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Nobody remembers Libber as a hero.
In the aftermath of the Serpentine War, Wu is regaled for his discovery of the Sacred Flutes, Ray and Maya for each bringing a Serpentine tribe to its knees, and Garmadon for banishing the Anacondrai Generals to the Cursed Realm.
Libber will be remembered as simply being there, too ditzy, too loud, too blonde.
To all save but one.
She saved Earth’s life, now Earth’s invited to her wedding.
“You look like a princess,” his daughter says, her mossy green eyes wide with hero worship as Libber spins in her dress, hair curled and freckles bleached the way Cliff likes.
Her husband-to-be waits for her, handsome and beaming. Earth’s daughter tosses flowers in front of her as Libber walks down the aisle, scattering petals of her namesake.
Lillies.
Beautiful flowers, though more fitting for a funeral than a wedding.
But perhaps they’re suitable still; Libber will look back on this day as the day her heart started walking towards its grave.
As Lilly grows, so does their bond.
Libber’s outgrowing fairytales, but she manages a spark of belief again when Lilly finds a prince of her own.
She finds Cliff stuffing his suitcase.
“Where are you going?”
He doesn’t even glance up at her. “Filming the next Sleepless in Metalonia. Should be back in a month.”
“But Lilly’s wedding’s this weekend.”
“Whose?”
“Lilly. Y’know, my best friend?”
“Oh. The one who needs to tweeze her eyebrows?”
“No, the Master of Earth,” Libber snaps, and Cliff has the gall to look startled as she shoves on her combat boots.
“Where are you going?” he has the irony to ask.
“Bachelorette outing,” Libber responds. More like adventure. The two have scoured Ninjago in search of quests to fulfill and wrongs to right since Lilly came into her Element. This one to Merlopia’s promising to be their best one yet.
Thunder and Lightning, people call them. Libber lights up the sky while Lilly rumbles the ground.
Cliff’s gone more and more these days, but it doesn’t sting as much as it should. Not when Libber has Lilly.
Thunder and lightning, never to be parted.
Lilly lets Libber watch Cole, once.
Cole is a beautiful baby. Libber’s only had him an hour, and already he feels like Lilly’s light, a precious life, Libber’s entire world–
Within two hours, she’s accidentally left him at the grocery store.
Cliff finds him sucking his foot, gurgling at the lobster tank.
“You’re so scatterbrained,” Cliff laughs, “you’d forget your own head if it wasn’t attached. You could never raise a baby on your own. Good thing you have me.”
Libber only grabs Cole and nods, relieved by what she won’t have to tell Lilly.
Libber and Lilly aren’t truly separated until Shintaro.
Libber wants to go, but her belly’s too swollen. Both Cliff and Lilly talk her out of it.
“It’s only for a month. Two at most,” says Lilly. “I wish I could stay, but the Skyfolk need me. Hey little jaybird,” she says, bending to stroke Libber’s stomach. “Be good for your Momma, okay?”
She envelops Libber in a broad-muscled hug. Libber squeezes back, enveloped in the scent of her; of the fragrant oils Lilly puts in her hair and of fresh dirt.
Apart, their lives run parallel, pulled taut by an invisible string;
As Lilly finds the Geckles and Munce, Libber discovers her husband’s been fickle and faithless for months
While Lilly slays Grief-Bringer, Libber is slain by grief
Libber births a son while Lilly births a legacy
And by the time Lilly leaves Shintaro, Libber has left a marriage.
They’re in a cafe, Libber doesn’t remember the name. Libber doesn’t remember much of anything, these days.
Jay is a fretful, colicky baby. He wails through the night and guzzles her milk so fast he makes himself sick and spits it right back up and Cliff was right, she could never, ever raise a baby on her own.
Her spirit and her breasts ache, too full of milk.
She knows she’s not supposed to, but she orders a tripleshot espresso anyway while Lilly stirs her tea.
Cole stumps over to the display case and presses his chubby hands and face against the glass, enraptured by the sight of a chocolate cake. Libber glances over at the baby carrier on the ground next to her where Jay is somehow, wonderfully, miraculously asleep.
FSM, she really isn’t cut out for this.
But Lilly is.
Lilly and Lou will love Jay as their own.
“I have something to tell you…” Lilly says.
Libber starts, then gives a nervous laugh. “Really? I have something too. But you first,” Libber says quickly, standing on the precipice, hoping she won’t lose nerve.
Lilly stirs her tea again, once, twice, then meets her eyes. Something in them makes Libber’s heart stand still.
“I’m dying.”
Lightning splits the sky.
Lilly is dying, and it’s all her fault. She should’ve been there, should have done something, and maybe Lilly wouldn’t have been scratched by a poisoned spike by Grief-Bringer. A poison that’s now slowly killing her.
Lilly can’t keep Jay, not when she’s struggling to survive. And as Libber has no other living family, she must find somebody else to turn to.
Libber unleashes another bolt. Yellow, golden as the swell of pride Libber’s mother felt when she found out she was expecting. It’s an old wives’ tale that Lightning is a sensitive element, colored by the old Master’s emotions before transferring itself to the new.
Lightning is too sensitive–Libber doesn’t deserve it. The echoes of her mother’s pride. Lilly’s loyalty.
Libber feels the familial ties she’s desperately fought to form start to break–
Their sons will never grow up as brothers.
She’s so tired of outlasting her loved ones.
When she finally leaves Jay, Libber unknowingly leaves something else besides her legacy:
Something stretched thin, but not so broken after all–
The threads of an invisible string.