Archive of Our Own ^beta

The first time Maya lost her family she was far too young to understand it. Just a little girl in a black dress, holding a bouquet of lilies next to two closed caskets with her grandparents' hands on her shoulders. Too young to understand what the words "heroes" and "died in combat" meant.

Not young enough to be okay with it. Not young enough to take the transition easily. She had given her grandparents hell. Screamed and yelled and stamped her feet.

The ache her parents' loss had created had torn her apart. Her only memories of that time were a blur of hours spent curled up in bed, on a couch, or on any surface she could just collapse on and stare at the wall for hours.

She hadn't cried. She remembered that much. Everybody else had, but her eyes had been dry. No water had been spilled from her eyes.

She had realized later that her grief had scrambled her control over water. Left her incapable of producing a single drop, no matter how much water she drank.

The ache had lessened over time. Her grandparents, while far older and different compared to her mother and father, were no less caring. They supported her through everything, through the shock of losing her parents so suddenly, and moving to a new house and her whole life being turned upside down.

When her grandparents passed, she was more ready for it than she had been with her parents. Their health had been declining for many years, and she was old enough to support herself without them.

But it still left her with no family.

---

She had gotten a family again with Ray. An acquaintance, then a fellow soldier, then a friend, then a boyfriend, and then a husband. He had brought a special type of happiness in her life that came with being completely enamored with someone.

And then their little family had grown.

They hadn't intended to have a child. They were newlyweds, having gotten married in a haze after winning against the Time Twins, and had assumed that the pills Maya was on would prevent a pregnancy. They hadn't been ready for a child, hadn't been sure if they even wanted one.

But then she had missed her period twice. She had gotten nervous and bought a pregnancy test. And then-

Ray had his face buried in his hands, which she could clearly see were shaking. She wasn't doing much better, having just barely resisted the urge to grab a pack of cigarettes and a bottle to cope.

But she had a baby inside of her now. And if they were going to keep it, she couldn’t do shit like that anymore.

It was a long time before either of them spoke.

Ray’s voice was hoarse, and he didn’t bother to move his head from his hands before speaking. “What are we going to do?”

Maya shrugged, her shoulders brushing up against him. “I don’t know.”

“Are you sure?” Ray pressed.

She nodded weakly. “Aside from the pregnancy test, I haven’t had my period in two months, I’ve been sick almost every day for a week, and I’m beginning to put on weight.”

Ray swore, violently, before placing his hands on his knees. “Well, we can’t just ignore it.”

Maya sighed into her hands. “Thanks for the obvious, Ray.”

Ray suddenly got up, waving his hands in the air. “What are we going to do? We just married two months ago! We’re not ready for a kid!”

Maya’s hands shifted closer to her stomach, almost cradling it. “We weren’t ready to fight a war either, or forge the Time Blades. But we managed to do both of those things.”

Ray stared at her. “Having a child is considerably different than doing those things. We’re-we’re barely twenty-five, Maya. We’re not ready for this.”

“We shouldn’t have had unprotected sex then, I guess,” Maya said. “It was hot in the moment, but it was also incredibly stupid.”

Ray groaned into his hands. “FSM’s sake, Maya. How could we have been so stupid?”

Maya snorted. “We’re twenty-five and just got married. This is the period of our lives where we’re meant to be stupid.”

“That’s still not an excuse,” Ray said. “Lilly and her husband were married for two years before they had Cole.”

There was another long silence while Maya waited for her husband to say anything else. She waited in trepidation for his answer, hands still carefully hugging her stomach.

Ray eventually sat down next to her, and began to speak. “When I married you, I didn’t think about this. Which is stupid, I know, but I was just so happy that we were finally safe that I didn’t want to expend energy thinking about what could trouble us in the future.” He glanced to the side. “I didn’t think it would be a kid, though.”

Maya swallowed hard. “Do you want to?”

“Want to what?” her husband asked.

“Want to have a kid,” she said, dreading his answer.

It didn’t come for a long time. “I love you, Maya,” he said flatly. “And I do want to have a child. But this is just so sudden, and-what if we’re not good parents? What if we mess up with them? I don’t want our child to grow up hating us just because we weren’t prepared to have a kid.”

She nodded slowly. “I don’t want that either. But we don’t have to go in unprepared. Lilly and Lou are raising Cole, so it’s not like we can’t turn to anyone for help. And there’s tons of books on the subject.”

Ray snorted. “I’m not sure how helpful those books are going to be.” But he was nodding slowly. “But we can definitely go to Lilly. She has to know at least something about raising a child.”

She could tell Ray had made up his mind. But she couldn’t make up her mind.

Some tension in the room was still defusing, but Maya was still wavering on this decision. Any number of things could go wrong. Another war could break out. An accident could happen. Anything could go wrong in the childbirth itself. But….

She glanced down to her stomach. To somebody who was seeing it for the first time, it looked entirely unremarkable. A little muscular for a woman, perhaps. But to her eyes, she was just able to see the small curve in it.

She wanted to have this child like nothing she’d ever wanted before, which was confusing to her. She’d always dreaded the idea of pregnancy, of being incapacitated and helpless for nine months, and childbirth itself sounded agonizing and possibly dangerous to her.

But now none of that seemed so bad. And after enduring all of that, she would have a child. A beautiful little baby boy or girl, who she could love and smother to her heart’s content. She could watch them grow up, make friends, and eventually fall in love with someone, and maybe have kids of their own.

All of that, compared to nine months of suffering. Two of which she had already done.

It didn’t seem that bad.

She took a deep breath, and then spoke.

“Let’s do it.”

---

The first time Maya saw her child, she knew that it had been worth it. Despite all the stress and long nights spent worrying and feeling sick and tired and nauseous, it had been worth it from the beginning. Because-

Kai was the most beautiful baby boy in the whole world. He had bright green eyes just like his father, and small tufts of brown hair that stuck out from the cloth Ray had bundled him into. He was a loud baby, screaming whenever they weren’t in the room and letting out soft gurgles even when one of them was holding him.

Maya fell in love the instant she saw him. And she could tell that Ray felt the same way, from the broad smile that split his face whenever he saw his son.

He was exhausting to deal with, rarely falling asleep or eating when they wanted him to. He grew easily distressed without one of them in the room. They were often woken up by him either screaming or crying, and nothing pained Maya more than when she had to watch tears roll down her son’s face because they hadn’t gotten to him quick enough to calm him down.

It was the happiest she had ever been in her life.

When Kai was nine months old, she was woken up by the single loudest scream she heard from him. Ray only grumbled on the other side of the bed, heavy sleeper as he was, but she quickly put on a night robe and some slippers before turning the light on.

Kai was in his cradle as always, on the other side of the room from them. He was clearly wide awake, green eyes already swimming with tears and mouth drawn back in a sob. He had gotten louder as soon as Maya turned the light on, which wasn’t unusual, but what made her almost scream was what else was in the cradle.

On the blanket underneath Kai, there was a quickly growing fire, and the distinct scent of smoke. Maya blinked once before she gave a short yelp, lifting her son out of the cradle with one hand and clamping her hand down on the growing fire with another. It took only a small burst of water to put it out, but Maya still hurriedly checked on Kai for burns.

There wasn’t a mark on him. Kai only seemed distressed, breath coming in short gasps and every other second a short wail escaped his lips. Maya was initially glad for this small miracle, before she began to wonder why her son was unhurt. He had been literally sitting on the fire, surely he should be burnt at least slightly. In a small moment of suspicion, she pressed her hand against his forehead.

If Kai had been just a normal baby, Maya might have been concerned about the temperature he was radiating. As it was, she was now beginning to worry about raising a child whose father was the elemental master of fire.

If there was any doubt as to what she now believed, Kai gave a hacking cough, and a small burst of fire escaped his mouth. It was tiny, barely visible, and she almost couldn’t feel the warmth on her face that came with it, but she still knew what it was.

Maya stared at her son in shock, trying to process what she had just seen. Elemental powers rarely surfaced this early in life, but there was no denying that was what she had seen. Normal babies didn’t set their own blankets on fire, but now she was glad that was the only thing Kai had set on fire.

Kai started to properly cry again, tears now rolling down his cheeks, and it occurred to Maya that coughing up fire and accidentally setting his blanket aflame was probably highly distressing for her son. She pressed him against her shoulder, rocking him back and forth and humming. It barely worked, Kai still crying but his terrified noises had quieted into quiet, high-pitched whimpers. Maya gave a soft sigh, knowing that she wouldn’t be getting back to sleep anytime soon, and carefully walked back to bed, getting in next to her husband and putting Kai in between them. Finally, Ray stirred, pushing himself up with one arm and blinking sleepily.

“Our son just set fire to his cot,” she informed her husband pleasantly, delighting in the way his eyes lit open.

“What-” Ray gasped, his dark green eyes widening. “How?”

“He appears to have inherited more from you than your general emotional stability,” she said in a lightly mocking tone, but Ray didn’t appear to have even heard her, arms shooting out to hold his still crying child. Kai nuzzled into his chest, his sobs briefly quieting. Ray cooed at his son, rubbing one hand on top of his fluffy hair.

Slowly, a grin split his face. “Guess he did,” he whispered, slowly lulling Kai back to sleep. “I’m gonna have to train him when he gets older.”

Maya snorted. “You may have to train him to not set fire to everything right now.”

Ray chuckled. “Look at your mother, being so strict to you,” he cooed at Kai, who made grabby motions at his face. “I’m not ever gonna be that mean.”

Kai made a soft noise, and Maya pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “He’ll thank me when he grows up.”

Ray rolled his eyes. “Children never like the parent that’s strict to them. I’m going to be his favorite because I’ll let him set fire to whatever he wants,” he said, poking his son in the chest lightly. “I doubt you’ll ever be his favorite.” He nudged Kai in the chest lightly. “Hey little buddy, which one of us do you prefer?”

Kai looked him right in the eyes and let out a confused, “Ma-ma?” that had Maya laughing harder than she had in months. The look on Ray’s face was hilarious, and combined with Kai’s confused face and the fact that he obviously didn’t know what they were talking about, it made the whole scene hysterical.

Ray let out a betrayed sigh. “Mama’s boy,” he grumbled. “He’ll change his mind when he’s older.”

Maya laughed again. “No, he won’t. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

Ray mumbled something about ‘ungrateful brats’ before clicking the lights off and pulling the covers over the three of them. Despite the darkness of the bedroom now, there was a soft light emanating from Kai which made it just about possible to see under the covers. Their son was sleeping soundly now, head pressed under his dad’s chin and eyes fluttering in his sleep. He was almost glowing, fingertips emitting the softest light and chest emitting the strongest. Even in the dim light, Maya could see Ray’s lips curled up into a soft smile. Maya shuffled closer to them both, wrapping her arms around Kai and pressing a kiss against his hair.

“He’s going to do amazing things one day, just like us,” Ray murmured quietly, still gazing in adoration at their son. “And I’m going to be there to watch him do it every step of the way.”

Maya laughed. “Yes. Yes we will.”

---

The decision to have Nya was one which came to them fairly easily. It was a peaceful evening in the early stages of summer, so there weren’t too many bugs out and the sun was just hot enough to keep the air warm even after the sun had gone down. Lilly and Lou had both visited earlier, along with Cole, who was just about three, a year and a half older than Kai. The two boys had gotten on instantaneously, with Cole running around the garden and Kai waddling after him, just barely able to keep up. The two children had gotten exhausted after about an hour of playing, Kai curling up into Maya’s arms (she was definitely his favorite, she noted with a smug grin), and Cole taking a nap on a spare chair. They had all sat in peaceful silence for a long moment, watching the sunset on the horizon as they finished off their food.

Lilly rubbed a hand on Cole’s hair, playing with the ends of the strands. “We thought about having another child, you know,” she said softly. “I did always want a baby girl.”

“Why didn’t you have another kid?” Ray asked, idly nudging the food around on his plate.

Lou laughed. “Raising Cole is already so much work. He’s already starting to be far stronger than most kids his age should be.” He glanced pointedly at his wife. “And while he hasn’t done anything remarkable yet, he does love to play in the earth. Keeps on getting it inside.”

Lilly rolled her eyes. “You were the one who wanted to marry and have children with a woman who could bench press your car with you inside it. How you managed to charm me with your half baked songs, I will never know.”

The conversation went on from there, but Maya’s mind was still stuck on what Lilly had said earlier, and she moved a hand down to her belly.

Another child didn’t sound like such a bad idea.

Later that night, after their friends had left and they had put Kai to bed, Maya was still thinking about it. She was so distracted that Ray had to tap her on the head to even get her to pay attention to what he was saying.

“What’s got you so distracted?” he asked, eyebrows lightly furrowed in concern.

Maya sighed, drawing closer into herself. “I’m thinking about what Lilly said.”

“Lilly said a lot of things,” her husband said. “She gets talkative when she’s drunk.”

Maya snorted. “About her wanting to have another kid, Ray.”

Her husband was silent for a long moment. “Do you want to have another kid?”

Maya bit her lip and glanced at the nightstand next to their bed. On it was a lamp, a couple of books, and a photo.

It was a photo that she knew she would treasure until she died. They had taken it after getting home from the hospital. Kai had been dead asleep in his little bundle of blankets, held between the two of them as they smiled at the camera. She could remember how happy she’d been when they’d taken it, the first photo they had ever taken of Kai. The first real proof that they were forming a family for themselves.

She could only imagine how happy she would be if they had another child. Another addition to their family.

She nodded. “Yeah, I really do.”

---

Kai’s reaction to seeing his little sister for the first time was worth all the stress it took to get her. His face lit up in the single brightest smile she’d seen on him, and he stumbled around with her in his arms while his parents trailed close behind, well aware of their son’s limited strength. Eventually he curled up on the floor with her, continuously mumbling her name along with “lil’ sister”. Ray ended up having to pry Nya away from Kai and place her in the cot, and then Kai in his own bed after he had fallen asleep. Kai had a broad grin on his face even in his sleep, and despite My undoubtedly not knowing why anyone around her was happy, even she had a small smile on her face.

For their part, Ray and Maya collapsed into bed right next to each other, pressing close together. They both had tired, but happy, smiles on their faces, watching their two children sleep.

It was a peaceful night.

---

When she was a year old, Nya sneezed and managed to explode every toilet in the house. She had promptly wailed for Ray to come and help her.

Maya had rolled her eyes at her husband's smug expression that at least one of his children preferred him. She still had Kai after all, and she would never let him go.

---

Nya was a quiet baby, and Kai had definitely improved since he was a child. Ray and Maya had been able to sleep in their bed for longer than four hours at a time.

They had a peaceful life. And Maya knew, logically speaking, a very good one. All of the struggles of her life were behind her. Ninjago was peaceful and calm, the worst troubles being far away from them in both time and space. She had a loving husband and two beautiful children.

But something felt wrong. It was hard to place, just an odd swirl in her gut whenever she was alone for too long, or found herself looking at their old weapons from the Serpentine War and the battle with Krux and Acronix.

Just a feeling that something was about to go wrong.

She voiced it to her husband once, after she had set Kai to bed. "Do you think they'll have to go through what we did?"

Her husband stared at her. "What do you mean?"

Maya drew away from him involuntarily. "It's just… because we were Elemental Masters, we went through so much at such a young age. We were twenty during the Serpentine Wars, and twenty two when we forged the Time Blades. We almost died, so many times. I don't want them to go through anything like that."

Ray stared at the ground. "If danger comes to Ninjago again, we may not be able to prevent them from having to fight like we did."

"I know," she said, voice cracking ever so slightly. "But I still don't want them to fight. Not at all. I want them to live long and peaceful lives free from war, or from fights with former friends. Especially not as young as we did."

Ray wrapped his arm around her, and she leaned into his warmth (his fading warmth, she noticed-as Kai got stronger his father got weaker), putting her head on his shoulder. "I can't promise that they won't have to fight. You know as well as I do that we can't predict or stop the future. But as long as they need us, I will be there for them. As long as I'm able to, I will be there to protect them. Even if Kai and Nya turn into the most powerful Elementals alive, I'll always be ready to protect them with everything that I have, even if I'm just an old man with nothing but my fists. I won't let anything hurt our children while I'm here."

She smiled weakly. "You're acting like you'll be alone in defending them. I'll be right beside you."

"I know you will."

---

When Kai was five and Nya was three, they went to the museum in Ninjago City. It was only a small part of a family trip that they'd been planning for months, excited about their first time out of Ignacia in years.

The museum was interesting. Because of their close relationship with Garmadon and Wu, Ray and Maya knew far more about Ninjagian history than the average historian. They were able to laugh at the incorrect claims made in the plates next to the exhibits while their children stared at them quizzically. Kai and Nya both kicked up a fuss about having to leave the weapons section, and Ray had to be all but dragged out of the exhibit for ancient blacksmithing tools, but overall it was a fun and quiet time. Maya had her hand locked around her son's wrist the whole time, and she never let go.

Which was why it was scary when she and Ray turned around and neither of their children were there.

They couldn't find either of them for fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes of running around, bumping into people, and shouting their names. Fifteen minutes before-

"Are these your children?"

Maya whipped around, eyes instantly coming to rest on the man that stood before her. He clearly worked at the museum, with clean and crisp clothes and a name tag. He was in his late forties, with already graying hair and a drooping mustache.

Something about him put Maya on edge. But that was forgotten when she saw the two children trailing behind him.

"Kai!" she hissed, running towards them and dropping to her knees so she could cradle his face. "Nya! Are you hurt? What hap-"

"They're fine," the man said. "I just saw them wandering around the weapons exhibit and figured that two children that young shouldn't be by themselves."

He smiled, and a shiver raced down Maya's spine. Before she could respond, however, Kai whined out, "We weren't going to say long. I just wanted to see the swords."

She shushed him quickly. "Kai, you can't wander off like that. We were looking for you and Nya for over ten minutes. The only-only-rule we gave to you two was that you had to stay by my side. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Both of them grumbled out apologies, and Maya gave them a nod. "Don't wander off again."

"Excuse me, ma'am, I'm fairly certain that you are their mother, but I just have to ask-" he bent down ever so slightly to talk to the kids "this is your mother, right children?"

They nodded, and the man seemed satisfied, standing up straight again. "You said your name's were Kai and Nya, correct?"

They nodded again, and he grinned (Maya felt a small wave of nausea pass over her, but she tried to ignore it). "Your mother's right. Stick next to her when you're in a crowded place."

And then he wandered off. Nya couldn't place it, but she just felt ill after interacting with him. He felt familiar as well, in a way that made her stomach boil. She grasped Kai's and Nya's hands and led them away stiffly.

“Who was that?” she asked her son sharply.

Kai blinked. “Said his name was Sanders Saunders. He said he worked here.”

It was the only answer she needed to relax slightly. If he had been willing to give the kids his name, he probably didn’t mean them any harm.

But she couldn’t relax until she had put a decent amount of space between them and the man.

---

The night after they got back, Maya was woken up by screaming. Both Nya and Kai were wailing their tiny lungs out, and while Kai was able to calm down quicker and go back to sleep, it took a fair amount of convincing for Nya to calm down even slightly. She clung onto Nya with her baby hands clenched into fists in her shirt.

“Shh, shh, shh,” Maya whispered. “What was the dream about?”

Nya made an odd whining noise into her shirt. “You were gone. The house and the shop were here but… you were gone. You and dada.”

Maya blinked. “That’s an… odd nightmare. But you know we’d never leave you, right? Not willingly.”

Nya nodded, and Maya continued to speak. “I’m never ever going to leave you, sweetheart. Anyone who tried to make me leave you would have to drag me away kicking and screaming.”

Nya sniffled weakly. “You promise?”

Maya nodded. “I promise. Nothing could ever separate me from you, my precious little waterlily.”

---

Maya was only now realizing that she wouldn’t be able to keep the promise she had made to Nya that night.

It turned out the only thing that could separate her from her children was someone threatening them.

“Come on, now,” Krux purred, eyes alight with a malice that she wanted to quench by any means necessary. “We wouldn’t want your precious little children to get hurt, now, would we?”

Maya could barely hold herself back from attacking him right then and there. It was only the vague notion that she knew Krux was fully capable of killing both of her children that kept her from ripping his head off. If it was just her life, or even her’s and Ray’s lives together, she wouldn’t have hesitated to attack him.

But the idea of her children’s lives being snuffed out was just enough to hold her at bay. Barely.

“What do you want, Krux?” her husband spat out, expression twisted in fury.

“Your services, of course,” Krux replied lazily. “I need your help for this little plan I have cooked up.”

“I cannot believe we have to say this, but we’ll never help you,” Ray growled out. “We were instrumental in your defeat previously, remember?”

“Oh, I remember,” Krux purred. “What fine weapons those were. I wonder if you can make any other weapons like it. Or armor, for that matter.”

Maya’s hands clenched uselessly at her sides. “In case you can’t remember, we were able to forge those weapons because we’re Elemental Masters. Are you entirely sure you want to take the two of us on?”

It was a bluff, and judging by the way Krux’s eyes lit up, he knew it. “You know, when you so graciously visited me at the museum, Kai told me a story about how he accidentally lit your flowers on fire with his hands. And how young Nya was able to put the fire out. They’re burgeoning quite fast for such young children.” He rubbed his chin in mock contemplative thought. “You know, Kai and Nya might end up being better blacksmiths than the two of you if their elemental powers continue flourishing as fast as they have been. Perhaps I should take the two of them, inst-”

“No!” Maya yelled at the same time Ray swore. “Don’t hurt or take them. We’ll do whatever you want.”

Krux smirked. “Well then, you may want to come with me, right now. You won’t disobey my orders if you know what’s good for you-or rather, what’s good for your children.”

Maya felt ill as she began to get up from the counter with Ray. One of his hands was clenched tightly in hers, a squeeze which he probably meant to be reassuring. Although, looking at his face, Maya couldn’t help but wonder if it was him who needed the comfort.

They had almost made it off their property before they were interrupted.

“Mommy?”

Maya’s heart lurched, and she turned around to face her son and daughter, both of whom were staring at Krux in confusion. Though neither of them could possibly know the sheer amount of danger they were in, Maya couldn’t help but notice Kai shoving Nya just the tiniest bit behind him, and holding out an arm in front of her.

Maya tried to bite back her tears. “What do you want, Kai?”

Kai blinked at her, before holding out something for her to take. She had to stop herself from crying when she noticed what it was.

“I-I know you’re angry because I killed your flowers,” Kai babbled, glancing down at the ground even as he held the flower up higher. “So I got you a new one.”

There was silence for a couple of seconds, during which Maya could almost feel Krux’s glare on her back. She could barely feel anything over her own crushing misery though, a misery far harsher than it had been when she had lost her family the first time. It made her want to curl up into a ball and cry.

But she couldn’t do that. For Kai and Nya’s sake, she had to be strong. She couldn’t let them get hurt because she was weak.

“It’s perfect, sweetheart,” she said, stroking along Kai’s spiky hair softly. “But you can keep it. I think it would go lovely with your hair.”

Kai frowned. “I wanted to give it to you.”

“Yes,” Maya said, taking the flower from his palm and placing it above his ear instead. “But I want it to be with you. In fact, I think both of you would look lovely with flowers in your hair. How about you go and find your sister one as well?”

His expression brightened, and he turned and ran off, dragging Nya with him who stumbled after her older brother. Normally she would scold Kai for being too excitable and tiring his baby sister, but now she could barely muster up the energy to keep herself on her feet as she watched her children run away and out of her life.

Krux let her stare at them for a little bit before he hit her shoulder with the flat side of the sword he was carrying, ignoring her cry of pain. “We’re leaving before those two brats come back,” he ordered, gesturing the sword down the path. “Unless you want me to use this sword on something other than your shoulder.”

Maya stared at the ground, tears burning in her vision and slipping down her face. But she complied. Dully, she could hear Ray walking alongside her, making his own sounds of muffled crying, but she was too numb to care about that. All she could really hear was the sounds of Kai and Nya playing joyfully (oh how that joy would be squashed once they realized they were gone) as the noises faded into the distance. Step by step by awful step, the only thing she could focus on was the sounds of her children fading away.

The only family she had in the world, and she was walking away from them again.