Kai's P.O.V.:

I was pacing the floor waiting for Skylor to come home. She was supposed to be here four hours ago but she hadn't come home yet. I know I can't call her when she's working on a case because she has to keep her phone off, but I was really worried.

The kids were worried too and we were all up late waiting for her to come home. I was finally able to convince them to go to bed and have me wait for Skylor.

I kept looking outside until finally I saw her car pull up in the driveway. I was so relieved I ran outside to meet her. She hobbled out of the car holding her side and was covered in bruises. I immediately helped her out.

"What happened?" I asked very concerned.

"Akamu, h-he got away." She coughed and almost fell to the ground until I picked her back up.

"Hey take it easy. Are you alright?" I told her.

"I'm fine just get me inside. I don't want to freak the kids out." She told me.

I knew Skylor was a lot worse than she let on, but at this time of night I'm sure she didn't want to go anywhere else. I took her inside like she asked and set her down on the couch. I got her some tea and made her the leftovers we had saved for her from dinner. After a while she had calmed down and told me all about the fight she had with Akamu.

"...then when I finally came to it was already 10:30." She finished her story.

"Sounds like you've had a long day." I said.

"Pretty much." She took a sip of her tea and held her side in pain again.

"Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?" I asked.

"No I'm feeling better now." She said sitting up.

"Maybe you shouldn't go in tomorrow so you can stay home and rest." I suggested.

"My boss said I could take the day off if I needed to but it wouldn't feel right." She shook her head. "The only reason he got away was because I wasn't fast enough. I know where his base is now. All I have to do is track him down again and arrest him."

"That sounds like it's easier said than done." I said.

"Yeah, but I owe it to Maizy and Zach." She frowned. "I have to arrest him before he finds where we're keeping them. If I didn't and something happened to them I would never be able to forgive myself."

"I know you want to protect them, but our kids need their mom too." I frowned. "You had a close call today, but next time you might not come home at all."

"Kai, this job is dangerous but I knew that when I signed up for it." She said. "I found a true calling where I finally feel like I'm doing something that matters, something that makes a difference in the world."

"I told you that I would always be supportive as long as it was something you really wanted to do." I reminded her.

"It is." She said.

"Then like I said, I'll support you." I smiled.

"Thank you." She smiled.

She gave me a kiss on the cheek and then Trent came downstairs in his pajamas.

"Mom!" He ran to Skylor and gave her a hug.

"Hey kiddo." Skylor hugged him back.

"Trent, what are you doing up?" I asked.

"I thought I heard Mom coming in." He said. "I was worried about you."

"It's ok buddy, I'm sorry I got off late." Skylor smiled.

"That's ok. I know your job is important." He said smiling.

"Alright champ, now off to bed." I said.

"Ok." He sighed. "Good night."

"Night Trent." Skylor hugged him again.

"Night." I said as he ran back upstairs.

Skylor and I smiled at each other. I noticed she was still holding her side so I went to the kitchen and brought her back an ice pack.

"Thanks." She said easing the pack on her side.

"Can I get you anything else?" I asked.

"That's sweet but I'm ok for now." She smiled.

"You want me to help you up the stairs?"

"That's ok, I'll just stay here and rest a little while. I'll be up in a bit."

"Ok but if you need anything send me a text."

"I will. Good night."

"Good night."

I gave her a kiss on the cheek and went upstairs to my room. I wanted to stay with Skylor, but I knew she wouldn't want me to. She likes to do everything for herself, even when she's sick or hurt. I was pretty used to that by now, that's just how she is. I couldn't help but worry about her though. I'm proud of her for always wanting to care for everyone, but hopefully she'll remember to take care of herself too.

———

The next morning I woke up and Skylor wasn't in the bed with me. I assumed that she fell asleep on the couch so I went to check on her. I got downstairs and I caught her coming out of the bathroom holding her side.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked.

"Better than last night." She said. "Sorry I didn't come to bed last night. I guess I just dozed off."

"It's ok, as long as you got your rest." I said.

"Are the kids up yet? I wanna see them before I leave for work." She told me.

"Not yet, they stayed up pretty late last night." I said. "Are you sure that going to work today is the best idea? Your side still looks like it's hurting you."

"It's fine, it's just sore."

"I can call Kira. She's about to graduate from nursing school so I'm sure she could check you out real fast just to make sure it's nothing too serious."

"I told you I'm fine."

"Remember when I hurt my back all those years ago?" I asked. "You made me go to the doctor."

"Ok Kai if it's not better by tomorrow I will go to the hospital, but today I have to go to work. Ok?"

"Alright." I agreed. "Just promise you'll be careful."

"I will." She smiled.

A few minutes later all three of the kids ran downstairs and bombarded Skylor with hugs. I was worried that the kids were going to accidentally make her injuries worse, but Skylor seemed more than happy to see them.

"Hey kiddos." She smiled.

"Where were you last night?" Blake asked.

"Yeah we were so worried about you." Amber said.

"I got stuck working late and I just couldn't get out of there." She lied. "I'm sorry for worrying you kids, I promise I'll call next time I'm gonna be late."

"That's ok Mom, we know what you're doing is important." Trent said nodding at me.

"Alright kids, let's get some breakfast and let your mom get to work."

"We love you mom." All three of them said.

"I love you kids too." Skylor smiled and pulled them all into a big hug.

After the hug, the kids ran into the kitchen and I helped Skylor off the couch. Her rib was still hurting her, but she was looking a little better and she wasn't limping anymore. She gave me a kiss and then walked out to her car. I only hoped she would come back in one piece.

Seliel's P.O.V.:

Cole, Donna, Allison and I had just gotten back to our place from the funeral. Me and Donna were a little upset about losing my father, but after watching him suffer for so long, it made me feel better that he wasn't suffering anymore. Given he was the only real family I had left besides Allison, it would still take a while for me to move on completely.

All of us were too upset to cook, so we ordered pizza but I didn't feel like eating. I was pretty upset about losing my father, but we had bigger matters to attend to. With my dad gone, the village was left without a mayor, and we had to decide who would take over.

"So what now?" Donna looked at all of us.

"Cole's uncle and his family agreed to handle things in the village for now, but we can't leave Nom without a mayor forever." I said.

"Should you guys really be talking about this so soon?" Cole asked.

"It's what Albert always did." Donna said.

"That's true, he never liked to waste time." I added. "Plus I want the new mayor of the town to run it exactly the way he did. Toughly, but fairly."

"Mom, we're not gonna have to move here, are we?" Allison spoke up.

"Allison, we talked about this." Cole scolded.

"Cole it's ok." I dismissed. "To tell you the truth I don't know yet. There's still a lot of things we have to figure out, but if it turns out that I have to move back here, then I'm not going to make you and your dad come with me."

"What?" Cole shouted. "You want to split the family up again?"

"Of course not, but your life is in Ninjago." I frowned. "Plus if I take over as mayor I'll be so busy you'll never see me anyway. At least if you stay in Ninjago I'll know I didn't ruin your lives."

"Ruin our lives?" He questioned. "Seliel, the only thing that would ruin my life is if I never got to see you."

"Yeah Mom. I want us to stay together." Allison frowned.

"I do too all-star, but I can't do that to you." I frowned. "I know you don't want to leave your friends and I'm not gonna make you."

"Seliel, we'll stay if you want us to stay." Cole said. "It's your decision."

I looked at my family all staring at me waiting for me to make a decision. I didn't want to be apart from them again, but I also couldn't ask them to leave their whole life behind them. I could always go back to Ninjago with them, but I can't leave Donna to run the village by herself. I didn't know what to do.

"Seliel?" Cole looked at me. "Are you ok?"

"I... I just need some time to think." I told them.

"Of corse, take all the time you need." Cole said.

"Thank you."

I turned around and ran into what was always my bedroom. Tears rolled down my eyes as I picked up a picture of me and my father I had on the nightstand. I missed him so much already.

"Oh Dad, tell me what to do."

As I held the picture, I felt something taped to the back of it. I flipped the frame over and saw a piece of paper taped to the frame. It turned out to be a letter from my father:

____________________________

Dear Seliel,

If you're reading this, it probably means I don't have long left in this realm or I've gone to be with your mother. I know that one of the first things you'll think about when I'm gone is who will take over as mayor. I may have wanted to you to follow in my footsteps, but that was before you had a family to take care of. Don't worry about me, where I'm going I'll be fine, but your family should be the most important thing to you, and if you have to get someone outside the family to be the new mayor, than I would be ok with that as long as they turn it into a totally different town of course. Anyway, wherever I am, I love you and I'll see you when you get up here.

~ Love Dad.

_________________________________

That letter made my tears of sadness into tears of joy. Those final words from my dad were exactly what I needed to read. I didn't want to give the town a new mayor because I was worried that my father wouldn't be ok with that, but I guess as long as I pick the right person he would be. Choosing that person was going to be the hard part, but once I find them I will be able to move on knowing Nom was going to be well taken care of.

Later that night Cole came into the bedroom. He got dressed and laid down next to me, cuddling with me so I would feel better.

"Hey." I tried to smile.

"Hey." He hugged me. "I'm sorry we put all that pressure on you, no one is making you decide anything until you feel the time is right."

"I appreciate that, but I think I know what I'm going to do."

"You do?"

"Yep." I nodded. "I'm gonna stay here for the next month or two and find someone to be the new mayor."

"But I thought you wanted to keep it in the family." Cole frowned.

"I found this letter from my father and he said as long as I find the right person and keep an eye on him, he'd be fine with it. Plus Donna would be here to oversee everything."

"Well I guess we could stay a couple months to help you find somebody."

"Cole, you and Allison don't want to be here, plus Allison's got her online school and the ninja team and everything, being up here would just distract her."

"So you want us to go back without you again?" Cole frowned.

"It's only for a few months. I want to stay here and help Donna out because she's probably going to be lonely for a little while. Plus I need to find the perfect person to be the new mayor. I know it sounds like a lot, but it was really important to my father that the town is left in good hands."

"I understand." Cole nodded. "I mean we are going to miss you like crazy, but I know how important this is and we're going to support you."

"Thank you." I hugged him.

I didn't want to be away from my family again, but I would rather do this than have them uproot their whole lives. It really was the best route for everyone.

Lloyd's P.O.V.:

It had been a few days since I took Ethan to the doctor and he was feeling a lot better, but this was only the beginning. We had a lot of work to do if he was going to keep those powers under control. Plus we still have to find a way to tell a four year old that he has powers that will destroy him if he doesn't control them right.

"Ahhhhh! Mommy! Daddy help!" We heard Ethan screaming from his bedroom.

Kira and I looked at each other and ran to his bedroom as fast as we could. We saw Ethan on the bed panicked about something.

"Ethan, we're here. What's wrong?" I hugged him.

"I-I had a bad dream." He stuttered.

"It's ok son, it was just a dream. It's over now." Kira rubbed his back.

"B-but it felt so real." He held his head. "I threw one of your swords over the fence, and when I went to pick it up I-I was bitten by a snake."

Kira and I looked at each other. We knew that this wasn't just a dream, this was a vision. It wasn't necessarily going to happen to him, but this was destiny's metaphor for his powers overtaking him. We knew it wouldn't be long.

"Ethan honey, there's something your dad and I need to talk to you about." Kira said.

Ethan wiped his tears and set on my lap, giving us all his attention.

"You know how your brother and sister have special powers?" I asked.

"Mhm." He nodded.

"Well, one day you're going to have powers too, but your powers will be different." Kira said.

"Different?" He looked at me. "How different?"

"Well your grandfather had the power of destruction, and it seems like that's the power you will get." I told him.

"What?" He panicked. "You mean I'm meant to be... evil"

"Of course not tiger." Kira shook her head.

"But they turned Grandpa evil." He frowned. "What if they turn me evil too?"

"Ethan, this doesn't have to be a bad thing." I said. "All you have to do is find a way to use your powers for good."

"How do you use the power of destruction for good?" He asked frustrated.

"If anyone can figure it out it's you." Kira hugged him. "And your dad is going to train you to control them."

"Yeah, you won't have to do this by yourself." I added.

"But I don't want to end up like Grandpa." He frowned.

"Ethan, your mom and I will never let that happen. I promise." I hugged him.

He nodded and gave us both a hug. He was still upset, but we expected nothing less. I'm actually surprised he was being so calm about this, or as calm as a four year old can be. It was going to be hard but if anyone can do it he could. I just hope that I can keep my promise.