hands.

Even with his found family in rooms both to the left and right of his own, he stayed where he was. Tears falling slowly and silently, shoulders shaking minutely. The rising sun had begun to show itself now, a line of hazy orange flowing warmly into his room. Cole could get up, he honestly should go and get someone and tell them about what had taken place.

He just found he couldn't move. He didn't want to move, he didn't want anyone to see him in the state he was in.

Crying over memories that were so far in the past, long forgotten until that one moment. The warmth and happiness of his mother's smile, her soft voice yet foreboding and stoic demeanor.

Cole could wait until everyone else was awake before he mentioned what had happened.

For now, he was content to sit in the comfort of the memories of his mom, his palm closing as he clicked the locket shut.

AO3

Thank you, @existentiallyrandom, you’re so galaxy brained!

#ninjago #lego ninjago #lego #cole #cole brookstone #cole ninjago #jay walker #jay #kai #lloyd #cole's mother #lilly ninjago #ninjago season 13 #ns13

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eyeofthewolfe · 7 years ago

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Ninjago Movie: Different POV - Follow Where the Wheels Go

(Night before the attack of Meowthra)

The rev of the motorbike died out as it jolted to a stop. The two teenagers slowly looked up at their home and stared at it for a good 10 seconds. The sky above the older building was pink and orange, hinting that it was only around 7pm and the night was very much still young. The driver looked over her shoulder and back at her older brother before they both silently agreed to stay out a little longer that night. Curfew was 11 anyways, and they could always sneak in the window. With a malicious smile on both of the teenager’s faces, the motorbike revved loudly in the street and sped off into the city.

Kai wrapped his arms around his sister’s waist, leaning into her punk leather jacket. “Where are we going tonight?” He yelled over the wind and engine of the bike. Keeping her eyes on the road, Nya shrugged and yelled back, “I dunno, bro- where should we go?”

He paused, trying to think of somewhere to chill. When his mind drew a blank, he said, “Just follow where the wheel takes us!”

Nya thought through her brother’s answer, and then smiled broadly. She cleared her mind completely, looked at the streets like it was a maze, twisted her wrist, and then took off into the night.

As the colorful sky drained into darkness, the neon lights lining the streets grew brighter in her vision. Even though she could easily recognize where she was in their giant city, she purposely tried to forget where she was or where she was going. She didn’t know where she was going actually, she was just going. Kai was there for the ride, letting out a whoop or holler every once in a while.

After about 40 minutes of random turns and blurry street signs and empty roads, Nya hit the brakes and the bike screeched to a halt. Her windblown bangs flopped back down on her head and she laughed through the energy that was pulsing through her veins. “Now that was fun, right bro?” she asked, and then stuck her hand out to the side for a high five.

She paused before realizing Kai left her hanging.

“Yo bro, the high…” Nya trailed off when she turned and saw exactly what silenced Kai. “…five.”

The road they were parked in was slightly abandoned because it was about a mile or so outside the heart of the city. There were a few lights, most of them old streetlamps, but some of them were apartment windows where the middle class resided. But the lot that the two teenagers stared at was the darkest lot on the street. No sign of life, or people, or home. Just a boarded up door and an old store-shop sign that read “Four Weapons Blacksmith Shop”.

“Why did you bring us here,” Kai finally spoke from the back of the bike. Nya looked over, and noticed her brother’s charismatic smile was gone. “Of all the places in the giant city, the place you stop is right here.”

“Hey, you did tell me to follow where the wheels go,” she shot back. “I didn’t try to bring us back here. It must of…subconsciously bought me to come here.”

“It?” Kai snorted. “Like, destiny and fate and the other stuff Master Wu tells us?”

Nya leaned away from her brother. “Whoa, bro. Master Wu may be old and weird, but he is still wise. He also has a way better understanding about how the world works than us two combined.” Kai snorted again, but kept quiet after that. There was a brief pause before Nya killed the engine and flipped out her kickstand.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Kai droned as Nya slid off her seat.

She stuck her arms out as she backtracked to the shop. “Well, if destiny led us here, I kinda wanna find out why.”

With a look of annoyance, Kai groaned and rolled his eyes. “Whatever, sis. If it makes you sleep at night.” He slid his legs off the bike and followed her up the stairs.

The door was padlocked and boarded up. “Dang,” Nya murmured. “Guess it belongs to the city now.”

Kai looked up and eyed a broken window on the second story. The sibling’s eyes met, and it was set. With a quick glance down the empty street, the two quickly scaled the wall and slipped inside the building.

The older teen already had his phone out and his flashlight on in a matter of seconds. “Whoa, what a mess,” he whispered as they stared at a broken down living room with yellowed newspaper crumpled and all over the ground, a stained and torn up couch in the corner, and a few colorful, scratched up, and broken toys for young kids scattered throughout the room.

The two looked around for a bit, then realized there was nothing cool here. They located the stairs then went down to the shop below.

Dust was everywhere- on the counters and shelves, and coated on whatever swords and knives were left hanging on the walls. “This place hasn’t been touched since we left,” Kai murmured as he drew a frowny face on the store counter out of dust. “They locked the door and left all this to rust inside.”

Nya leaned against the wall. “It’s actually not a bad place. We could totally have a sibling HQ here.”

He looked over at her with a side smile. “A headquarters just for us two?”

With a shrug, she met his gaze. “Or even better, we could call it home.”

Kai’s smile instantly died. “Nya, I know you don’t like it at-“

“Oh, don’t like it is a huuuuuge understatement.” She laughed at him. “Kai, we don’t belong there. You know we don’t. Here, at least we can at least live a better life and honor them.”

Kai took a few steps closer to Nya while narrowing his eyes. “Honor who? Our parents? Our parents who just vanished when we were young? When I was five and you were three? Honor those people?”

It felt like he pierced her heart with one of the dust-encrusted blades in the shop. He instantly saw the look on her face and then looked down, at the ground, ashamed. “Look, I’m sorry-“

“For what, Kai?” Nya responded sourly. “Sorry that you faintly remember them and I don’t? Because that’s nothing to be sorry for, it’s something to be thankful for.”

He stared back at her in prolonged silence.

“You don’t think I wish I had some memory of them? Some mini clip in my head I can replay over and over to remember mine-our parents so that I can believe that there was something more to my life than just being an orphan?!”

Tears were now beginning to swell in her eyes. Kai had his mouth open, but his neck was visibly tight so Nya continued. “You don’t think I spend every moment of my life wondering if our parents are proud of who we are? Because I wish I could say yes, Kai. I wish I could- but I can’t because I can’t even tell you who my parents are.”

She stopped talking because her throat was so tight with emotion that it made her physically unable to speak another word. Instead, she began to sob heavily, first into her hands, and then into Kai’s shoulder when he slowly took her into his arms. She stuffed her face into his jacket and let the tears and gasps take over.

Finally, he moved his mouth close to her ear. “I don’t remember much about them either, Nya. All I know are two things. What they look like, and where they are not. And they are not here, but we are. And we need to make it without them.”

The gasps paused for a moment while Nya caught her breath. “We’ve made it so far, but I don’t know how much farther I can go, Kai.” Her voice was a weak whisper, a voice Kai rarely heard from his sister.

He pulled her off his shoulder and looked at her in the eyes. “Hey hey hey, let’s try and go for tomorrow, okay? Let’s start there.”

She wiped the wetness from her face and nodded, her bloodshot eyes fixated on her brother. “Okay,” she mouthed. Kai nodded in response, before looking around the shop once more. “Alright, let’s get back before it gets too late. You want me to drive?”

That made Nya bust out into laughter, which made Kai happy. “Uh, of course not.” She snapped. “You know you can never touch that bike.”

“I know…I know…” Kai joked as they went back up the stairs to their second-story exit. “I was just hoping for a one-time-thing.”

“Just know it will be a no-time-thing.”

“Cool. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Within a few seconds, the two of them were back on the bike and speeding off into the night. The neon lights were brighter as ever, but only Nya was admiring their streaks in her vision.

Kai’s vision was blurry and blinded with tears as he cried behind his sister.

He could never show his younger sister his tears. He had to be the strong older brother that she needed him to be, so that meant no weakness. And crying? Tops the list of weaknesses in Kai’s book.

He also hated seeing Nya upset, especially about their parents. There was nothing he could ever do or say to bring them back, so all he had was fake comforting words, a warm hug, and a shoulder to stop tears from falling down his sister’s face. But one thing he didn’t have? He didn’t have his own comfort. He knew he couldn’t break down because even his sister couldn’t rebuild him. He was the wall, the foundation. If he broke, then the scared and heartbroken child he hid all these years inside of him would show, and that’s the end of Kai.

He was able to pull himself back together as Nya parked the bike in their usual spot in front of their building. The lights were all still on, which was more comforting than their first home, but the lights seemed colder today.

Nya kicked the stand out and slid off the bike. “Well, here we are,” she groaned. “Wonder how much I’ll have to fake smile and spread fake encouragement tonight.” She bent over like she was talking to a short kid. “Oh, don’t worry Billy, I’m sure tomorrow will be the day! Oh, head up, Dick, you’ve got another day tomorrow! Let me see your pretty smile now, Sally! See, now I feel better too!”

Kai snorted and slid up next to his sister. “Aw, come on now, Nya- it’s never that bad.”

She let out a single laugh and lightly punched his arm. “You sound like me now,” she joked. She lifted her hand up, palm facing Kai, and he instantly slapped their sibling high five. The sound of the clap was perfect of course, causing them both to wear a real, authentic smile as they entered the building named “Ninjago City Orphanage”.

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