The Golden Princess

Decision

After a while, I went up the stairs to see Mystake. She made tea and I sat across from her. "What's wrong, Miss Jade?" Mystake asked.

"Garmadon," I corrected. "My last name is now Garmadon."

She nodded. "But you still feel like a princess. You still feel responsible for Ninjago."

I winced. "Yeah, but the Ninja feel that way too."

"They do. But you feel more responsible because you were a princess."

Huh, she's right. I still feel like I'm a princess and everything that's happening is my fault. "Everything that's happening is my fault, I should have realized Harumi was evil while we were in the palace," I said.

"Ah, but wasn't she a caring sister in that palace?"

I thought for a minute. "Sort of."

"And your parents didn't suspect anything, right?"

I snorted. "They didn't even know she was sneaking out at night to feed the poor." I ground my teeth. "She was also meeting her group there too."

"What if it wasn't your fault? What if she always planned to do this?"

"I still should have known," I snapped then winced. "Sorry," I muttered.

She smiled. "Oh, it's quite alright."

I bit my lip. "Who's going to be the Emperor next?"

"You are supposed to become the Empress. But you don't have to. From what I hear, you want to be a Ninja."

I blinked. "I'm supposed to be the Empress?" I hadn't thought anyone would become royal. I thought royalty died now that everything was destroyed. Apparently, I'm wrong.

She watched me. "Yes. You're supposed to be the leader of Ninjago since Harumi is going to go to prison and your parents are dead."

I ground my teeth together and thought about that. Then I came to a decision. "I'll be both. A Ninja and the Empress."

"That's putting a lot of work on you, princess."

I looked at her defiantly. "No, it's not. I can do it. I will not be locked in that palace again."

She nodded. "Then I believe you have decided what you needed to do."

"I suppose I have. But that wasn't really what I was worrying about."

"I know. But you and Lloyd are not responsible for what has happened."

I stood. "Yeah, but we feel like we are."

"And in time that will fade."

I smiled. "Especially once we get Harumi in jail, right?"

She smiled. "Yes."

I sighed. "I better go tell Lloyd and my new parents what I've decided."

"You should. Waiting will only make it harder to tell them and will make them feel as if you don't trust them."

My mouth twitched. "I suppose that's true." I opened the door and went down the stairs. Time to tell my brother and our parents what she told me. I found them all talking to Skylar. "Hey, Lloyd, Mom, Dad, Nya, Pixel, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

"Sure," Dad said.

They followed me to a spot away from everyone. "I've decided that I'm going to be both a Ninja and the Empress," I said.

They all stared at me. "That's a lot of work," Nya said.

I nodded. "I know that but I want to do this." I paused. "No, I need to do this."

Lloyd watched me for a second. "But you hated life in the palace."

"No, I hated that I wasn't allowed out of the palace," I corrected him.

"So being a Ninja will allow you that freedom," Dad said.

"Exactly."

"Everyone in Ninjago knows who we are so that means they'll find out who you are," Nya said.

"Even if they do I'm not going to stop," I said firmly.

Lloyd nodded. "If this is what you want then we can't stop you."

"No, you can't so you might as well support me."

Mom smiled. "Y/n, we do support you."

"As long as you don't make us live in the palace," Nya added.

I laughed. "Even if you guys lived there I wouldn't trap you in."

"As long as we can live in the monastery I'm fine with it."

I grinned. "Alright. You guys can live there but you have to promise to visit."

"No way. If you want to visit you can come to us."

Lloyd snorted. "She's going to see us when we go out on missions anyway."

I nodded. "But I might want to see you guys when we aren't fighting bad guys."

"Then I agree with Nya. You can come visit us."

"Deal." We all went back to planning a way to get rid of Harumi.