*1-2ish years ago*

Kai's POV

"Debuting our season 9 outfits as Halloween costumes is ingenious! Best group costume ever!" Jay exclaims as he walks into my apartment. Cole and Seliel follow him.

"Dang Cole, you and Seliel really must've had fun on the way here. Your gi is ripped and everything," I smirk as I take a sip of the Coke in my cup.

"Haha, you're so funny, Kai," Seliel sarcastically remarks as she sets her bag down on the coffee table, "Is everyone here?"

For Halloween, we all decided to be ourselves (well not really ourselves, but our show versions) for Halloween. Not only is it major fanservice, but it also promotes the next season before it's even close to being out.

Jay, Cole, and I all have simple costumes. Jay and Cole only have slight alternates from our Sons of Garmadon suits. Jay's suit is primarily intact, but the white decals are frayed and his belt has a large portion ripped out of it. The upper left edge of Cole's suit is completely ripped, revealing his left pec, but the rest of his suit is pretty much the same. Mine is different from my Sons of Garmadon suit. A small chestplate-esque piece covers my right side, a brown sash separating it from the rest of my suit. On the left side, my gi is a bit ripped, showing off a bit of my pec but not nearly as much as Cole's. To tie together the "distressed" look, we all did our hair slightly (but stylishly) messy along with adding some artificial scrapes and cuts on our bodies with makeup.

Zane's gi is similar to ours, a worn down version of his Sons of Garmadon outfit, but his costume took a lot more work. Like Pix, he got his makeup fully done. His face is fully coated in silver, matching his hair that is sprayed silver. Pix's face is the same except she has purple decals too. She's wearing her Samurai X suit.

Skylor has on her Skybound outfit since the fans don't know about her appearance in the season. It's supposed to be a surprise, and we can't have our Halloween costumes ruining that surprise. She's not upset that she can't be as involved in our theme since that big reveal will hopefully be one of the biggest moments in tv history.

Finally, Seliel is dressed as Nya. Gabe wouldn't let Nya out with us, so Seliel took her spot in the costume. She gets to wear Nya's new gi which is completely different from her old one. While it is still grey, the style is different, multiple zippers on it and only slight blue details. She fully committed too, spraying her hair black to match Nya's and putting it in a bun.

"No, Lloyd and Rumi aren't here yet," I answer before sitting down on the couch next to my girlfriend. Leaning over, I press a kiss on her check before whispering a compliment in her ear.

"Dang it, am I really going to be the ninth wheel tonight?" Jay groans, throwing his head back. "I just realized that everyone else is together."

"Wait, Lloyd and Rumi are together? How has no one told me that!" Seliel lightly hits Cole's arm, looking up at him surprised.

"It happened recently. It slipped my mind," he shrugs. "Ooo, is that a snack tray?"

As he walks off to my kitchen, Jay follows behind him to also take advantage of Sky's and my hard work. Zane and Pix are in there right now, so they can have a little kitchen party together.

"So, what are we doing tonight? I doubt we're staying cooped up in here, even though your apartment is reeeeaaaally nice," Seliel flops down on the single person couch we have. "Also, your outfits for the show are soooooooo comfortable. So many stars must envy you guys."

"The first time I tried mine on, I was shocked at how comfortable they are," Skylor agrees with her.

"They're not nearly as comfy when you have to lug around 20 pound shoulderpads on top of it," I bring up a con. "One of my old friends from school is having a Halloween party that's pretty low key. We've gone flashy the past couple of years. I think something subtle will be nice."

"By subtle you mean a rager but one that's not flooded by the press?" Seliel raises an eyebrow at me.

I shake my head. "Nah. We were invited to one, but Lloyd and Rumi are still minors, and I wish that someone kept me away from that scene when I was one. This party is both drug and alcohol free."

"That makes sense. You, Jay, and Nya went wild for a bit. I had to go to keep you guys from doing some dumb stuff," Sky shakes her head, looking up at me amused.

"Yeah?"

"Mmmhmmmm. I don't know what you guys did without me, or how you guys got invited to all of those parties in the first place."

"The industry is full of pervs that love getting teens drunk. It's no surprise that they would try to pull in some of the biggest rising stars. We got out before it was too bad."

Behind Seliel, I see Lloyd and Harumi enter the room, hand in hand. Both are wearing their season 9 outfits. Lloyd is wearing his new gi, green with added armor, while Harumi is wearing her black suit with the red face paint. They seem a little awkward since there's still the buzz and slight discomfort of joining a new relationship. It's a good awkward though. Both of them have an extra glow in their eyes.

"Hi everyone, sorry we're late," Lloyd greets us. "Where are the others?"

I nod my head in the kitchen's direction. "In the kitchen. What else would you expect?"

He laughs, slightly shaking his head. "Of course."

"Now, let's get going. There's a party calling our names."

---

Nya's POV

I stand in the line sprawling down Jay's driveway to get into his party. Gabe held me up a bit at our place, so I left later than recommended - a big mistake. Since Jay likes to greet everyone at the door to start up a conversation AND everyone who has ever been on the show (ranging from main cast members to extras), there's always a super long line.

This party is always one of the highlights of my week, month, year, etc. I'm surrounded by my favorite people in a familiar environment where I can just let loose and forget about the world. There's nothing I have to worry about. It's a relief.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, so I pull it out. I've been updating Skylor on how close I am, texting her how I got here but am stuck in the line.

Sky: Just skip the line!

Sky: You know the garage code just enter that way and find us

Nya: and break Jay's sacred tradition? he makes all of you guys walk out to greet you at the door at the beginning of the party

The line continues to trudge forward, long stops interrupting the steady flow of what it could be. If any of the others were out here with me, it'd be fine, but I don't recognize anyone. The scenery is beautiful though. The fountain in the front yard is breathtaking, water gently sprouting out of the marble top and cascading down onto various tiers. Lush, green plants fill the rest of the surroundings.

I focus on that until I reach the front, Jay's radiant smile, vibrant eyes, and comforting demeanor filling my view. "Nya, I'm so glad you could make it," he opens his arms for me, and I willingly walk into them, wrapping my arms around him and resting my head against his chest.

"So am I," I hum. "You better not keep this host persona on for too much longer. The group can never get together, so we can't have you gone the whole time."

"You know I'll always make time for you," he softly tells me, looking into my eyes with sincerity and a sweet smile. I find a larger smile making its way onto my face too.

Recognizing what's happening, I pull away, sensing everyone's eyes on us. "I'll let you go, so you can get back to us sooner. Come find us when you're done, yeah?"

"Of course."

---

I walk into the party room, and as soon as I do, my feet are swept off of the ground, my body enveloped in an embrace. When I recognize who pulled me into the massive bearhug, I wrap my arms around them.

"Nyaaaaa, it's been too long," Kai tightly holds me, my feet dangling off of the ground.

"Tell me about it," he sets me down, and as soon as he does, my best friend gives me a hug.

"Look who finally decided to show up," she teases before letting go of me and grabbing onto my hand. "You're a free woman tonight, and we're going to take advantage of it. Let's go dance," pulling me onto the dance floor, Skylor bulldozes her way through the crowd until we are in the center, the others around us. Lloyd and Rumi are jumping up and down in sync, their blonde hair bouncing with their bodies. Zane and Pix are both awkwardly dancing, but they make it look cute since neither of them can dance all that well. On the other end of the spectrum, Cole and Seliel move with so much rhythm that you'd expect them to be professional dancers.

Even though I'm not the best dancer, I let myself get lost in the music. There's only so much time I can spend with my friends, so I might as well make the most of it.

The nine of us party our hearts out in the center of the dance floor. We bounce around and try our best to dance. Heat levels increase at everyone's closeness, but we don't care.

"Dance circle!" Cole cheers, and we all know what to do. The nine of us form a circle, a solid space in the middle. Once it's established, Cole goes into the middle. His body fluidly moves, all of his limbs coming together. When he crosses his legs, he crosses his arms too without getting tangled. After about twenty seconds of quick movements, he ends his dance by -in a handstand- hopping back to his spot.

Zane goes into the center next. He starts with the running man, circling his arms while pumping his legs. Then, he hits us with the sprinkler, and everyone starts cheering and clapping like crazy. He transitions to the lawnmower. As he's leaving the circle, he hands control of the "lawnmower" over to Pix who brings it back into the circle. She does some more classics, the robot and raise the roof, before leaving to the perimeter.

Everyone else takes a turn, and by the time we're done, a light layer of sweat covers all of us. To preserve our nice outfits, we make a unanimous decision to get off of the dance floor, and soon, all of us are at the in-home bar getting nonalcoholic beverages.

"Have you guys talked to other people yet?" I ask as I take a long sip of crisp, cold water.

"Sky and I talked to some of the other elemental masters for a little bit, but all of the others went straight to the dancefloor," Kai tells me. "Also, for the record, Bolobo brought in some weed, and I've seen at least 7 people high, so maybe my prediction was right," he focuses his comment at the others.

"We made bets before the party on what would happen," Lloyd explains to me. "The night is still young. Someone could easily make themself have a chocolate coated face."

"I'm not even gonna ask..."

"Nya! Kai!" my head whips in the direction of the sound. My mom and Ray are walking hand in hand towards us, smiles on both of their faces. Both of them have suffered losses in their lives (Ray lost his wife and my mom lost her career), so it's beautiful to see the two of them unite.

"Dad! Maya! It's wonderful to see you two," Kai leans in first to give his dad a quick hug before moving over to my mom. I follow suit, doing the same thing. The others start side interactions. Cole and Seliel walk off to explore the buffett. Lloyd and Harumi go to find Liam. Pix and Zane go to find Zane's twin brother, Eliot.

"It feels like it's been forever since we've seen the two of you. With your busy schedules, my makeup brand, and our projects, nothing ever seems to line up," my mom is tucked into Ray's side, his arm around her. Everytime I see the two of them together, I'm grateful she found him. My mom deserves to be happy, and Ray is a great guy.

"It has been a while. We'll need to stop by sometimes. The four of us should make some time in our schedules to go someplace fun, like Hawaii or something," Kai suggests.

The suggestion lights up their faces. "That would be so fun. Do you think we could use Chen's private island if we bring Skylor along? She's practically family anyways, and Chen loves her like she's his own daughter," my mom asks. Behind us, Skylor is talking with Chamille who is high out of her mind. I hear Chamille's fit of giggles as she probably does something simple.

"I think so. He's shut down his hotel before so that Sky and I could stay there, so I don't see why not," Kai honestly answers. "How long ago did you guys get here?"

"About twenty minutes ago. The line upstairs was still a bit long, so we had to wait a bit. Then, we talked to Lou and Lilly. It's so nice that Cole finally got a season, and both of them were so happy about it. Plus, Lilly finally gets to join the show! It's about time," my mom elaborates.

"Everyone was happy to hear it. No one deserved it more than him," I say, agreeing with the joy around it.

"Now, anyone down for some karaoke? Us Heath men are notoriously amazing at it," Ray wraps his arm around his son who laughs.

My mom and I both raise an eyebrow. "For some reason, I doubt that."

---

Jay's POV

Aches travel from my feet and up my legs as I continue to stand at my doorway. I've stood at this spot for the past several hours greeting everyone, and while I love talking to everyone, everyone sure is a lot. I'll need to figure out what to do next time because there's no way I can do this again. It's already dark out; I've already missed half of the party.

The line is significantly smaller now. Since I can see the end, I take a break to sip my chocolate milk before getting myself ready to greet everyone else.

I smile as I talk with the rest of the guests. Not knowing a lot of them very well (or some at all) the conversations don't trail on as much, mostly just nice greetings and asking how their days were. Finally, once I reach the end of the line, I internally let out a sigh of relief. My feet can almost catch a break.

"I guess I'm the last one," the girl says with a thick British accent, catching me off guard. Her hair is long and black, tied up in a slick high ponytail that falls down her back. She's tall, only seeming one inch shorter than me, with olive skin and a fit yet feminine frame. Her eyes are amber like Skylor's, all of her facial features symmetrical.

I stick my hand out. "I don't think we've met. I'm Jay."

She smiles at the gesture, grabbing mine with a firm grip to shake it. "I'm Tessa."

"Like Murtessa?"

"You catch on quick. And you're Jay, like Jay?" she replies, making me laugh.

"You know it."

"Didn't the party start hours ago? What are you still doing up here?" she curiously asks, glancing back at the dark sky behind her.

"I greet everyone at the door before I go down. It's a tradition," I explain.

Her eyes are wide, "That's absolutely crazy. There are hundreds of people here."

"Trust me, I know," I laugh. "Only the power of chocolate milk got me through standing here. My feet are dead. I honestly might just change into slippers cause I doubt anyone really cares about my footwear," I look down at the dress shoes that are strangling my feet.

"I know lots of people say otherwise, but never compromise comfort for style. It's never worth it. You look how you feel. If you feel miserable, you look miserable," she advises.

"Exactly! I couldn't have put it better myself!" I agree with her.

Slowly, we start to walk away from the door still in conversation.

We join the party together, not even realizing the time going by.

A/N Hey everyone! Another chapter in this book so soon? It's the shock of the century

How did you guys like the chapter? The party is just getting started

Thank you guys all for reading! You're the best