Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago, just the story and my OC's.

Max walked slowly back to the monastery. He wasn't looking forward to what was about to happen. How could he hurt the girl of his dreams? The girl he had a crush on forever. The girl whose brother would kill him for what he did. He looked at his watch and saw that football and cheer practice had ended a little while ago which meant that the others had plenty of time to get back to the monastery.

When he finally arrived back at the monastery, he cautiously walked into the living room where almost everybody was, including the one person he hoped he wouldn't have to deal with first. Justin.

"You," Justin said angrily when he saw Max there. He stormed up to the person he thought was his best friend. "How could you do that to my sister?!" He grabbed Max by his shirt.

"I-I don't know," Max stuttered.

"How do you not know?!"

"We were just talking and I don't know what happened. I never wanted to hurt Alex. You have to believe me!"

"Like how you believed me earlier!"

Max decided to try to appeal to Justin's more secret caring side. "Justin, you know better than anyone how much I care for Alex."

"I'm starting to think I don't," Justin hissed.

Kai got in between the two of them to keep things from escalating. "Break it up you two."

Max ran off to his room without saying another word. No one followed him. They thought that it was best to give him his space for a while.

Max closed the door to his room and slid to the ground with tears running down his face. He hurt the girl he loved. His best friend hated him. He felt like everything was falling apart and he thought back to what Emma said he could do. Maybe everyone would be better off without him. He pulled out a green duffel bag that he had for small trips that they might have taken for missions and packed some clothes, essential supplies, and all the money that he had. He put on a green hoodie and pulled the hood up. He climbed out the window of his room so he wouldn't get caught. He snuck through the training yard and down the mountain. He walked to a bus stop and waited for a bus to show up. When it did, he hopped on. He was lucky that no one recognized him. He didn't care where he was going. He just wanted to get away.

Back at the monastery

It was quiet in the living room of the monastery since Max ran out. The parents, except for Jay and Nya who were with Alex, walked into the kitchen.

"I have to say, I know what Max did was wrong, but Justin didn't have to react like that," Kai said.

"Hmmm. Seem familiar?" Cole said.

"What do mean?"

"He acted like you would, Kai," Lloyd said.

"No way." Everyone nodded in agreement with what Lloyd said. "Ok. Maybe I would."

"I'm going to check on Max," Britney said.

"I'll come with you," Lloyd said and they went to go check on their son.

"Does anyone else think that something weird is going on?" Zane asked.

"I think Zane is correct," PIXAL said. "This is not like Max at all."

"Do you think someone is trying to break up the team?" Skylor asked.

"We should keep a close eye on them," Seliel said.

"Seliel is right," Cole agreed. "Someone could be doing something to them to make act different."

Lloyd and Britney came running back into the kitchen with worried expressions.

"What's wrong?" Kai asked worried.

"Max is gone!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"WHAT!!!" the other parents exclaimed.

"We went to his room and he was gone along with a lot of his things!" Britney said.

"Don't worry," Skylor reassured them. "We'll find him."

"I cannot find his tracker signal," Zane said as he was trying to locate it.

"He might have turned it off," PIXAL added.

"Where is he?" Britney asked. She was terrified where her son might have gone. No one had any answer.

The football game

The next day

"Do our parents know where Max went at all?" Mason asked Justin.

"No," Justin sighed. "I shouldn't have freaked out so much to be honest."

"Are you ok?"

"My instincts are still giving me red flags about Emma. I really think there's something off about her."

"What are you thinking?" Mason was starting to think that Justin might be right, but he wanted to get Justin' theory about the situation first.

"I don't know how and I don't know why, but I think that Emma made Max kiss her."

"You think that she wanted them to break up?"

"I do. Max would never want to hurt Alex."

Mason sighed and put a hand on Justin's shoulder. "I think you might be right. We all know Max and this isn't like him. Juliet is feeling the same way."

"And now we can't even find him."

"We will." Mason was trying to be reassurring, but he didn't even know if they would find him.

The coach walked up to Justin and Mason. "The game is about to start. Where's Max?"

"He's sick," Justin answered quickly. That was the cover story they were using. If anyone found out that the green ninja was missing, people would freak out.

The coach sighed. He was obviously frustrated since Max had also missed practice yesterday. "Ok. I hope he feels better soon." The coach walked away and Justin and Mason released breaths they didn't even know they were holding. The coach doesn't like anyone missing practices and especially games without giving him advanced notice.

"Covering for Max is hard," Mason said.

"It is," Justin agreed and sighed. "Let's hope we find him soon."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Just so you know, it will get worse before it gets better. What will be the next step in Emma's plan? Find out next chapter!