Chapter Text
'~.^||Nya Smith||^.~'
Hybrid: Leopard Shark
Animal Features: Sharp teeth, slightly blue hinted gills against side of neck, leopard patterns cover her shoulders, parts of her back and trail down her arms, slightly pointed ears with multiple piercings, eyebrow piercing
Looks: Tan, chocolate brown asian eyes matching her brothers, 5 and a half feet tall, thick black curtain bangs hanging out of her high pony tail, ears have multiple piercings, eyebrow piercing, slightly pink lips, black beauty spot on her cheek
Current Slave Type: House Maid
Elemental Power: Water!
Slave Code: YD-551
Nya rolled out her shoulders, walking across a pole that dangled dozens of feet above the ground. It was a short cut to the other part of the roof to the next section of the windows. She was assigned the west and west-north wing windows to wash, and there was no way she was going to take an extra ten minute walk to either go around, or get inside then get up onto the west-north wing. She had already spent all day washing windows, any more time was not on her list to do today.
Her tail swayed left and right, helping with ease with her balance, though she did hardly need it. A pole was resting on her shoulders, each side had a bucket of water sloshing around with each step. Cleaning sprays and wipes secures to the sides of the bucket.
A slight breeze did help remind her that she wasn't invincable though. When her two, wrapped feet, (Maids in the house wrapped their feet with cloth, because it was a rare chance to be gifted shoes) landed on the roof, a smile greeted her lips. She reached a hand to scratch under her collar, her claws retracted, and sighed with the small release of strain from it eased up a bit.
Nya swung the pole off her shoulders, not a drop of water going above the top of the buckets, her movements swift and fluid.
Attaching her harness around her waist to a little hook on the roof made just for this, Nya sung herself over the edge her feet stopping her momentum next to a window and started cleaning.
Window after window, the breeze got wilder and wilder, causing her to gasp as a strong gust blew her away from the wall for a few seconds, instantly shutting up hoping the guard on the yards below her didn't hear. House Maids were prohibited to talking when working, even making a slightly louder noise than normal could get her punished for being obnoxious.
She was lucky enough to avoid the gaze on her new Master so far, Master Chen. He specifically chose girls and women with a more features that were desired currently, as features described as "desirable" changed over the ages.
To he say he was a creep was a little underkill.
Nya stared at her reflection as she swung to the next window. It was coated in grim, even though she washed it only a couple weeks ago. When she sprayed the cleaning spray onto and wiped away the grim she saw her pristine reflection making her frown. From what little she could remember from her parents, she did look a lot like her mother. Just like her brother looked almost identical to her father.
Her chest heaved with the thought of Kai, and wherever he had been taken.
He was to impulsive, never pausing to think what the consequences of his actions may be.
That was the last she saw of her brother, him being dragged away after jumping in to defend her, his face pleading and twisted with worry as he was beaten and taken off. Not worry for himself, no never for himself when he was around Nya, only for her.
"Nee don't worry! I'll find you! I promise! Don't let those bastards take you!"
He had used his nickname for her, his little Nee. (I'm starting to realize how its sounding like knee lmao im to lazy to change it)
Nya's fist clenched the wipe at the memory, her head leaning against the window. Looking into the window, blinking away her wet eyes that were definetly from the wind and not from the memory of her brother, she saw Chen's daughter.
Skylar.
Her Master's daughter was sweeping through a bunch of different fighting positions, and when she looked out the window and saw Nya a large grin split across her face as she rushed over, propping open her window, making Nya move to the side.
"There's my favourite jaguar," Skylar said crossing her arms and leaning against the window sill.
Master Chen's daughter was nothing like her father. She despised him, and was devoted to helping all the slaves. Skylar was probally the only human Nya has ever met that actually doesn't hate hybrids. She stood for them.
When Nya had been transferred here, she and Skylar clicked instantly. Forming a friendship that was there just for the two of them and no one else.
Nya flicked her tail slyly, speaking her voice hushed but the strong wind encouraged her idea that the guard below couldn't hear her. "Want to join me out here, the wind is pretty nice at the moment."
As if on cue, a strong gust blew her momentarily away from the wall, spilling a few drops of water from her bucket.
"Ooo, thats a tuff one," she tapped her lips as if thinking. "I would say no sorry. How many more windows do you got till your done? I want to try visiting you tonight."
Brushing hair away from her eyes, the jaguar hybrid glanced down the opposite way. "Uh about thirty more."
Skylar cursed under her breath. "Ok, maybe not tonight then. Dad's trying to bring me to the arenas again tonight with him. He really enjoys watching this wolf hybrid fight, he describes him as almost..... zippy? I don't really know."
"Its fine," Nya cracked her knuckles. "I know how psychotic your dad is. Doesn't he always bid half of your inheritance on that one?"
"Every time. Luckily, the guy seems to know what hes doing." She shook her head. "He's so childish. Honestly, I have no clue how he's lasted this long. I swear the next meeting with the Emperor will be his last."
Nya snorted her agreement. "Lets hope not though, I don't want to be transferred away from my tormentor," tormentor as in one of the only reasons she's survived at 'chen's palace.'
Skylar grinned, making a tisking sound. "What would we do without eachother. Maybe I would be able to keep you."
Though Nya loved Skylar like a sister, she still felt some resent towards her. They had tried before to get the jaguar hybrid freed, but nothing had worked. And Sky could only do so much to protect her from her father.
A faint voice shouted at Nya angrily from below her. Looking down she saw the guard shouting at her swinging his fist wildly. Even though she couldn't hear him through the wind, she got the memo.
"That's my cue, Sky, catch ya later." Shutting the window for her friend, she pulled herself up and onto the roof, attaching herself to another hook before cleaning the next window.
An hour later when she was done, the wind had died down to a nice breeze. The air smelt sweet from a honey factory next to Master Chen's lands, but also from the smell of flowers blooming making and delicate explosion of smells catch the winds. The sun had set earlier, which Nya paused as long as she could to appreciate and now the sky was dark. Master Chen's lands were far enough away from the city that the lights had no effect on the stars. They were as bright as pinpricks in a black clot, and starling beautiful next to the full, bright, moon.
Nya sat, her legs dangling over the side of the mansion roof. Her feet swayed back and forth as she laid back, her hands underneath her head as she stared at the peaceful sky. There was a problem in the east wing, drawing away her guard who was keeping an eye on her elsewhere, giving her extra time outside before she was dragged back to her room. Fresh air was a kiss to her cheek.
She closed her eyes for a second, her and Kai used to do something almost exactly like this when they still lived with their parents. The Master they had was ok, and would let them stargaze at night and look for patterns in the sky.
It physically hurt her how much she missed her big brother.
Running her hand down her face, Nya got up to her knees swinging her legs back up onto the roof. She grabbed her cleaning supplies and instead of tying it up to the sides like she usually does, the water was sadly empty so she dropped the stuff in. Water had always given Nya a sense of peace. It was calm, rippled when disturbed and if you hit it hard enough it would always bite back.
Picking it up she heard shuffling behind her, her ears pointing to the sounds direction. A guard had come to the roof to yell at her. She turned slowly eyes cautious that she would get punished if she made to sharp of movements or because she was speaking without asking.
"Sorry sir, I was just cleaning-"
What she saw made her drop her supplies in shock.
He was the same as she had remembered from years ago, accept now he was much taller than her. His stripes decorating his arms were thicker and more had came. His body was toned and had almost a smokey look to it. His eyes had a sharp glow, but were terrified, nervous, and estatic at the same time. He wore a brown work t, with beige trousers. The shoes on his feet looked slightly worn out, and the collar around his neck loose. His hair wilder, more tossled and unkempt.
But it was still her Kai. Her big brother.
A chocked gasp released from her throat, logic clawed at her mind but she momentarily shoved it down before tackling her brother in a fierce hug, sobs already wracking her body as she clutched at his shirt, ignoring his ridged skin underneath. She buried her head undernetah his collar, eyes wetting his shirt.
Then logic struck through her mental barrier.
"Kai? How.... why! Your not supposed to be here. Oh shit. Your in trouble. We need to get you out how did you get in here? How did you know-"
He pulled away and pressed a finger to her lips, his own eyes slightly wet but a grin was taking control of his face. "Shh, Nee. Calm down. It's fine. We have it all planned out. You just need to follow and we will be out of here."
Reluctantly she took a step back. "We? What are you talking about."
The tiger hybrid stepped away from her, arms opened pointing to a old man and a tall grizzly hybrid. The old man wore a conical straw hat and had a bamboo staff, the the grizzly wore the same outfit as Kai was wearing.
Her mind wirled for answers.
"What...?"
"Nya, I need you to take a deep breath and watch this." Kai reached up to his neck and the off looking collar, and popped it right off.
The world stopped.
Nya's eyes widened to the size of a golf ball as Kai held out his collar for her to inspect. The skin where it was pale, from his previous collar.
"How did you get that! Its a fake, extre-"
"Listen to me. That man over there -the old one- he has a way to take it off. He saved me an the bear over there, his name is Cole, because he could sense this... element in us. His name is Sensei Wu, he's Garmadon's outlaw brother who is supposed to get killed on sight. He's been trying to find the elemental masters so he can train them and make them ninja so they can stop Emperor Garmadon. Wu's finally began to start sensing that the elements have returned, and he found us and freed us. He also believes you are the Elemental Master of Water. That's why we are here, also because I wasn't going to go with him if we didn't get you."
Nya tried to process the flow of information as Kai put his hands on her shoulders staring into her eyes. Her tail curled around her leg tightening and loosening in rhythm with her breaths.
When cleaning Master Chen's library, she had seen scrolls laid out talking about elemental powers that his Advisor Clous had been looking at. She had thought it weird at the time and caught bits and pieces of the words on the page. Something about the elemental masters coming together to end Garmadon's reign for a prophecy. She hadn't thought much about it at the time.
It made sense, but why her? She couldn't control water. Though she had felt a connection to it in all her life, it never responded to her other than ripples facing her way which was a normal thing, wasn't it?
She let out her breath loudly. "So he believes both me and you are Elemental Masters?" She glanced at the old man waiting patiently over Kai's shoulder.
"Not just know..." Kai took his hands off her and with his right hand he snapped, and a small match size flame danced across his fingers under his control, lighting the dark rooftop. "Sensei taught me how, I can't do much with it yet, but once I train more I could. He's going to do the same thing with your water after we found the others. He hasn't been wrong yet."
"How'd you get here and know where I was?"
"We'll keep talking about this later, we need to go Nee."
About to jump up and down she stopped herself, thinking of Skylar, she couldn't just disappear without telling her friend.
"One moment, I have to do something." Grabbing her rope and leaving Kai there, she darted over the roof to the hook next to Sky's window, attaching it to her waist and the roof, Nya swung over the edge. Popping open the window, Nya slid inside ignoring Kai's nervous shoutings behind her.
She unlatched her harness from the rope, and slid into the well furnished room. Walking to Sky's bed, she opened a part in her matress and pulled out her hidden journal, writing a quick note to her friend on the first open page she saw
Hey!
I know I randomly left but I did for a reason and left with my
older brother so I'm totally safe.
Don't worry, as of now I'm fine. When this is all over I'll find my way back to you and
we can finally actually hang out without having to hide our friendship
<3
Love,
your fav Jaguar.
"Why are we doing this again?" Kai asked from right behind her leaning over her shoulder.
Nya let out a startled gasp, she had forgotten how easily her brother had been able to creep up on her when they were younger.
She shoved the journal back where it was, covering it up with the blankets and sheets before turning around.
"Its a letter for Master Chen's daughter, Skylar. She's my friend and she hates the whole humans are higher than hybrids thing. She also sorta hates her dad."
Kai raised a brow, suspicous. "Chen has a daughter?"
Nya nodded pointed to a portrait of Sky and her father. Skylars red hair was down, not in her usual pony tail. A forced smile was on her face and her blue eyes were locked straight ahead. Chen had his arm wrapped around her shoulder, his greasy smile staring off into the distance not quite at the photographer.
Kai's jaw dropped at the sight, his eyes locked on Skylar. All he said was: "Damn."
Nya rolled her eyes. "She's off limits doofus. Lets get out of here now."
She pulled herself up the rope without even attaching herself to the harness, Kai reluctantly leaving the photo behind her.
Then she was back on the roof, leaving with her brother she'd never thought she'd see again and two random strangers.