Spoiler alert for season 11!

No one knew how long Skylor spent scrubbing the same small patch of counter, but her arm ached something fierce by the time her shop had hit closing time.

Not a soul remained in the noodle house, leaving it a ghostly shell of a restaurant.

Why me?

Skylor was no stranger to making major life changing decisions, like the decision to betray her father all that time ago. So why was it that one simple question had sent her life spiralling out of whack?

Will you go out with me?

The fire ninja's text never recieved a reply.

Why does he even like me? What did I do to deserve his affection? He's awesome, and I'm just... ugh.

A retired criminal? Yep. That was about it. She was a retired criminal with way too much red in her ledger. Skylor knew that despite her best efforts, she'd never truly make atonement for it all.

So why did one of Ninjago's most respected defenders like her? Why did he he even spare a criminal like her a second glance?

He was handsome, kind, and always managed to sneak a laugh out of her... but she didn't deserve him. It wasn't like he made it a habit to hang out with criminals... except for her. Should she feel special or alienated?

"You're wrong about that." A muffled voice seemed to ring out of nowhere. Skylor jumped, dropping her rag and spinning around into a defebsive stance.

That's when she spotted the one customer who hadn't left at closing time. He was tucked in the corner booth near the back of the shop, specifically the one place that Skylor couldn't spot from her current spot at the counter. Only a ninja. Skylor mused to herself.

"How long have you been there?" Skylor asked, grabbing a steaming bowl of noodles from the heater and striding towards his table in one fluid move.

'Long enough to hear you rambling."

Skylor groaned and set the noodles in front of Lloyd. He was in his Gi, hood tugged off and dangling against his back. This meant he'd been on patrol tonight.

Skylor usually got at least one of the ninja every week. Even the ones she didn't know as well stopped by to say hello.

She, at this point, dared to call Lloyd and Nya honorary siblings... at the very least, close friends. Of course, this could easily be attributed to the time she spent with them in the resistance.

Shaking the thought aside in its own little box, sge carefully sat down across from him and fixed her hair bun. "How was patrol?" Skylor asked, dodging his jab at her rambling.

"Ultra Violet's back in Jail." Lloyd replied offhandedly. "And I didn't get thrown through any prison walls tonight. So that's a win."

Skylor chuckled at that.

Lloyd took his chopsticks up and stabbed the noodles. "So Kai finally asked, huh?"

Rats. He wasn't letting it drop was he?

"Yeah, I um... I haven't exactly responded." She wasn't sure if that would irritate Lloyd at all, but it was a chance worth taking... you know, since he'd brought it up and all.

"I gathered as much." Lloyd replied nonchalantly. "Though your reasoning is completely baffling."

"Okay... You can't tell Kai anything I'm about to tell you... or fornthat matter, anything I've already said."

She knew Lloyd would honor that. Zane and Lloyd were the least likely to share private information entrusted to them in confidence.

"Your secret's safe with me. I promise."

"Lloyd... I'm not good enough for him." Skylor admitted, crossing her arms and shooting a forlorn look at the ratty, scraped up table top.

"Because you're a criminal."

"Exactly. I mean, I'm retired and all; but that doesn't change the fact that Kai usually doesn't hang out with retired criminals."

Lloyd held up three fingers, finishing the bite in his mouth. Before Skylor even had a chance to question the meaning of the three fingers, Lloyd swallowed and launched into an explanation.

"He hangs out with three criminals on a daily basis, eats with them, sleeps in the same building as they do, plays video games with them."

"But..." Skylor took a moment to mull it over. She had no clue who theybwere referring to. "Who?"

"Well Master wu is one of them... Okay, granted, he was brainwashed by the overlord... but..."

"Well brainwashing isn't the same as willfull criminal activities." Skylor believed rhat brainwashing hardly counted. Maybe Master Wu had done something, but it wasn't by choice.

"Maybe. But that leaves the other two..." Lloyd rubbed the brudge of his nose and sighed. "I'm one of them."

"You?" Skylor's jaw dropped slightly as Lloyd rubbed his head awkwardly. She could see him almost distance himself from whatever reply he was conjuring up.

"Oh yes... Four years ago, back when I was nine-"

"Hold up. You aren't thirteen." No way. He was at least as old as Kai... maybe a little younger... but there was no way Lloyd was that young.

"Super aging tea." Lloyd replied simply, one of his sly smiles making an appearance. He waved his hand and glanced at his hands. "Anyway. I was obsessed with following in my father's footsteps... one problem... I wasn't exactly bad enough. Even Darkley's kicked me out for being too good."

"Ouch." Skylor huffed a dry laugh.

"Yeah... So my big idea of being 'bad' was stealing candy from the village near Uncle Wu's monastery. And thaaat's when the ninja stopped me... humiliated me too... so the next natural step of any aspiring warlord who's just been humiliated-"

"Revenge."

"Bingo. I did a whole lot of research and started freeing the serpentine from their tombs."

"That was you!?"

Lloyd laughed loudly, a tiny hint of one of his maniacle childhood chuckles hidden within. It made Skylor realized that he'd practiced his evil laughs at some point.

"The serpentine followed me for a while... I tried to kill the ninja... just annoyed them really. Then my oh so loyal snake friends turned on me."

The sarcasm dripping from his voice earned a chuckle from Skylor. Lloyd had been Brilliant and completely Nieve... Skylor realized that It was probably a good thing he hadn't run into Chen.

"The ninja saved me, took me in. I was a little monster at first, but over time... I started seeing them as a family. Then we realized I was destined to be the green ninja, and things spiralled from there."

That story was a surprise honestly. Lloyd was one of Ninjago's most devouted defenders, and it was hard to think that he'd been so destructive at some point. She could see guilt lurking in Lloyd's eyes... of course, she knew the serpentine had released the devourer... meaning he bore that guilt on his shoulders too.

After a moment, she finally spoke. "Well now I suddenly don't feel so bad...But you said there was another one."

Lloyd furrowed his brow. Zane hadn't really gone to any lengths to keep the Ice Emperor thing hidden. Sure, he rarely wanted to bring it up, but quite a few people knew at this point.

His voice lowered as he leaned forward. He knew no one was present, but this was more a show of how seriously he took it.

"You can't tell anyone about this... And I mean anyone."

Skylor seemed surprised by the request, but her gaze hardened as her head bobbed in a nod.

"You have my word."

Lloyd kept his voice low, glancing both ways first. "Well would you believe me if I told you that Zane lost his memories and enacted a violent reign over another realm for decades?"

Skylor just blinked at Lloyd.

"Granted, he was being corrupted by a scroll, but..." Lloyd sighed. "We thought he'd been killed; but in reality, he'd been transported to another realm. At the time, he was holding a scroll which corrupted any who carried it. Between the memory loss and the scroll, he was easily influenced to use his powers for evil."

"Forgive me for saying so, but Zane would be the scariest criminal out of all of you..."

"He was." Lloyd set his chopsticks aside. "What was hours for us, happened to be decades for him. Long story short, we got him back... but not before he froze most of the land's inhabitants and terrorized the rest."

Lloyd paused. "Then if you want to count my father. Kai called him sensei for a while... after I purged the evil out of him, that is. That makes four reformed criminals in total."

So I'm not the only criminal Kai's affiliating with... Skylor realized almost happily. Naturally she wasn't happy that so many of them had embraced the darkness at one time or another, but it did mean she wasn't alone.

"Look." Lloyd leaned back. "You messed up, but a lot of us did. You're not he only one with blood on your hands." The conviction in his voice was heavy and weighted... only a repentant criminal could master that.

"I guess I'm not." Skylor sighed. "But that doesn't change what I did."

"No, it doesn't." Lloyd shook his head. "But if there's something I learned... it's that the past doesn't define who we are now. Our hearts do. Everyone can change... and you have. You risked your life to save Ninjago, and that's the you Kai likes."

Stunned silence. That's all Sky could manage as she felt her heart swell with hope. Could there really be a chance?

"Look." Lloyd said quickly. "No matter what happens between you and Kai, I'll be honored to call you my sister."

She wasn't going to cry. No. She refused. It was now that she truly understood the meaning of family. She had once considered her father family, but that hadn't really been true... had it? No. A family took you in, flaws and all, encouraging you to grow. They loved you despite the imperfections.

"Oh no... Kai's gonna kill me." Lloyd's mortified and horrified expression made Skylor go from silently sobbing to giggling.

"I'm sorry." Skylor apologized, wiping a tear away. "It's just..." She sniffed and squared her shoulders. 'No one's ever said that to me."

Lloyd gave her a brief friendly hug (which she reciprocated) before stepping back. He hated the awkward silence ensuing that particularly heart wrenching conversation.

Lloyd cleared his throat. "Well, I won't keep you any more. Here's for the noodles." With a quick movement, he extended his hand, the coins to pay for his food clutched in his grasp; but Skylor wrapped his hand in hers and pushed it back towards him.

"It's on the house tonight."

"Thanks, Skylor. Have a good night."

"You too, Lloyd."

"She accepted! Woooh!"

Lloyd watched Kai do a victory dance across the living room floor, completely thrilled and completely shameless.

"When did you ask?" Cole asked.

"Two days ago... say... none of you had anything to do with it did you?"

Lloyd hung his hoodie on the coat hanger next to the door. He'd just gotten back from the noodle shop.

"Lloyd? Did you swing by the noodle shop tonight?"

"Nope." Lloyd replied with a shrug. If he admitted the truth, then keeping his promise to Skylor would be that much more difficult. This however did not prevent an ever so slight smirk from crossing his lips as he turned his back to Kai.

"I guess she just needed to think it over.