July 12th, 2023

"Hey there, Vic." I tossed a pancake up and down in the pan, hearing the batter sizzle against the pan, "Good morning." I said as Victor stretched out a cramp in his leg and he fingered his sling on his left arm. His arm had been badly broken, but the doctor said that it'll heal in no time. 

"Hey." He put his good arm around my shoulder, "What're you making?"

"Pancakes." I nudged my head towards a plate with the fresh batch I had just whipped up, "Go ahead and sit down. The rest of them should be waking up anytime soon."

"What time is it?" Victor yawned, his unruly hair sticking up and curling in all directions. I muffled a laugh and eyed him, directing my gaze towards the old fashioned clock on the ceiling.

"Don't tell me all that time at Borg's has made you forget how to read an old fashioned clock." I teased and Victor rolled his eyes at me with a smile.

"How come you guys are up so early? I just saw Lloyd and… Nya, is it, wake up when I walked past their rooms." Victor groaned, rubbing his eyes, "It's only 5 in the morning."

"How come you're up so early?" I let a small curse slip when the butter slid out of the pan and onto the stove. I quickly swiped it up with a rag and Victor sighed, brushing his unruly bangs back.

"I dunno, honestly. I couldn't sleep and I heard you getting up, so yeah. Probably just PTSD from yesterday." I stiffened and Victor noticed. Even though my back was turned to him, I heard him get up. In a second, he was right next to me, "Hey. You saved me yesterday, Liv. None of this is your fault."

"They hurt you, Victor. And all I did was scream over the phone. I probably made it worse by screaming." I muttered, flipping the pancake. I slid it onto a plate and then shouted, "Come and get breakfast!" I grabbed a can of oil and stuck a straw through it, nudging it towards where Zane sat at the breakfast table. 

"They were gonna hurt us anyways." Victor said, "One of the students is in the ER. You saved me before those thugs could make it worse." 

"Wow." I heard Lloyd say as he walked in, a smirk on his face, "Really, Vic. Not gonna give me or the ninja any credit. Tsk, tsk, tsk." Victor's face flushed and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. I rolled my eyes and shoved Lloyd's plate towards him.

"Go eat." I demanded with a smirk and Lloyd lifted up one hand innocently, the other hand wrapped around his plate.

"Sorry to upset ya." He grinned, sitting down and grabbing the syrup from Kai once he finished, "Thanks for that, Kai." He drowned his pancake in syrup and I shuddered. So sickeningly sweet.

"I'm still using that!' I drowned out Kai's yowls as I turned the stove off and grabbed a banana for myself. I didn't like pancakes that much, but the others sure did. Nya looked over at my expression and she frowned, walking up to me.

"Hey, Victor. Mind if I snatch Livana for a moment?" Nya asked, jumping to sit on the counter. "We're about to have ourselves a little girly chat."

"Oh! Uh… of course." Victor grabbed his plate of pancakes and then left to go sit next to Lloyd. Nya then turned towards me and folded her hands. I crossed my arms.

"Girly chat? Seriously?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? That's just how it came out." Nya grinned at me and then her expression turned serious, "Liv… how are you feeling after yesterday?"

"Fine." I said, clenching my fists under the table. "I'm glad that the students and staff are okay. I'm relieved that Victor is… semi-okay. I'm happy that Lloyd actually let me go on the mission." I listed the feelings off my fingers and I turned to Nya. "Just that." 

"I see." Nya rubbed her hands together, as if she were cold, "Look, I'm going to get straight to the point. You looked really sad when I just saw you and I know that you're hiding your emotions now, but Liv, I wanna understand what's going on. The boys… sometimes they have a hard time understanding, you know?" Nya put her hand on my shoulder, "Are you okay? And be for real." 

"No, of course I'm not okay." I snapped, turning to look at Nya, my eyes blazing with emotion. I wasn't specifically mad at Nya. I was just… so tired of feeling like this. When was I gonna finally accept who I truly am? "How can anyone be okay? I almost stabbed someone on my first mission, Nya. I was this close," I put my fingers dangerously close together, "and if it hadn't been for Lloyd, I might've killed the guy." I hugged myself, "How is anyone supposed to feel good after this?"

"Look, Livana." Nya put both her hands on my shoulders now, "You are not evil or a monster or whatever negative things you think of yourself. Your father-"

"Was horrible. He couldn't keep himself together and it was all because of that snake. All I have inside me is his blood now. And do you know what is inside his blood?" I asked, leaning close to Nya, "Do you?"

When Nya didn't respond, I whispered, "The Devourer's venom. That's what's going through me every day. The venom of that horrible, evil snake. The minion that the Overlord used to cause chaos throughout Ninjago." I shook my head with a bitter laugh, "That's it. I'm next. I will be the Overlord's next minion."

"You are not going to be anyone's minion when I'm around." Nya insisted in a hushed voice. I glanced at her and huffed out a soft breath.

"Thanks." Was all I said, but I knew that deep down, something bad was going to happen to me. I was going to do something horrible.

And only God knows what that is.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Mom knocked on my door and I opened it, dipping into a bow when I saw her. "Welcome to my humble abode, Mother. How may I be of assistance?" 

"Baby, don't be mad at me." Mom said, gripping my hands and kissing them.

I wrinkled my nose and looked into my mother's soft brown eyes, "What are you talking about? Why would I be mad, Mom?"

"Because I'm here." And then Lord Garmadon poked his head into my room and then stepped in. He folded his four arms behind him and then raised one bushy eyebrow, "Hello, Livana Garmadon."