"NO!"

To scream was all she could do as she witnessed her mother be crushed by a car that came crashing down on her.

She couldn't hold back her tears, and everything became blurry. Kylie knew she had to go on, but the wind was so ferocious and her spirit was so low that she wasn't sure if she could do it.

The city was filled screams as cars and large parts of buildings being literally thrown through the city by the Overlord. The only people to be seen were either running for shelter or not moving because they were probably dead.

Kylie ducked in an allleyway so she didn't get sucked down the street. She looked up, and - how was it possible? - she saw them. The ninja. The city's only hope. They were also running as to not be sucked into the gust of wind. 

She looked farther around the corner and saw a giant tornado of brilliant gold, which was causing the wind like a tornado would. Cars and anything were flying through the air, being sucked in by it. But her heart leapt into her throat as she saw a large piece of roof smash into one of the ninja and send him flying into a building, a couple down from the one she was hiding behind. She had to get to him. Whichever one it was, she couldn't tell. 

She kept her eyes on the place where he fell, and fought against the pull of the wind towards him. Finally she got there, and dug around in the debris before she spotted something: the red cloth of the ninja's gi. 

She worked very hard to lift the rest of the metal scraps off of him. Finally he was free, and she managed to lift him from under the arms and drag his unconscious body towards the nearest manhole, which was only several yards away. She had seen others going inside these for shelter earlier.

By the time she opened the lid, the winds had died down significantly. Phew, she thought, I thought I might pass out from exhaustion. She wasn't surprised to find other people hiding in the narrow tunnel, and was able to lower the red ninja down to several hands willing to help.

By the time Kylie climbed down herself, she was extremely exhausted, and her body wanted to pass out, but she fought the urge. She forced herself to look at the ninja to make sure he was ok. People had moved out of the way to make room to lay him down. She squeezed her way past a few, then knelt beside him. 

She checked his pulse and breath. 

He was alive.

She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in, and smiled, looking around at the people staring down at her. She felt a surge of pride; she had saved a ninja.

She checked him for injuries and found multiple cuts, bruises, and scrapes, especially from where the car hit him. There was nothing to be done about it now, but he would be ok, as long as the Overlord was defeated in a reasonable amount of time.

She leaned against a wall and closed her eyes.

The next thing she knew, she was woken up by the ground and walls of the tunnel shaking. There was chaos above, though no one knew what was happening. She had no idea how long she had slept, either.

 A chill went through Kylie, and suddenly everything was still. The lid of the manhole cracked open and an icy breeze blew into the tunnel. A couple people climbed up to the top and peeked out, and shouted that the coast was clear. Everyone slowly crawled out, and someone helped her carry the unconscious ninja.

They immediately spotted others who were also crawling out from hiding underground, and some of the first were the ninja. Their sensei was the first to notice them.

"Kai!" he cried, and ran towards them, and so did the other ninja when they turned and saw what their sensei saw.

The red ninja was scooped up by his family, and Kylie watched as they wept over him. No, it wasn't just that... someone else was missing.

One of the ninja was gone. Dead.

She shuddered at the realization.

She cried for her own mother. A few trickling tears turned into choking sobs as she fell to her knees and sobbed.

🌱🌱🌱

A couple days later, a public funeral was held for the thousands found dead. Kylie attended and found herself weeping at her mother's makeshift tombstone.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up. It was the sensei Wu. "You... you were the one who saved my student," he said.

"Um, mhm," Kylie sniffed and wiped her face.

"You have no idea how much this means to us. We are forever in your debt." He nodded a small bow.

"He's ok?" she breathed.

"Yes, he's doing well. But are you alright? What happened?"

She stifled a sob and looked down. She still didn't even have enough energy or courage to stand. "Well, I-" She paused as another sob threatened to break through. "My mom..." She couldn't finish.

"Oh. I'm very sorry." He sounded genuinely grieved at the news.

"What you did was very brave. And sacrificial." He paused as he thought for a moment. "What will you do now? Do you have somewhere to go?"

She shook her head. "I'm on my own now."

"You don't have any friends or relatives, anyone?"

"No," she murmured.

"Well, you can... you can stay with us," he offered, and held out his hand.

She looked up at him, surprised. "Really?"

"Yes. Really."

"Ok." She took his hand.

🌱🌱🌱

Though Wu knew that it was quite a commitment to invite a stranger to stay with them after both sides had experienced traumatic events, he knew it was the right thing to do. Besides, he told himself, there is something special about her. I can tell. Not everyone goes chasing after others when their own lives are in danger.

The team mutually accepted Kylie right off the bat, since she had saved Kai's life. She didn't become good friends with any of them at first (besides Wu), because they all had to deal with the grief of losing Zane, or in Kylie's case, her mother.

At first, Kylie stayed in her room as much as she could.

At some point, Sensei Garmadon came into her room and set a plate of food on her nightstand. "Here's dinner."

"Thanks," she murmured, not looking up, but just at her bed.

"It feels numb, doesn't it."

She looked up at him, surprised. She had expected him to go away. "Yeah."

His eyes were soft with sadness, yet there was no pity in them. "It will pass," he told her. "It's always darkest before the dawn."

She nodded, closing her eyes in emotional pain. "I just... don't know what to do."

"Neither did I. I felt I was losing myself. And it does take a while, but you will find yourself again. I promise." He placed a hand on her arm. "We are here for you."

She nodded, unable to smile or even speak. He nodded back, then left her room and softly closed the door behind him. She sighed and looked down at the food, not hungry. 

🌱🌱🌱

It did take a while, but Kylie soon found the strength to come out of her room regularly, and even visit her old apartment in the city to get things from it.

As soon as Kylie had remotely some grip on herself, she decided to start making connections with her new family. Not even living with new people after each party just had someone die on them was awkward for Kylie. She saw it as "I need help, they need help, and we will help each other- even if it's off to a slow start."

First it started as attending meals, where she could talk to people. She easily started a connection with Nya since they were the only girls and about the same age. They started hanging out together, playing icebreaker games and talking. Then sometimes they would go on walks, hikes, or made bracelets or watched movies (usually romance).

Nya would rant about her love life and how weird Kai was (then how good of a brother he was), or about Zane, and tell Kylie all about him. Kylie likewise told Nya about her childhood and experience with homeschool, and her mean older sister and dad that left. At one point their conversation actually got deep, and they cried together.

Kylie had conversations with all of the ninja at one point, but one interaction stood out in her mind the most. She had found Cole painting outside at a table one day. "What are you painting?" she asked him.

He looked up from his work. "Oh, hi," he managed a smile.

"Hi," she smiled back.

"Uh, it's some snowy mountains."

"That's really pretty!" she complimented. "You're... amazing at that."

Cole gave a sarcastic laugh. "Not really."

"Are you kidding? This is gorgeous. And it looks real."

"Well, thanks." He continued to paint.

"Why'd you decide to paint this?" she asked innocently, like she didn't know what personal privacy was (which she didn't).

"Umm... I like mountains. Mountain climbing. And... the snow's for... Zane."

"Hmm." She sat down next to him. "You miss him."

"Yeah," his voice took on a sadder tone.

"I miss my mom," she told him, "so I understand. It feels awful."

Cole nodded. "Actually, I think I know how you feel," he blurted out.

"Huh?" she looked at him, surprised.

"I lost my mom too, actually almost right before I started training with Sensei Wu."

"Oh," she looked into his eyes. They were a beautiful brown. She could also tell he'd been crying. "I'm sorry you lost her."

"Me too. I mean- I'm sorry you lost yours too." His face turned red.

"Thanks," she smiled gratefully. "Do you mind if I watch you paint?"

"No, that's fine."

She sat down on the bench next to him and rested her chin in her palm as she watched him. "So, you were close to her?"

"Uh, yeah. She... was my only friend." His voice was close to a whisper.

"Really?" Her posture straightened and she put both hands down on the table. "Me too," she said, giving him a sad smile. He returned it. "What about... I'm scared to ask, but what about your dad?"

Cole set down his paint brush, drying it on a paper towel. "Well, he just didn't get me. He tried to make me into someone that I wasn't."

"Like the thing was more important than you and who you are."

He nodded.

"Yeah," she continued. "My dad was a jerk to us. They divorced."

"That sucks."

"Yeah," she rolled her eyes and smiled sarcastically. He forced a laugh and they fell into silence. After a few moments, she sighed contentedly. "It's so nice out. The sky's so pretty."

"Huh, it is," he looked up, then looked at her. Bits of gold hair were moving slightly in the breeze, and her blue eyes looked upward, even as sorrow was tucked behind them. Their eyes met, and he looked back to his icy mountains as he felt his face and neck explode red.

She noticed. "Ya know, it was actually really good to talk about this stuff to you. Thank you for being so open with me." She laid a hand on his arm.

"Oh, uh, sure," he smiled.

"Well, I'll leave you to your gorgeous painting," she stood up. "See ya."

"See ya."

Walking down the hall to her room, Kylie smiled. We have so much in common, she thought. Gosh, wait, she stopped at a window and looked out at him. Oh, his hair is gorgeous. Then she groaned out loud. Kylie, why do you have to like everyone?

🌱🌱🌱

Eventually the team started splitting up.

First Kai.

He said he couldn't work without the whole team anymore, and that was it. Packed up and left.

Cole was next.

He didn't pack a whole lot. He said he wasn't really sure where he was going, but he'd find somewhere. He gave everyone a big goodbye hug, even (and much to her surprise) Kylie.

Finally, Jay left.

But it was only after he had a plan of what he was going to do. He decided he was going to be a comedian or host a game show or something like that, and he knew of people that could hook him up to the entertainment industry. He packed up a lot of stuff, but waited 4 whole days to leave after he started packing because he "wasn't finished." (Everyone could tell it was because he didn't really want to leave.) When he really did leave, he made sure to tell everyone goodbye. He also cried and gave everyone hugs.

That just left the three of them: Kylie, Nya, and Lloyd.