"Uno." Pixal stated as a green card with a seven flashed on the screen, indicating the card she was "putting down". Nya let out a groan as she placed down her next card, a blue seven.

"We're never going to win. She's just too good." Nya complained as Harumi followed with a blue card. I smiled despite Nya's complaint- and how I knew she was right. I was quick to place down a wild card, changing the color to red.

"I win." Pixal chimed, and despite being faceless, I could hear the smile in her voice. A red eight flashed on the screen. Nya let out another sound of protest as she dropped the rest of her cards on the table.

"Geez, Pixal." I whistled out. "Ten games in a row? That has to be a record or something."

"Maybe so, Princess." Pixal answered, the card disappearing from the screen. Harumi was the only one who had gone quiet again, drumming her fingers on the table as Nya collected the cards.

"Do you guys want to do another round?" Nya questioned, expertly shuffling the cards. Harumi finally shook her head, frowning as she stared down at the table.

"You three can go ahead. I think I'm going to... rest for a bit." Harumi said as she pushed up from her chair. She made her way to the ladder and carefully made her way down. I frowned as I stared after her, the good mood from the game becoming heavy again.

"Are you okay, (y/n)?" Nya asked, and I turned my eyes to her, surprised by her voice breaking through the silence. Her eyes were full of concern as I nodded.

"Fine. Just... thinking, you know? When we were kids, Harumi was quiet when she first came to the Palace. She was still grieving when our parents adopted her too. But this time, it feels different. I don't know why yet, but she feels different. But maybe I've overthinking it because this time we're both grieving at the same time." I explained, running a finger over the wood of the table. Nya came to sit beside me, and she gave me a small smile.

"I wouldn't dwell on it too much, Princess. Grief takes over in different ways, and if this is how Harumi dealt with it once, it makes sense for it to occur in this way again." Pixal told me, and I nodded, swallowing back tears as I stared down at my hands.

"I know. I know. But she won't even talk to me, not even about little things. It's like I'm not here anymore." Nya placed an arm around my shoulder, squeezing me in a side hug.

"Just give her time, (y/n). When she's ready, I'm sure you'll be the first person she goes to." I nodded at Nya's assurance, wiping at my eyes.

"Thank you." I murmured, and Nya's smile brightened.

"How about I show you some embarrassing pictures of the other Ninja? That'll make you feel better." I gave a small laugh and nodded.

"Sure. Why not?"

We had moved down to their shared living quarters to look at the photos. Nya had explained they didn't always share the quarters, but in short missions or their versions of sleepovers, they used this one. There were some separate rooms for each of them, though, just further down the hall for longer missions so they didn't all try to kill each other. I knew this is where they had been staying now though, as Harumi and I had taken two of the individual rooms.

We had flipped through quite a few of the photos of the team that Nya brought out from one of the closets. Many of them looked like the results of pranks or scenarios gone wrong. The photos spanned across the last handful of years, allowing me to even see Lloyd when he sported his bowl cut and was half the height of the rest of the team.

I dragged a finger over one of the photos, where the team all seemed to be drenched. Puddles were at their feet, and their hair hung down from the weight of the water. Cole, with a large smile across his face, was in mid-shove while Jay had been his victim. Kai leant an elbow on Lloyd's head, who was pouting at this fact. Nya was behind Kai, mid-hair ruffle. Behind them was the docks, the very ones Lloyd had driven us over a few nights ago.

"These are cute. I love them." I looked up at Nya, finding she was shuffling through a few of the pictures as well.

"We gather them all up time to time to look through these, laugh at the memories. I thought they may cheer you up." Nya told me and I nodded, letting out a small laugh.

"Well, you were right. And Lloyd looks so different! I mean, look at the bowl cut." I exclaimed with a smile, then I turned the photo around. In it, Lloyd had a cake was in front of him, letting me assume this was one of his previous birthdays. Nya gently grabbed the photo, studying it with her own laugh.

"He would kill me if he knew I let you see these." She snickered, turning another photo. Here, Lloyd was still young, but now in the green ninja gi that was definitely too big for him at the time.

"He was so little!"I gushed with a smile, barely noticing the door that opened behind me as Nya placed the photo down and back in the box it had come from.

"It's crazy to think how much he's grown. Geez, how all of us have." Nya said with a nod as she gathered the other photos. Now, I heard the footsteps behind me, and I turned to see Harumi. I gave her a small smile.

"Hi Rumi." She gave a tight smile back, though she said nothing. I could see now that she was also clenching two photos in her hands. Silently, she went to the board on the wall of the room and hung them up. When she moved out of the way, I quickly recognized the picture furthest from me. It was taken a month after she was officially adopted into the family. For the second, it took me longer to realize this was with her parents before she became a Princess. She must've gone away on her own to look at the both, sort through her grief like Nya and Pixal had said.

As Harumi stepped away from the board, her eyes turned to a picture frame on one of the shelves. I looked to it too, seeing it was a picture of Lloyd with an older man, who I assumed to be his father.

"If you can believe it, that used to be Lord Garmadon." Nya informed us. I nodded, studying the picture. Lloyd's dad had his hand on Lloyd's shoulder. His smile was full of pride as he stood beside Lloyd. Lloyd had the same smile as he faced the camera.

"Lloyd's father?" Harumi asked and I nodded.

"He made some mistakes, but... he's made up for them." Nya told us as she came to stand closer to my side.

"I've heard so many stories of him. Such anger." Harumi murmured. "He hurt so many people. How did he change?" Harumi questioned, turning her eyes to Nya.

"Master Wu once told me: holding onto anger is like trying to throw a hot rock. Only you get burned. Lloyd helped his father... let go. But all of that is behind us now." Harumi's frown deepened at Nya's explanation.

"Or so I thought." I jumped at the voice, quickly turning. Once I saw it was Lloyd, I smiled at him.

"Lloyd, you're back." Harumi sighed out, also smiling. I felt my smile drop at her change in attitude, and something in my gut twisted, but overall, she went ignored either way as Lloyd faced Nya.

"Where's Zane and Cole? I need to see everyone." Lloyd told her.

"Following a lead... why?" Nya asked as she stepped forward. Her expression was serious now, too. I had remembered the brief contact from them about the lead, but I couldn't recall where it was.

"Is everything okay?" I questioned, though I could tell by his expression that it wasn't. His frown deepened, and he looked down at the floor. His brows furrowed and Lloyd looked conflicted.

"The Sons of Garmadon want to bring back my father from the dead." Lloyd said, his voice soft. I felt myself go cold at the news. Beside me, Harumi and Nya both let out gasps, trying to grasp for something to say. In the silence, I watched Lloyd's face drop even further. From the few times he had talked to me about it, I understood how upset he truly was. Lloyd had loved his dad, still did, and the fact this group was trying to raise up the bad parts of Lord Garmadon must be tearing him apart.

"I'm sorry, Lloyd." I said, being the first to speak. I walked forward, then hugged Lloyd, not quite sure what else to do. I just remember how Hutchins would do the same for me through the years. I shut my eyes as Lloyd returned the hug, dropping his head to the top of mine as he slumped down. I rubbed a hand to his back, listening to his quiet, uneven breaths. I could tell he was trying not to cry. I had done the same thing more than a handful of times myself since the Palace.

A few seconds later, Nya walked to the side, joining the hug. Lloyd didn't move much, but Nya rest her head on his shoulder. Part of me expected Harumi to join the group hug, or her to say something as Lloyd evened his breaths and pulled away from the hug moments later. But there was nothing as Lloyd whispered a thanks, then we were going to back to the bridge.

When I looked back to Harumi, she seemed distracted, almost... happy? That couldn't be right, though. She said it herself, Lord Garmadon hurt a lot of people, he was evil. I must've been imagining things, or just misreading her expression. Right? I decided that it was one of the two as I climbed up the ladder, following behind Nya.