The morning air was cool in the Bounty, which sits on top of a rocky mountain. It was fairly quiet, or in Alyssa's room it was. She had finally moved her bunkbed into a seperate room, away from the boys. It was about time, she really needed the privacy.

She had just finished her morning shower and was bringing her dirty clothes back into her room, humming a quiet tune to herself that floats down the hallway. She furrows her eyebrows when her open door meets her vision and her tune comes to an abrupt stop. I swear I closed that.

Entering her room, she drops her clothes into her laundry basket with a small frown on her lips. With her hands now free, she goes over to her bedside table to grab her necklace. Her heart instantly drops to her stomach when she notices it wasn't where she last put it, and she knows she would never misplace something as important as that.

Growing anxious, she searches shakily around the table, hoping the necklace just slipped onto the floor. Panic was quick to set in when she couldn't find it and frustrated tears began to prick her eyes.

"Looking for something, Alyssa?"

The sound of Lloyds voice has her jumping in surprise, almost making her hit her head against the bottom of her bunk. Quickly blinking away the tears, she turns her head to look at him from over her shoulder. "Yeah, my necklace." She was quick to go back to her search, even taking her pillows off her bed, "I swear I put it on my table so I could shower, but I can't find it anywhere and it's something I can't bare to lose." She mumbles to him, throwing her blanket onto the floor.

"Oh," Lloyd pipes up, hands behind his back as he rocks on his heels. His reaction has her attention instantly, "I think the guys were in here last." He watches her eyes widen and continues, holding back his smile, "They were looking for something and thought you might have had it, so maybe they know where it is?"

"They're dead." Alyssa clenches her teeth and marches out of her room, passing Lloyd on the way out and leaving her usually tidy room a mess.

Below deck, the guys loudly argued between each other. Everyone had someone to blame for something, and they didn't seem to hold back their words.

"You couldn't just be happy with the top score. You had to rub it in my face!" Kai points a finger in Cole's face, eyebrows scrunched and creased.

Cole scoffs and pushes his hand away to turn to Jay, "Do you know how long it took me to make that? Three days. Three days!" He aggressively holds up three fingers, but Jay wasn't paying him any attention.

"It's an unsaid law, okay? You don't touch a man's robot!" Jay clenches his hands at his sides, eyes glaring daggers at Zane, while sporting a few bruises from his training machine that went haywire.

Zane too wasn't listening, instead giving his best glare towards Kai. "How am I supposed to strike fear in this?" He holds up his gi, which wasn't the clean white anymore, "It's pink!"

Slamming open the door, the boys snapped their faces to meet the deadly calm expression of Alyssa, who stares each of them down. "Which one of you took my necklace?" Her words hang in the air for a moment before she got impatient, their silence making her more annoyed. "Who took it?!" She begins to stride up to them, making them all stutter for an explanation.

Giggling stops the potential fight, and the sight of Lloyd chuckling with all of their stuff besides him has their blood boiling. Wu really shouldn't have come in and opened that rice door, now Lloyd might be in a bit of trouble. "You did this?!" They all shout, annoyed and frustrated.

Cole breathes roughly through his nose and takes a step forward, Alyssa not even stopping him when he cracks his knuckles. "Guys, I get first dibs on-"

Wu shakes his head, "No dibs." His stern voice has Cole stopping in his tracks. "I put him up to this for today's lesson. I wanted to show you the destructive power of rumors and that jumping to conclusions can only lead to trouble. Did you ever think to find out if the accusations were true?" Lloyd only grins further at their scowls.

"Uh, no offence, Sensei, but let me jump to this conclusion: today's lesson is lame." Cole glares daggers at Lloyd before sending Wu a pointed look, not impressed at all.

Jay scoffs and rolls his eyes, "Yeah, why can't you just teach us to paralyse your enemy with one finger, or find out if a man is lying by the twitch of his nose?"

"Because not all lessons are about fighting." Wu was quick to point out, though his voice lowers just loud enough for them to catch as he looks off to the side, "And I misplaced my lesson book."

Glaring heatedly at Lloyd, Kai catches sight of something familiar when Alyssa brushes past Lloyd without uttering a word or sparing him a glance to take back her necklace. He shuffles past her and pinches the book out of Lloyds pocket to wave it in the air, "You mean this lesson book?"

Lloyd frowns at him, annoyed that his plan didn't go the way he wanted. "It was the perfect plan until you have to show up and mess everything up—" Before he could continue his rant, Cole slides the rice door back across, closing Lloyd off on the other side.

"Thank you, Cole." Alyssa sighs, finishing up with clipping her necklace on around her neck while Cole places his hands on his hips, "I couldn't have done it better myself."

"If you're done fooling around, I could use you guys on the bridge." Nya's voice crackles over the speaker, "We do still have a snake problem to attend to. Over and out!"

Kai sighs when the PA system goes quiet. "It's one thing to let the son of your nemesis live with you. But having my sister here? I mean, come on! I thought this was a ninja headquarters!"

Nya's voice once again picks up over the system, an awkward silence following after her words, "You do know I can hear you...over and out!"

Kai only rubs his face with a groan before they head up onto the bridge where Nya stands in front of a map of Ninjago, studying it with keen eyes. She does a quick glance at them before going back to the map, "Last we heard of Pythor, he stole the Map of Dens from Lloyd and is now on his way to open the last two Serpentine tombs."

"Don't remind me." Lloyd groans, head tilted down in remorse.

"Pythor's our most dangerous threat." Wu glares at the map once and then meets the eyes of the ninja, "If he finds those tombs before we do, with his intellect and all four tribes unleashed, there's no telling what he'll do."

Jay frowns, "But those tombs could be anywhere. Without the map, we might as well just throw darts at a map!" He throws his arms in the air in defeat.

Nya grins to herself and holds up to darts, "Good idea. Why don't we?" She throws the darts, barley missing Kai's head, who ducks. The darts land on the map. "These are the two locations of the Hypnobrai and Fangpyre tombs."

Kai huffs under his breath and crosses his arms, "Show off."

Nya ignores him and throws another dart on the map, "And this is Pythor's tomb." She turns back around to face them, "After many hours of ruminating on why the tombs were placed in these three precise locations, I discovered a secret pattern." She picks up a flashlight from the table and turns it on, pointing it at the map to reveal that the light was in a snake form. "If you notice, all three are in line with the Ninjago symbol for serpent."

Jay, who had somehow been listening in between his swooning, steps forward to point at two spots on the map. "So the last two tombs must be here and here. Ah, you are so smart." He sighs, staring at the girl in awe.

Nya only rolls her eyes and places a hand on her hip. "Was there ever any doubt?"

Wu breaks the two apart when he speaks up, bringing back their attention. "There's little time. Kai, Alyssa and Jay, you head to the Venomari Tomb. Cole and Zane, you take the Constrictai Tomb. And take this." He holds out the Sacred Flute with care, which Cole slowly takes. "You might need it if you run into Pythor. Good luck, ninja."

Nya frowns to herself and watches the others nod. "What am I gonna do?"

"Yeah, what are we gonna do?" Lloyd was too excited to even notice the small glare he was receiving from Nya.

Wu sighs, knowing this was coming. "Nya, I need you here to make sure Lloyd doesn't get into any more trouble." Lloyd instantly frowns at the news, shoulders sagging.

Nya bites the inside of her cheek and crosses her arms, annoyance clear in her tone, "Yes, Sensei."

With the flute safely tucked away, Cole turns to the team with a nod. "Let's go, guys. We got some snakes to club."

~~~

It took them less than an hour to get to the Toxic Bogs, their vehicles coming to be a great use after getting to know how to actually use them. Getting closer to their destination, they come to a stop with their rides disappearing in a flash of light.

The three stood on swampy grounds, the air filled with green mist that didn't smell pleasant at all. Jay holds a hand to his nose, face scrunching up as he side eyes Kai, "Ew."

Kai frowns and shakes his head, "Hey, it's not me. We're in the Toxic Bogs. This stuff will eat through you worse than Cole's chili." He visibly shudders at the thought of the forbidden food. He kicks a stick into the swamps water, which instantly melts the stick down into nothing.

Alyssa had a similar expression to Jays as they slowly come up to the closed doors of the Venomari Tomb. "I'm so glad I didn't eat before this." She grumbles as Jay opens the tomb, which sends even more stench towards them.

Jay fans at the smell, "Pee-yew." His words echo back to him, making the boy giggle childishly.

Kai sighs, Alyssa shaking her head besides him as he glances around the empty bogs, "Let's just make this quick before Pythor gets here." He mutters, walking away from the pair.

After hearing nothing from within the tomb, Jay turns to Alyssa besides him with a shrug of his shoulders, "This place looks empty. We must've just missed them." An idea forms in his head and he chuckles, making the girl sigh, "Check this out."

He turns towards the tombs opening and cups his hands around his mouth, "They say you're the Green Ninja, but I say I am!" His voice echoes back to him with a 'I am. I am.' He giggles loudly, finding humour in such a little thing.

Facepalming next to him, Alyssa mutters to herself as he shouts back into the cave. "Now I see why Sensei paired me with you two. I'm the babysitter."

"No, I'm the real Jay!" 'No, I'm the real Jay!' He giggles, and Alyssa would have guessed that the whole echo thing could keep him busy for the next hour or two.

The ravenette goes to move Jay away from the cave when Kai's voice shouts out. "Oh, this is not good. Jay! Alyssa! There's so many. Elves and gingerbread people everywhere!"

The pair furrow their eyebrows and peek over the cave wall to see Kai curled up on the ground, hands covering his eyes as he shakes furiously. Venomari creep up on him, hissing under their breaths as they grow closer and closer on the hallucinating boy.

Alyssa grabs her Golden Katana from its sheath and narrows her eyes at the snakes, "I take it he was hit with their venom." She mutters, pulling a disorientated Kai behind her as he cries about Christmas people.

Jay twirls his nunchucks and kicks away a snake, "This is no time to lose yourself, Kai! Come on!"

He only backs further into the wall behind him, hazy green eyes sweeping across them all. "I've never fought little people before! We're toast!" He grabs onto Alyssa's shoulders, using her as a shield which she ignores.

Just as the Venomari tribe seemed to double, Cole and Zane came rocketing in with their vehicles. They land on their feet with a burst of colour in front of the caves mouth, weapons drawn as Cole glowers at the tribe. "Anyone order a little kick butt?"

His voice echos through the cave, butt, butt, butt making Jay snicker loudly despite their predicament. His chuckling was instantly turned into a scream when Pythor slithers out of the cave behind Zane and Cole with a loud, "Boo!"

"The flute, quick!" Alyssa hurries, regaining her footing after nearly falling backwards at the surprise of the snake. She watches Zane take it out and bring it to his mouth, barely able to make a noise before it was roughly yanked away by Pythor's long tail. "No!"

"Oh, let's not let music ruin things, hmm?" Pythor grins, holding the Sacred Flute out of their reach. The army of snakes backs the ninja towards the toxic swamp, but they were lucky enough to jump onto a thick log floating by. It drifts back slowly at their movements, but it doesn't stop Pythor from chuckling as the log starts to disintegrate beneath their weight. "I've got a sinking feeling this may be the last I see of you five. What a shame."

They continue to float back ever so slowly, yet they could all feel the way the log started to sink further and further into the green toxin. "That's it." Cole begins, holding his scythe tightly as he glares at the snakes in front of them, "I used to hate dragons, but now I officially hate snakes!"

"Wait, do you see that?" Kai wobbles on his feet as he reaches out for nothing, "A magic floating rope. We can climb to safety." He slurs, beginning to walk forward into certain death if it weren't for Alyssa and Jay, who hold him back by the shoulders.

"Boy, that Venomari Venom is some powerful stuff." Jay mumbles, tightening his hold on the boy when he tries to go forward again. The Serpentine only laugh at their impending doom.

Their feet get closer and closer to the bogs water, the sizzling of the disintegrating wood getting louder. Zane lowers his head and sighs before meeting their eyes, defeat clear in his gaze. "For whatever it is worth, it was an honor to fight beside you all."

Cole frowns behind his mask and nods softly, unable to think of a way to get out of the situation. "Me too."

"Yeah, ditto." Jay mutters, staring deep into the green of the bog, awaiting his fate.

Alyssa shakes her head, unable to accept that this was where her journey ends. "It can't end like this. It just can't." She breathes out softly, and it was like someone was listening to her when a rope suddenly dangles in front of them.

"The magic rope." Kai mumbles, murky green eyes staring at the rope with wonder.

"Come on, move it!" Alyssa urges, making sure that each of them go before her. She watches between her friends swinging to safe ground and the giant Samurai mech that rockets down to attack the Serpentine, even shooting Pythor with a dart that makes him squeal and scurry off - the whole thing managed to bring a smile to her face.

When everyone was off the almost completely ruined log, Alyssa swings on to the rope and lands on the muddy grounds of the bog with a relived sigh. She brushes the mud off her hands and quickly does a head count of the group.

When everyone was accounted for an relatively fine, they stared at the mysterious Samurai with gratitude and awe. "Who are you?" Cole was the first to ask the main question they were all thinking.

"How about the coolest thing I've ever seen?" Jay gushes, waving his hands around as he takes in the mech behind the Samurai.

"Santa?" Alyssa frowns and glances at a totally out of it Kai, and she has to stop herself from pushing him away when he starts reaching out for her ponytail, muttering something about licorice.

Zane bows in front of the Samurai, his pink gi sticking out like a sore thumb. "Thank you, mysterious warrior. I owe you my life for saving—"

He doesn't get to finish his sentence when the Samurai holds out their arm and sprays a blue mist in his face, instantly knocking him out as he falls to the floor in a heap.

"Now that wasn't nice!" Jay snaps, the four of them about to take out their weapons when the same blue mist reaches their faces, making them fall to the ground with groans.

~~~

After getting picked up by the Bounty, the ninja had slowly woken up just before dinner. Washing away the effect of the drugs, they each got dressed in their PJs and sat around the dinner table.

Alyssa pushes away her full plate and instead swaps it for a cup of tea, sighing softly as she takes a long sip. Jay was just finishing up with retelling the story, his arms moving around animatedly, almost hitting Lloyd at least twice.

"So then, just when we were gonna bite it, this huge mechanical robot-"

Zane frowns and snaps his head towards Jay from the other side of Lloyd, "Samurai. It was Samurai."

"A Sama-what?" Lloyd tilts his head, looking towards Wu for an explanation.

Wu sighs and runs a hand through his beard. "Samurai. Highest level of warrior class. They would protect nobility and serve with honor on the battlefield."

Kai, who was still under the effects of the venom, decided to add in his own part of the story. "He was a hundred feet high, with weapons coming out every part of him!" He inhales sharply when he gets a glance of Wu and leans over to whisper to Cole, though the whole table heard him. "Look at Sensei's beard. It's moving like snakes."

Nya groans next to him and drops a hand on the table, "When is this Venomari spit supposed to wear off? It's starting to get annoying." She turns to glare at her brother, who slaps a piece of pumpkin against his face without a twitch of expression.

Everyone gives the boy a glance of concern and mild annoyance. Cole only shakes his head and holds out a hand, "Okay, don't let this mysterious Samurai cloud what's really important." He turns his gaze to Wu, "All the Serpentine are out, and if Pythor can unite them, the legend states some Great Devourer is gonna consume the land and—"

Alyssa tries not to show the way her body goes rigid besides Cole, and lucky Nya voiced her confusion, "Great Devour-er?"

Cole sighs and runs a hand through his thick hair, staring down at the table with a frown. "Whatever it is, it's a can of worms I don't wanna see open."

Lloyd groans and drops his head into his hands, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't opened the first hatch, none of this would've happened."

"We cannot change the past, but we can affect the future. At least we have the Sacred Flute in our possession, so—" Wu's relief was instantly vaporised with Jays next words.

"Yeah, ahem. About that..." He mutters sheepishly, playing with the rim of the cup, which makes the cup tip and spill the water across the table.

"Pythor sort of stole it." Zane rubs the back of his head nervously, unable to meet his Sensei's eyes.

"The last Sacred Flute gone?" Wu's eyes widen at the horrible news, staring at them all in hopes that they were simply playing a trick on him. He sighs when none of them speak up, "You five are Ninjago's last hope."

Alarms start blaring through the speakers, making the group jump to stand up. "Cold vision must have caught something. That means the Serpentine are near!" Nya was the first to rush to the bridge where a hologram of the city was up.

"How many are there?" Jay takes in the multiple little dots of colour in the city, green, blue, red, yellow dots are starting to connect.

"Too many." Alyssa purses her lips, not liking the amount of dots on screen. Everything was happening so fast.

"Pythor must be trying to unite them." Zane points out, staring at the spinning hologram in thought.

Wu furrows his eyebrows and stares at his team with stern eyes. "Go. We mustn't let the five tribes unite!"

They were quick to race to their rooms and get out of their PJs and swap them for their gis before meeting outside on the deck, Zane pulling idly at his pink gi. "I must get this taken care of."

Kai was having difficulty putting his arms through his sleeves due to the venom, and Jay was the one to sigh and help him. "Don't worry. It'll wear off soon. For now, you're coming with me."

With the wind weaving through their masks, they each lined up at the edge of the deck. Jay was the first to jump off the side, having no fear whatsoever, unlike Kai who screamed on the way down. Alyssa blinks the tiredness out of her eyes and jumps after them, holding onto her katana tightly.

She sees Jay summon his jet bellow her, and the closer she got to the ground she prepared to manifest her hover bike. The moment she catches the bright lights of Cole and Zane with their vehicles, she knew it was the right time to summon hers.

A flash blinds her for a moment before she was able to see the bright lights of the city below her, the engine of her hover bike being blocked out by the harsh winds blowing past her. A skyscraper comes hurdling towards her, and she has no problem hovering off the side of it as she flies towards the city streets, neon purple streaks being left behind her.

She slams on the breaks when the ground was just under her, and just stops inches from Zane's bike. She nods at him and he sends one back. Cole was next to land besides them heavily, and he doesn't hesitate to break the connection with his vehicle. The two on their bikes do the same just as Jay and Kai come landing in, sending dust flying. It also seemed like the shock from the ride had snapped Kai out of his daze.

Light from the end of the alleyway caught their attention, and the five were quick to walk towards it with awe on their faces. "Ninjago City." Kai was almost breathless with the view of the bright city streets. "Always heard stories of this place."

"Biggest city in all of Ninjago. Always wanted to come here." Jay hums, blinking rapidly at the brightness of it all.

Cole nods, taking in all the billboards around the place. "Yeah, I always dreamed of one day being on a billboard here."

"You too?"

"Yeah, I did too."

Alyssa raises an eyebrow at Jay and Kai, "Seriously?" She brings her focus back onto the city, taking in the smells and the loud honking of cars. "When I was younger, I always wanted to see the festivals. I've never had the chance to." She lets her face fall for a split second, letting the memories take over her mind before shaking her head.

Zane clears his throat, "Uh, but may I remind you where are the snakes?" He gestures around the area, "We should be standing in the middle of a massive Serpentine gathering."

"I think I have an idea on where they are." Alyssa holds back her disgusted expression and leads them to a nearby manhole cover, where wisps of smoke tendrils lifted up into the air.

"Ugh, I hate snakes." Cole grumbles, glaring down at the manhole cover.

~~~

Walking through the sewers, the team make sure to stay hidden in the shadows as they creep upon the large group of mixed Serpentine, the snakes muttering and chatting loudly together.

Pythor stands on top of a train cart, a podium of sorts as he opens his arms wide to address the crowd, the other Serpentine Generals on other carts around him. "Friends, enemies, and enemies who pretend to be friends." His little joke has the Serpentine laughing, breaking the ice. "I welcome you!"

"That's a lot of snakes." Cole mutters just loud enough for the others to hear, his voice barely echoing.

"You can say that again." Alyssa follows his gaze, though it instantly locks on Pythor, her heart squeezing uncomfortably in her chest.

Jay clutches the railing of the catwalk, "What are we gonna do?"

Kai narrows his eyes and something clicks in his head. "I have an idea. Follow my lead." The others nod, trusting his judgment and following after him as he takes off.

"And what is with the Constrictai and their vice-like grip? Let it go already!" Pythor chortles loudly, and the snakes laugh loudly along with him. "But in all seriousness," He continues, dropping his voice, "The reason why I called this gathering is because... the good people of Ninjago imprisoned us in those insidious tombs, and I want to return them the favor."

The Serpentine cheer loudly, all in for Pythor's idea of revenge. They were so distracted that they didn't take any notice of Kai sliding down on a rope above them, "That sounds like a great plan, but you know the Hypnobrai will screw it up." He speaks loudly, instantly setting off the Hypnobrai tribe who voice their complaints.

"Those buck teeth can bite my rear end." Jay drops his voice behind the group of Fangpyres, quickly scurrying off when the shouting got louder.

"I bet they're drinking their own venom." Cole hides behind a pillar, though cups his mouth to make his voice travel over the gathering of snakes.

Zane hangs upside down on the catwalks railings above the Venomari, "All that digging must have given them dirt for brains." He was quick to pull himself back up when the group started to fight amongst each other.

Alyssa stays watch, making sure none of the Generals or Pythor catch sight of the others. She feels a cruel smile twitch on her lips when Pythor spins around to Skales, "What's going on? Why am I losing them?"

Her eyes widen when Skales spots a retreating Cole and points him out to Pythor, but before she could warn him or the others, she feels the ground shake beneath her. Just as she goes to take a step back, Constrictai grab a hold of her ankles and drag her underground, muffling her shouts.

They were fast to dig through the ground, even carrying her weight with them, and they soon dug their way out where Skales must have been waiting for them. She meets his eyes and scowls, feeling the scratches on her face smudge blood across her cheeks.

Skales just glares back and throws a roll of rope to one of the Constrictai, who fumbles but catches the rope in the end. "Tie her up."

It wasn't long before her arms were tied behind her back, and she wasn't alone anymore. Jay, Kai and Cole were tied up in the same rope, their backs all touching. Skales thought it was a good idea to shove them into a closet, where they were all currently trying to wiggle out of the rope.

The door eventually swung open, revealing Skales and Pythor, the Serpentine still arguing loudly in the background. Pythor growls lowly and sends daggers Skales way, "Search every nook and cranny. If he's a ninja, you'll never find him in plain sight."

"Look, a Pink Ninja!"

One snake points towards the ceiling, where Zane swings across the lot of them on a thick rope. The group of tied up ninja grin at him, cheering for him loudly. "Go, Pink Ninja, go!"

With his momentum, Zane swings towards them and kicks Pythor and Skales off the train cart, sending them sprawling on the ground. With them out of the way, he takes out his Shurikens and rushes towards his friends, cutting the rope easily with his weapons. "Now let's get out of here."

They quickly make their escape, knowing and hearing the large gathering of Serpentine close behind them. Grabbing the ropes they placed before hand, they swung over the snakes on the ground and landed on the other side of the catwalk.

They rush through the tunnel the catwalk lead into, snakes rushing after them with loud hisses. "Let us blow this popsicle stand!" Zane freezes the length of the tunnel with his Shurikens, the chill making their breaths come out in small clouds.

Jay chuckles, "Popsicle stand. I like it!" He and the others quickly gather on Zane's bike that he summons, barely enough room on the vehicle for all of them - Jay nearly falling off the back when Zane abruptly takes off if it weren't for Alyssa who grabs onto his sleeves as they escape through the tunnel.

~~~

After an eventful night, the ninja found themselves back around the dinner table for some well earned food after the risky mission. Alyssa tries her best to scoot away from Jay besides her, who eats into his food loudly. She sighs and reaches for her steaming cup of tea, enjoying the warmth it gave her hands.

She barely gets the cup to her mouth when she feels something land in her lap, almost making her spill her tea on Jay. She furrows her eyebrows and looks down, and there sitting on her lap was the piece of chicken Jay was just eating. Her face goes blank as she slowly turns to look at him, though he was already looking away from her, whistling lowly.

"You know," Cole begins, reaching over the table to grab a chicken wing, "Whether it was in a lesson book or not, we used the destructive power of rumors to our advantage."

Kai nods, cup of water in his hand. "And now the Serpentine are further away than ever from getting their act together."

Jay, who still avoids Alyssa's pointed stare, wraps an arm around Zane on the other side of him, "You know, I don't think we would've gotten out of there if it hadn't been for Zane."

Zane chuckles and shakes his head. "Don't thank me. Thank Lloyd. If it hadn't been for his 'laundry skills,' we all would've been found."

Through their chuckling at Zane's rare joke, Lloyd slides open the dining rooms rice door with one hand, the other holding something white. "Well, it took me twenty loads, but your suit's no longer pink." He smiles warmly and hands Zane his newly washed gi, and then turns to Cole while pulling out a can from his pocket. "And to show that I'm sorry, Cole, I got you a can of nuts."

Cole raises an eyebrow and stands up, hands up almost in defence. "Uh, haha, yeah. Don't think I don't see what this is. When I open this, a bunch of snakes are gonna pop out, right? Yeah, no thank you." He chuckles, walking over to the fridge.

When he pulls it open, a whole punch of rubber snakes come flying out, scaring the life out of Cole which makes him fall to the floor with a yell. With snakes wrapped around his body and even on his head, Cole couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else.

~~~

When dinner came to an end, Alyssa was just about to close her door when a voice called out from the hall. "Alyssa, hold on!"

Curious, she slowly opens her door wider to see Lloyd jogging over to her. "Lloyd?" She frowns slightly at him as he comes to a stop in front of her, "Did you need something?"

He shuffles on the spot, hands in his hoodie pockets. "I wanted to say I'm sorry, for you know, taking your necklace." He watches her expression fall ever so slightly, and panic sets in. "I didn't know it was so important to you, if I did, I wouldn't have touched it in the first place."

She breathes out softly and unconsciously brings a hand up to fiddle with the little flower charm hanging from her neck, feeling the grooves of the lavender charm between her fingers as her heart aches. "It's fine, I've already forgiven you." She shrugs with a small smile.

"Oh." Lloyd blinks, not expecting her to forgive him so easily. "That's-That's great!" He slowly pulls his hands out of his pockets, staring down at them as he fumbles with the object now in his hand. "I made you something, in case you weren't going to forgive me that easily."

Alyssa raises an eyebrow, leaning against the doorway now. Slowly, Lloyd opens his palm and holds his arm out for her to see the silver bracelet in his hand. She blinks and gently takes the bracelet from him, yet her silence was starting to worry him.

"I asked Uncle for some help, but if you don't like it you don't have to-"

"I love it, Lloyd." It was the first time Lloyd had ever seen her smile so widely, so sincerely. She brushes her thumb over the little purple flowers that were circling the silver chain, eyes clouded with something Lloyd didn't understand, but he took it as a good sign. "I really do. Thank you." She turns her gaze down to him, making him grin back up at her.

"I'm glad!" He straightens his posture now, more confident then before. Clearing his throat, he points back down the hallway, "I'll let you sleep now."

Nodding, Alyssa holds the bracelet close and ruffles his hair with her free hand. "Thanks again, Lloyd. Sweet dreams." She watches him try to fix his hair as he scurries off, her smile only growing as she closes the door to her room.

Gazing down at the bracelet, she doesn't hesitate to slip it onto her right wrist. It sits comfortably, not tight or too loose. As she lies in bed that night, feeling the cool metal of both her necklace and new bracelet, Alyssa knew that she would treasure both for a long time.