Finding Fate

 "Come on, Taylor! We don't want to be late!"

"We aren't late!"

Nya dashed across the road and over to the door. She opened it and stood to the side, allowing me to pass through.

"-ecause reading is the first step to every adventure. Go, reading, go!"

"And... Cut! Brilliance plus perfection! Clean up, little fellas, and make some headway here. That's a wrap!" Dareth's voice rang out through the studio.

"Wait, what?" I glanced around in confusion as the lights were brought back up and people began to chatter. Nya placed her hands on her hips and frowned,

"A wrap? We just got here. Dareth said—"

"Hey, hey! There're my boys! I knew you could Spinjitzu but that acting knocked me out," Dareth began, tilting to the right slightly as the guys walked over to him before he noticed us. "Oh, hey, sweetheart," he grinned at Nya. "Dear," and winked at me. I gagged. Dareth frowned. "Mind sticking around for a segment to teach girls how to apply makeup?"

We turned to look at the back corner of the room, following his gaze.

"Makeup?" I yelled in outrage, crossing my arms across my chest as I felt an odd sensation build up in my chest. I had felt it before, but I wasn't sure where and it tugged on the urge to transform. "We're Ninja! Not makeup artists!"

"You're gonna need makeup when I rearrange your face!" Nya growled, launching forward to attack Dareth-

Jay held Nya back, restraining her as I felt the other's gaze wandering over to me, anticipating what I'd do next, "Easy! Nya and Taylor are one of us now, there's no reason they should be treated differently."

"No reason?" Dareth exclaimed dumbly. "You added another girl to the group. You know how much that hurts your image? You're a boy band, a hunk machine!" Lloyd stepped in, briefly casting a glance in my direction,

"No. We're equals. Our power comes from no one being more important than the other."

"Important? No. Irresistible..." Kai glanced at the open door filled with fangirls, "uh, debatable." He winked at them, causing them to scream and I rolled my eyes, letting out a tsk.

Dareth chuckled,

"I don't tell you how to do your business, don't tell me how to do mine. Remember how every time you save Ninjago no one cared? Well, now Dareth's in charge and Dareth says don't change the recipe. You boys are the face of the franchise, and now the face of Teen Idol!" He led the boys away from us and I didn't hesitate to peer over Lloyd's shoulder to sneak a glance at the magazine. Lloyd was plastered on it, the title, Sensei Lloyd, printed next to him. Below was an image of Cole, Nya and Jay, poking fun at what I had been told 'love triangle'.

"'Sensei Lloyd'? But I'm only a Sensei-in-training," Lloyd commented, and another phrase caught my eye.

"And what's this about me and Jay still fighting over Nya? That's old news," Cole said and frowned.

"Wait, give me that." I frowned myself and snatched the magazine from Lloyd's hands, avoiding any... contact. Turning around I flicked through the pages as the others crowded around me. I stopped at an image of myself, taken from one of my most recent interviews. The words blurred together as I struggled to read.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and almost panicked until I realised it was Nya, kindly holding her hand out so she could read it to me. I handed it over to her and she began to read it out to us,

"Possible speculation that Taylor Chen is related to a believed-to-be-dead heir to the royal family of Ninjago. Sources claim that the similarities between her and the artworks of our monarchs are not a coincidence."