the ninjago academy of jedi | star wars/ninjago au

𝙩𝙚𝙣 | grounded (what else did you expect?)

"YOU ARE BOTH grounded. No arguing."

Astra tried to hide her laugh, as did Lloyd. He stepped on her foot, which made her yowl in pain and stopped her parents from being anymore mad.

"I can't believe you did that! Just to get a hold of the speaker? Lloyd, were you some kind of distraction? Astra, how did Harlin not notice you go in?" At this point, her father's interrogation was beginning to sound less like a parent and more like an excited friend. "He was never one for pranks, I'm afraid."

"You went to school with him?"

"For an extra course, yes. He has a weak grasp on the Force but a powerful mind. Together, those two are an admirable force." Astra thought back to how Harlin had squealed like a stuck pig after she'd trapped him underneath his own desk, then how Lloyd's flash spark had exploded in Harlin's face. Totally admirable.

"How much did you hear, Lloyd?" her father's voice switched to a much sterner tone now, more guarded and worried.

Lloyd knew what to do already. "Not much, I was busy trying not to choke on the smell of feet."

"Astra?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, "The plan worked."

In more ways than one, Astra thought gleefully.

"I'm making dinner tonight, so go set the table and it should be out soon." Garmadon warned them, wagging a finger with a grin. "Monty's Marshmallow Madness Supreme."

"That's a heart attack, not a meal," Astra groaned, heading off to the dining room nevertheless. Her Pa's idea of dinner was extremely overloading sugar, and Lloyd liked that (at least, until he threw up in the bathroom).

Post Monty-kitchen-battle, Astra volunteered to run down to the main village and get some takeaway from a shop that had popped up recently. The food sounded good and she needed a chance to be alone with her thoughts for once.

First, she knew that her parents had suddenly unearthed a fondue pot of lies. They seemed to be crumbling away everyday, and the Knights were just another...piece of bread in the fondue. If they hadn't offered so much resistance or lied outright to their faces, Astra might've left it alone. But what Wu had said; what his actions had done meant more than his words, and that was nagging at Astra.

Why stop speaking? Why even mention these Elementals? Just why.

She paid the guy behind the counter and turned around to walk home laden with food. Two months ago, the idea of moving from Vareena had been an inkling of an idea in her head, all banking on podracing. And she'd half-gotten that, leaving the sandy planet but not quite for what she wanted. At least Lloyd was away from Brad and Gene.

Astra liked Ninjago - how the birds had a weird tune that made her feel like she was in a fairytale, how she got to wake up in her own bed in a nice house and not work on the farm, how she was ahead of schoolwork for once, and how it just felt like home. Didn't mean it was, because feeling did not mean reality.

If only her parents would just tell her the truth, then she'd stop poking around. Astra just wanted answers.

"I have edible food!" she announced cheerily, pushing her ruminations aside in favour of eating. Lloyd snatched the bags from her and leapt over the couch with incredible dexterity.

"Astra," Misako started, and she immediately prepared herself for extra-grounding, "I'm going to assume that a lot of this behaviour is because you're bored, no?"

"Uhhhhhh, sure, yeah."

"So I took the opportunity to sign you up as a TA at the Academy!"

"I'm sorry, what?" her father pushed her jaw back up so pasta wouldn't fall out. Teacher assistant? What even was that? Weren't you supposed to be in university to be a TA?