Arin and Sora shivered as they shuffled up the stairs, the air rapidly dropping and freezing wind blasting through them, Sora held tightly onto Arin’s hoodie. The night air rapidly cooled as the sun fell below the horizon. Soon the only light that illuminated them was Arin’s small flashlight.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” she yelled over the wind.

“We are almost there!” he yelled back. “The doors are just a little further!” He pointed towards the lanterns. His little hands gripped the green mask harder.

Shaking rapidly Arin pressed the doorbell, the sound of the doorbell echoing only to dip into silence. He could feel his gut dropping by each second. Just as they were about to turn around the door swung open.

Golden light shined on them before a shadow enveloped them. In the doorway stood a man in a green outfit and shaggy blonde hair, a bright smile plastered across his face until he looked down and it shifted to a softer but sadder gaze, he leaned down resting on one knee in front of them.

“Sorry for taking so long, I wasn't expecting company,” kindness and warmness laced his voice as he gave a soft laugh. “What brings you kids up at this time of night? It’s very dangerous, you know.”

Only one word was able to escape Arin, “Lloyd!” he began to shake Sora’s shoulder. His smile widened at the sight of his hero.

“Looks like I got a fan,” Lloyd laughed. “Say is that mine?” he pointed at the green mask.

He opened his hand allowing the young fan to drop it in his, it was dirty but otherwise intact. Looking behind the boy he noticed the girl shivering, her skin turning paler by the second.

He could feel the cold nip of the air on his skin as well, and he knew the walk back to wherever they came from would be impossibly long. In that second, he made his decision.

“Would you two like to come inside? The air is only going to get colder,” he pulled the door wider. “And trust me it’s not a good flight back down in this weather.”

Arin was practically ready to rush right in, yet he turned to Sora to see if she was okay with it. She nodded slowly yet kept her head down avoiding his gaze. As they walked into the monastery, he could see their shivering bodies begin to settle. Luckily, they were just cold, not wet.

“How about something to eat?” He grabbed the pot of rice he had been making. “It’s probably not the best but it's warm.”

Sora was beginning to say no, but her stomach rumbled. Lloyd smiled as her face began to turn bright red, he laid a bowl in front of them both giving them spoons.

“Thank you,” she managed to whisper.

They ate quickly, he was almost worried they would upset their stomach. 

“Woah there,” he placed his hand over their bowls. “You might want to slow down; you could upset your stomachs.”

They nodded attempting to eat slower, Lloyd resigned himself to analyzing them throughout dinner, something was setting off alarms in his head. He noted how thin they were, most likely being scavengers, especially with the grime under their fingernails. Thinking back to when he was their age, he remembered being bigger though he was more well fed, even at Darkley’s he had a hot meal every day. When he takes them home tomorrow maybe he could drop off some supplies, it was becoming a difficult world to live in. 

As he continued to refill their bowls, he noted new things each time. Matted and greasy hair. How stained and dirty the clothes were. He felt bad that they had to go through this, they didn't look any older than nine or ten. Did they have families to return to? 

Time for some light digging. “You two know my name, but I haven't learned yours yet.”

The boy came forward first, “My name is Arin!”

Arin had been practically shining the entire time, Lloyd could tell he was a ninja fan. He wore an orange hoodie with a makeshift dragon symbol on his shoulder.

Barely a whisper left the girl's mouth. “Sora.”

He nodded and smiled, she had been silent and reserved for the entire time, even going so far as to avoid eye contact with him every time. Her outfit however looked like a uniform of some kind; it looked like she had ripped off the trim on it. Her pink hair is what stood out the most to him and deep golden irises.

“Have you two had your fill or do you want more?” he had hoped they were full, especially since they practically ate the entire pot.

Bits of rice hung to their mouths as they shook their heads. Color had finally returned to their little faces.

“Good, would you two like to get some of that grime off?” He walked over to a shelf pulling out two towels. “We have several showers throughout the monastery, two are right next to each other but if you want you can take turns.”

Sora gave a skeptical look at first her eyes darting between the showers and staying close to Arin but relented. Lloyd handed over a set of fresh clothing and towels to the kids before sending them off. He tried his best to match the colors giving Arin an orange set but since white and black were taken, he grabbed a pink set for Sora.

As Lloyd waited for the kids to get done, he sorted through Kai’s room, his heart grew heavier as he came across various pictures and memories. Finally, he found it and grabbed Kai's hair styling kit. Hopefully, he didn't mind Lloyd using it. The sound of quiet whispering filled his ears as the kids exited the bathrooms. Along with the tiny patter of them searching for him.

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“Arin, Sora, come here for a few seconds please,” he made his way back to the kitchen.

“What’s that?” Sora whispered, appearing next to him.

He barely heard her.

“It’s a hair kit used by my friend Kai; I figured you two would like your hair untangled.”

Sora’s eyes widened and glistened; he had her approval. Now what about Arin? He turned his head just as he thought Arin was going to jump to the moon. Standing behind them he did his best, all those lessons with Kai and Nya were finally coming in handy.

He worked on Arin’s headfirst, the curly hair having knotted, and being as gentle as he could he cut the knots out and applied various products to get it presentable. Proud of his work he moved on to Sora.

“Can you make it a ponytail?” Sora spoke up for the first time.

He happily agreed, ecstatic that she was finally talking to him. As he fixed up her hair, he noted how happy she looked that her hair was clean.

“I’m sorry if this is prying, where do you two live?”

Arin piped up. “We live at the Crossroads,” he marveled in the mirror.

“What’s that?” He scrunched up his face. “I haven't been down the mountain in a while.”

“Everyone who got displaced in the merge has been finding their way to the Crossroads,” she whispered fiddling with her ponytail.

“What about parents or guardians? Anyone to take care of you?” He knew he was pushing it.

Arin looked down, looking like tears were going to well in his eyes. While Sora looked to the side like the words had physically hurt her. He nodded and apologized before helping them down from the chairs.

“I’m sure you two must be tired,” he motioned for them to follow him. “These are the spare rooms. If you need anything, please let me know.” He smiled before opening the doors.

“Can I sleep in Arin’s room,” she whispered.

Lloyd nodded before closing the door, hearing the small children whisper amongst themselves before leaving. He was smiling, how long had it been since he smiled? After the merge he was all by himself, the bounty soon broke down as well, and then thing after thing happened forcing him to stay in the monastery by himself.

He played with the thought in his head, maybe they could stay? He had always wanted kids but with world-ending threats happening every second it wasn't a likely thing to happen. But it had been peaceful longer than he had honestly expected, but he needed to search for his family.

His internal ramblings went on and on until he found himself on the bounty. Reluctantly grabbing the tools, he walked down the staircase to the engine room. Parts lay scattered across the ground and various engine blueprints hung on the wall.

Not that he could make heads or tails out of it, he never was good at this kind of stuff. Nya, Jay, Zane, and Pixel were making good progress before the merge, so theoretically, all the hard stuff should be over. He knew he wasn't as tech-savvy as them, but he did manage to connect the steering somehow so surely, he could do this too.

He picked up a couple of parts and put them together, it looked like they fit, slowly he made his way trying to get rid of all the smaller parts before moving to the big ones.

Sweat dripped off his face as he settled onto the bench, there was a knock on the wood next to him, looking over Arin and Sora were leaning their heads into the room staring at him.

“What time is it? Shouldn't you be sleeping?” he tilted his head.

“It’s morning?” Arin piped up scrunching her face.

They must have searched all over for him, he motioned for them to come closer.

“What are you working on?” Sora asked, examining the blueprints.

Her eyes seemed to be scanning every piece of information on the blueprints before jumping to the parts that lay scattered across the room.

“It’s an engine, but I'm not having much luck with it,” he sat the wrench down.

“You placed the power coupling wrong, you put this piece in the wrong place.” she pointed at the two spots before continuing to ramble on about everything he did wrong for the engine.

“Lloyd, how did you even manage to get this part placement wrong?” Arin seemed to be scowling at his work

Lloyd sat there for a few seconds, he was dumbfounded, what did they mean? There was no way they knew all that. But she said it with such certainty that maybe she does, even Arin seemed to be judging him.

He followed her instructions slowly putting each piece in place where she wanted, it was almost like she was a different person with how much she was talking. When everything was done the three of them walked to the control panel. Hesitantly he pressed the activation button, and the engine came alive with a roar and a bright orange flame poured out of the ship's thrusters.

“You little genius, how did you know?” he picked her up and swung her in the air.

Her face is bright red but with a smile. “I've always been good at stuff like this.” her voice had gone back to being meek.

He sat her down and got to her level, “Thank you Sora, I have a few more things I need to check. Why don't you and Arin explore the ship for a few minutes.”

“Really!!” Arin grabbed Sora and ran off.

He fiddled with the control panel and each system seemed to be in working order. “Arin, Sora you two ready for breakfast?” he yelled out.

“Yes,” Sora said next to him.

He almost jumped out of his skin; she was too quiet for her good. He picked her and Arin up, they were surprisingly light, if they decided to stay he would need to feed them more.

They entered the monastery’s kitchen, and he sat them on the stools.

“Let’s see here,” he mumbled to himself as he sorted through the fridge. “Looks like the only meat we have right now is fish, you two okay with that?” He turned his head to look at them.

It looked like their mouths were already watering, but he couldn't ride the whole meal on just fish, he remembered liking cut carrots growing up so he’d do that too. It must have been a while since they've had a good meal, how bad was it getting down there? When was the last time he left the mountain?

“Here’s breakfast.” he smiled, placing the warm plates down in front of them. “It’s not as good as Zane’s cooking but it should do the trick.”

They happily ate it much to his surprise; he didn't think they would like the carrots. They reminded him so much of his past, that he couldn't deny the selfish feeling growing inside of him, he wanted to give them the same chance he had.

“Oh, by the way, here’s your clothes,” he pulled them out from the dryer and laid them neatly on the table.

“They’re fixed up,” Arin examined the hoodie with a sad smile spreading across his face.

“Is that hoodie important to you, Arin?” He wished he could take back the words as soon as it left his mouth.

Tears formed in his eyes, “my parents helped me customize it before they disappeared in the merge.”

He nodded and apologized again; they sat in silence for a while as Lloyd tried to figure out the right way to say what he was thinking.

“Arin, I'm sure you've noticed that the other ninjas aren't here, I lost them in the merge too, it’s horrible and I feel like every time I think about them, I'll cry,” he cringed at being so open. “But we need to have faith that we will see our loved ones again, I am sure your parents are looking for you right now.”

Arin nodded seemingly emboldened, or at least Lloyd thought he did. He didn't know how this next bit would go but he walked over and lowered them off the stools before getting to their level.

“How would you two like to stay here?” Too casual he cursed to himself, before continuing. “This may be a selfish desire on my part, but you two are blindingly bright. In the short amount of time you have been here, I've felt happier than I have in a long time.”

Before he had time, they had leaped on him hugging him and thanking him profusely, leaving him stunned.