Everything We Lost In The Fire

Misinterpreting Constellations

So ended the reign of the Ice Emperor. 

The days had finally come for the Ninja to return home. They had discovered that the leaves from the traveler's tree alone would not be enough to get back, but only through the addition of a berry from the tree could Sorla create a potent enough concoction to open a portal. 

In the days leading up to the Ninja's return to Ninjago, Akita had spent her time reconnecting with her brother Kataru. It was night, and the two were sitting underneath a clearing in the thick pines, a fire blazing in front of them.

"You are thinking about him again are you not?" 

 Akita was staring with a lost gaze into the fire. She stared at the very tips of the flames, watching the red tails whip around in the darkness of the forest. Although the Ice Emperor, or Zane (she still didn't know how to feel about that), had regained control and ended the never-ending blizzard conditions, the Never Realm was still one giant popsicle. There was a strange beauty about it to Akita. The fluffy snow that they would sleep on, that same snow covering the tall looming pines.... and just how much more vibrant and valuable sources of heat were. The chilled wind grazed her cheeks and bit at her neck, while the hypnotizing fire produced a warmth that battled the chill and started to burn her face.

"Akita!"

Kataru warmly tried to gain Akita's attention. 

"Oh... sorry brother. Were you trying to tell me something?" Akita snapped out of it.

"Does it bother you? Lloyd and his friends leaving?" Questioned Kataru. He had long known of her feelings towards Lloyd, it was something he could sense. Not just from being a formling, but from being a brother. 

Akita thought for a moment. In truth, the thought had made her surprisingly depressed. She didn't know why the thought made these feelings emerge. She thought back to her time spent with Lloyd. The nights they had spent under the wintery distant stars, being shielded from the freezing wind by Lloyd's giant machine. The times she thought she had lost him, and the times she realized just how alone she had been living. 

"I am unsure. I had felt so alone for so long, it feels strange to have the chance to say goodbye I suppose."

Her thoughts were a mess. One minute she'd stare into the dark, and the next her mind would be racing. She had regained her brother, but she couldn't wrap her mind around why it felt like she was losing someone just as close. 

Kataru sighed, "Akita, I may not have been around to see you grow, but I know these feelings when I see them. You wish for him to stay, do you not? I would see the same look on our mother's face when Father would leave the village."

Her brother was right. Akita glanced at her brother, and then back at the fire to think. She grabbed her knees and held them close to her chest, resting her cheeks and burying her face into her kneecaps. She shut her eyes. 

'What should I do...' She thought. Lloyd's green Gi formed in her mind. She filled in his face, his Blonde head of hair, his green eyes. His smell flooded the edges of the image, the smell of fabric. She thought of the first time her human form was revealed to him, laying with him in the snow with the warmth of the lantern. She had woken before him, staring at his face. 

'Gah!' Akita snapped out of it. She raised her head and once again opened her eyes. She had felt there was no point in denying her brother's claims. 

"He gave me everything I thought I had lost. Without Lloyd, you would still be in captivity, and these lands would still be in peril. However, he was more than that..." Akita trailed off in thought.

Lloyd had given her light when she thought she was alone. Meeting him came with anger, frustration, humiliation, and confusion. Yet, despite this she felt she had met someone she could finally trust. Someone she wasn't scared to show herself to. Even though she had gone through horrible things in the last few weeks, Akita still longed for the past. Part of her wished she could rewrite these feelings bubbling up in her heart. The thought of Lloyd reprimanded Akita by leaving her hanging in her own mind, grabbing her attention and holding it captive in his warm smile.

"It is okay. Seeing you like this makes me glad... I am glad you have found someone to place your trust in. We have lost a lot, but we have not lost the time we have left." Kataru spoke.

"Have you thought of going with them?"

It was a genuine question, one Akita had not yet pondered too deeply. Although some people were unfrozen, no one from the Formling village has returned. The two siblings didn't exactly have a home lined up. 

"Are you crazy?" Akita snapped. "Every day Ninjago is in disarray, according to Lloyd's story. I do not understand why anyone would wish to live in their civilization when some wish to destroy it every season."

It was a valid concern. 

"Well, what do you wish to do with the rest of your time here?" Kataru returned. "I do not wish to offend, but we still have nowhere to go. Our families and village are still gone."

Kataru felt as if accompanying the Ninja back to Ninjago would be a new chapter. The Never Realm was their home, but that being said, there wasn't much left to discover. He was finally free, but somehow he still felt as if his life could be more. Maybe it was the many seasons in captivity finding a voice, but Kataru knew that there was more to life than just the forest. They were still young, and had many adventures left in front of them. He finally had a chance to unfold more of those adventures, and a chance to nap further than anyone had ever been!

"Think about it, there is not anything left here for us. It pains me to admit that about our home, but maybe it is an option worth considering while we have the chance." 

Akita looked up at her brother. 

Lloyd had once asked her the same thing.

It was something she had trouble picturing, mainly because she had nothing to base Ninjago off of other than Lloyd's story. It was uncharted territory to her. She turned her attention to Kataru's question about the time they had left.

'What would I do if I stayed?' The formling pondered. Akita turned her attention to the sky above. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and many vibrant stars were out. There was many things Akita didn't understand about the sky, all she really knew were the legends from her village. She looked for the constellations she saw when she was young, meticulously connecting dots as if she was writing fate.  

'I wonder if Lloyd's sky would look the same as mine.' She lost herself to thought again. 

She didn't want this to be the end. It couldn't. Did she have to trudge through misery with this lingering feeling? 

She slowly once again shut her eyes as she laid flat in the snow.

Her mind started to race again. Innocence would not return to burn it all away, her real home was gone. All Akita had was her brother. She began to sense an impending doom. 

The formling turned her thoughts to her time with Lloyd again, and Akita's mind began to calm in waves, her feelings becoming even more clear. She was saddened thinking of Lloyd's departure closing in, but soon fell deep in thought paired with the sound of the fire crackling and snapping. Lloyd's Gi had once again formed in her mind, she filled in the missing pieces from memory. Slowly the image in her mind put its arms around her, the green fabric now filled with a body. She nuzzled into the image, clinging as close as she could squeeze. The image slowly faded and soon Akita had fallen asleep, leaving Kataru. 

He had been staring into the fire himself, realizes this, and looks up at his sister who is now softly sleeping on a bed of snow. 

Feeling a bit too cold to fall asleep in human form, Kataru summons a bright light and turns into a large brown bear. He wraps himself up and follows suit, almost instantly snoring.