Sorry about the delay. The last two weeks have been a bit tough, and I am a weird person (I know, I know, no surprising revelation here 😂). I just can't write sad stuff when I feel down, I always need to do 'comfort-fluff' instead...

Anyway, here's the next chapter.

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Regrets

Every morning since she had first started training as an Elemental Fighter, Maya woke up by the break of Dawn.

And every morning since she had gotten married, she rolled onto her side to look at her husband sleeping. Unlike her, Ray had never been a morning person, and apparently both their children had inherited this trait.

And every morning for the past few days, she sighed in relief when she found herself looking at the handsome face of a middle-aged man, taking in the signature smirk he wore even in his sleep, the still raven black shade of his beard, every familiar line and wrinkle in his skin, every little scar she had come to love about him.

About a week ago, Kai and Nya had called to inform their parents that they had found Wu – and in which state – and she had been deeply worried about her husband ever since.

Hopefully, her daughter was right and her 'old' friend's transformation into a small child had been caused by him being exposed to the reversal blade while sabotaging the Iron Doom and was not a result of the treatment he had received before.

The next infant the previous Master of Water would want to hold in her arms was a grandchild, but she was in no rush even about that. Right now, she was just happy to be back in her old home and reunited with her two wonderful children.

Her children...

Maya's thoughts shifted to Kai and Nya. She hadn't heard from them since a very brief and very distressed call four days ago, warning her and Ray that Garmadon had returned in his evil form and things were not going well in Ninjago City (although Nya had used other words to describe the situation; once all this were cleared, Maya would have to have a word with her and Kai).

Every morning since she and Ray had been taken by 'Dr Saunders', Maya hoped that her little babies were doing alright. But considering how far they had made it, even without their parents around, they had to be, right?

The loud howling noise of a motor suddenly snapped her out of her thoughts.

Maya quietly got up and slipped into her aqua blue bathrobe, before she walked to the bedroom window to carefully peek outside. Her heart dropped when she saw that a large dark truck had just stopped right in front of the 'Four Weapons'. This was not a good sign at all.

The female blacksmith gently shook her husband. "Ray, my love. You need to wake up." She told him.

"Ugh, I hate sunrise exercise." He groaned in his sleep.

Despite her worries, Maya couldn't help but giggle at her husband's reaction.

"No, honey." She chuckled. "There hasn't been sunrise exercise for us for at least twenty years. But you need to wake up." She repeated, kissing his cheek.

"There's a black van in front of our house." His wife explained. "It could be the Sons of Garmadon..."

Even after all the time that had passed, the years of vigorous training had left their mark on the former Master of Fire.

As soon as his wife mentioned a possible threat, the previously still half asleep man jumped up, now fully alert. Still in his pyjamas, he reached for the sword that they still kept beside their bed.

"They won't take us without a fight." Maya claimed, firmly holding her spear. "Not this time."

"Darling, I am so glad we are on the same side." Ray said, still amazed by the beautiful, strong warrior he was lucky to call his wife. "With you, I am ready to take on anything."

But to the couple's surprise, anything turned out to be a gentle knock on the door, accompanied by their daughter's voice. "Mum, Dad?" Nya asked. "Please let us in."

"My baby." Maya dropped her weapon and sprinted down the stairs. As soon as she had opened the door, her daughter flung herself into her arms.

"Mum." Nya cried.

"Nya, I am so glad you are safe." Her mother replied, wrapping her arms around the shaking girl. Nya had obviously been through a lot "You poor thing. With all that's been going on in Ninjago City, I was so worried about you." Maya gently rubbed her daughter's back, amazed that the Water Ninja had come to her for some motherly comfort, for the first time in over fifteen years.

Over Nya's shoulder, Maya glimpsed at the black and purple truck, seeing four more people climb out. "And I see you've brought some friends. But where are your other teammates?" She wondered. "Are the guys still busy kicking Garmadon's butt?" She laughed, imagining her son and his friends causing trouble for the Evil Emperor.

But when she got no reply other than Nya's sobbing getting louder, panic started to grip the woman. Maybe her son had been captured...

"Sweetheart, where is Kai?" She demanded.

Nya pulled away, tears running down her face.

"Mum, Kai..." Her voice cracked.

"Nya, what happened to your brother?" Maya repeated, a lot harsher than intended.

"Kai... is dead." As her daughter finally managed to croak out these words, the female blacksmith's head started spinning, and everything went black around her.

-----

When Maya had woken up, a steaming cup of calming tea had been handed to her straight away by Misako.

"You have spent way too much time around Wu." The previous Master of Water had smiled weakly.

"Never enough." The other woman had simply replied.

Interrupted by several breakdowns on both sides, it had taken the five 'Ninja Leftovers' (as they had sarcastically started to call themselves) quite a long time to provide the blacksmith couple with detailed information of their son and his teammates' fate.

Physically and emotionally exhausted from the recent events, four of the seven residents and visitors of the Four Weapons had then decided to go upstairs and get some rest – or at least try to.

Maya was currently on her own in the Master bedroom. The two young female Masters were sharing Nya's old bedroom as Misako, who was tired from driving through the night, had been given the only guest room.

Which now left PIXAL, Lloyd, and Ray.

The female Nindroid simply did not need to sleep, and Lloyd didn't want to. He claimed that he had gotten enough eye-shut during the drive to Ignacia, although PIXAL suspected that he was avoiding Kai's room for as long as possible.

To everyone's surprise, Ray had not joined his wife. Unlike everyone else, he hadn't shed a single tear this morning. The previous Master of Fire was currently sitting in an armchair in the main room, a blank expression on his unusually pale face, as his eyes were fixed at a picture on the opposite wall. The rather recent photo showed the four members of the Smith family, taken on the day that he and his wife had moved back into their old home.

PIXAL and Lloyd were equally silent, sitting next to each other.

"Lloyd, would you like to help me prepare lunch?" The Samurai finally addressed the Green Ninja. "Our friends should have something to eat when they wake up."

Not that she was expecting anyone to feel hungry, but it was simply a matter of reason.

Also, PIXAL was 98.47% sure that cooking would remind her of Zane – of the 'good times' as Nya and Skylor had called them earlier.

Lloyd shrugged. "Yeah, why not." He replied unenthusiastically but stood up nonetheless.

On the way to the kitchen, PIXAL stopped in front of the armchair and hugged the surprised man.

"Kai was my friend. I am very sorry for your loss." She told him. And she added: "Please, do not fight it. It will not work, I have already tried that."

As they were preparing a small lunch – steamed fish with rice – for the medium sized group, Lloyd suddenly turned to PIXAL.

"Thank you." He said.

"You are welcome." The Droid automatically replied, as required by her programming. "But what for?" She then wanted to know.

"For keeping my mum company earlier in the truck, when I fell asleep." He explained. "It was my job to read the map, and I failed. I let everyone down... again."

PIXAL understood that he was not only talking about the map reading.

"Lloyd, you need to stop blaming yourself." She told him. "Harumi managed to fool us all."

"But... it's not just about Rumi." He stated, still using her nickname. "When Skylor claimed that dad's banishment was her father's fault, I realised that actually none of all this mess we've been through would have happened, had I not released the Serpentine in the first place..."

"Lloyd, this is not true." PIXAL reassured him. "Yes, you made a mistake – a huge one. But everyone makes mistakes, especially a young child who has been taught to do bad. But the likes of Pythor and Chen chose to be bad."

"Nindroids don't make mistakes." Lloyd remarked.

"Oh, we do." PIXAL smiled. "Our programming is just as imperfect as the person who created it."

The young man was not convinced. "When was the last time you made a mistake?"

"The moment we lost our friends." The Nindroid admitted. "And I very much regret it. Not as much though as..." She trailed off.

"As what?" Lloyd's interest was piqued.

"As keeping me being the Samurai identity as secret." PIXAL admitted. "I should have trusted Zane to understand my reason. And by not trusting him, I have wasted precious time that we could have spent together."

"Well, I trusted Rumi..."

"... and she betrayed your trust." PIXAL finished Lloyd's sentence.

He nodded. "And it hurts."

PIXAL looked straight into the broken Green Ninja's eyes. "As does not putting your trust in people who do deserve it. And I know you will meet someone special who does, so please do not stop being yourself."

"Thanks, PIX." Lloyd hugged her. "You know, I'm really glad that you turned out to be the Samurai. Although I'm gonna miss my sassy computer voice... You don't happen to have a Nindroid sister, do you?"

"No." The Samurai shook her robotic head. "But I have two human honorary sisters and a friend who is like a little brother to me."

"Hey, I am older than you." Lloyd protested.

"You of all people should know that there is a huge difference between the chronological, physical, and the metal age." PIXAL retorted.

"Why do I even try to argue with a Nindroid?" Lloyd laughed, for the first time in three days.

And for the first time in three days, he felt like he – they – could maybe get through this.

Sure, no one could ever replace his four 'brothers' and uncle, but Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon was not alone.

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Headcanon: While PIXAL was inside the computer, she and Lloyd became really close friends (based on their little conversation in ep85).