Oh my goodness, I hope you guys like this one. I'm feelin' pretty good about it. I'm like super happy right now too because FFN fixed the updating issues and now people can see when I add new content. It makes me so happy!
-LizzyLucky
It had been nearly a week since Dr. Julien's death. Zane had felt both grieved and numb at the same time. He didn't know what to do with himself.
After two days, the funeral was held. Everyone occupying Destiny's Bounty had gone, as well as their families. Even Zane's falcon had shown up, which had been bittersweet for Zane. The falcon had been flying about Ninjago for a time, and Zand had almost entirely forgotten about him. The small robotic creature had a soft spot in Zane's heart, and had only grown more precious as Zane said his goodbyes.
The day after that was the public memorial. Zane had chosen not to attend. He would watch from their television set, but wouldn't go. It was endearing to see groups of people crowd around the City hall in honor of Dr. Julien, many sharing how much they respected the old man, both because of his contributions to science and justice, and because of how much he had meant to Zane.
Two days after that, Zane had finally cleared himself enough to read Dr. Julien's will. As most had expected, he had been left with rights to the treehouse, as well as to the work inside it. He could either sell or keep the inventions within. Zane, without question, had decided upon the latter. He had also been left a small, saved-up fund of near $1,000, which originally would have gone to a very expensive piece of machinery that Dr. Julien had wanted to tinker with.
As Zane had been surprised to discover, however, there was more than one piece of paper for the will. He'd read through the first and, at the very end of the page, saw that the second piece was meant for Wu, and that Zane was not to read it unless Wu decided otherwise.
Other things had been left for the ninja, such as little trinkets that Dr. Julien had made. He'd left portions of Juggernaut, who guarded the treehouse before Zane discovered it, and several blueprints for inventions he never got to put together, which he thought the ninja would enjoy putting together.
In the end, though, aside from the death itself, what bugged Zane the most was that there was something his father didn't trust to tell him. Wu had some extra piece of information and, despite Zane's pleas, had not been willing to tell Zane what was scribed on the aged piece of paper.
Zane had eventually given up on asking, however. It was consoling to see what kinds of things his father had built and designed, and he enjoyed spending time in the old treehouse following his father's death. At least, as much as he could with all that in mind. He couldn't think of anything that Wu's piece of the will could hold, and Wu seemed unmovable in telling Zane, so he instead distracted himself with other things. He would re-read old letters from Dr. Julien, bond with his falcon, or study his own old blueprints and their notes. He'd discovered a few very fascinating things, functions he didn't understand, parts he didn't know he had. For example, he apparently had a sensitivity dial hidden closer to the front of his lower left abdomen.
There were old journals explaining things like this, and he'd learned that Dr. Julien hadn't only built him for a companion and guardian. True, Dr. Julien had missed having a family, and was lonely with his trinkets and machines, so built Zane. In addition, the Birchwood forest could be very dangerous at times, so he needed a protection of sorts. But there were other things, too. Dr. Julien had come to decide that when he built Zane, he wanted to make him as human as possible. It had actually taken him a very long time to develop a proper method to create artificial intelligence, artificial emotion, and, for that matter, artificial pain.
It was explained in the journal that Dr. Julien had wanted to experiment with this area a bit, wanting to see how well pain could be tolerated, thus why Zane had a sensitivity dial. There were 10 different levels, going from least to most sensitive. Level one was supposed to be average sensitivity, and each level's number following was the number of times more sensitive Zane would become when they were set. As it turned out though, Dr. Julien had grown to love and care for Zane much more than he had planned for, and couldn't bring himself to continue with this experiment of sorts.
It would, however, explain some of Zane's earliest memories, in which things such as scraped knees and little cuts hurt immensely, and tickle fights were to the point of practically disabling him. (Though a little more reading proved that Dr. Julien had made him a bit extra ticklish anyway, just for the fun of it.)
Discovering these sorts of things, and reading this old journal, had been comforting to Zane. There were even notes directed to him throughout the old book which he hadn't been shown before. Fond memories, traits Zane had gained, encouraging and loving sayings. Reading them made it seem almost like Dr. Julien hadn't passed at all, and made not knowing Wu's part of the will just a little more bearable.
To go even further, the other ninja had been very supportive and delicate throughout the whole thing, always being extra sure to ask him how he was, that he got enough to eat, was resting properly. And as Zane began to recover, he also began to open up again, growing more eager each day to tell them the things he'd learned while he was at his father's treehouse. They'd even joked to repeat some of Dr. Julien's experiments, to which Zane shuddered. They would laugh and hug it out, becoming more light-hearted as Zane began to accept Dr. Julien's death.
But, even when things seemed to be going back to normal, Zane remained dissatisfied. Just knowing that he was technically orphaned now, that the father he had grown to know and grow close to was gone... Yes, he'd begun to accept the death, but he had no living relations. His falcon was the closest he would ever get again. And while he called the other ninja his brothers, it just wasn't the same. It wasn't helping that Wu wouldn't tell him that last piece of the will, either. He felt unfulfilled, and it still hurt.
Eventually, his visits to the treehouse became less frequent. He'd finished the journal, also bringing it back home, and had gone over just about every piece of machinery and blueprint in the old workshop. Now, he'd begun to run out of things to do.
After the defeat of the Overlord, Lloyd became known as the Golden Ninja, and had gained nationwide fame. He was constantly going to shows, giving speeches, accepting rewards, performing demonstrations, or working with his father. He was virtually never home. On the plus side, there was also no danger for him to deal with, unless you counted fangirls. (Honestly, girls, we really are pretty scary, huh?)
On the downside, it meant there was nothing to do. Ninjago city was safe and in the process of not only being rebuilt, but being majorly upgraded as well. The ninja watched as it became the picture of what they all imagined being the future. There were clean sources of fuel, automated history machines and guides, robotic workers for everything, hovering vehicles, magnetically charged street signs and stop lights. One of the most notable things was the one, massive, efficient power source, shared by absolutely everything electronic in Ninjago City. This combined with the fact that this fabled Overlord, the biggest, most powerful, most catastrophic villain Ninjago had ever seen being utterly defeated, made Ninjago the exact opposite of a target. All the bad guys had settled down. While this was very good news for Ninjago, making it safe and reliable for all its inhabitants, it meant the Ninja had absolutely nothing to do. They were unneeded in just about every way, though still praised loved by all the citizens. This is what led them to being teachers in Wu's new school.
Followed by, of course, the fateful arrival of that life-shattering letter from the City Council.
As a result, Zane now spent most of his time training. He didn't know what else to do with himself. It was always either working as a teacher, or training as a useless ninja. He'd done everything that could really have been done after Dr. Julien's death, and aside from cooking and training, he didn't really have any hobbies. There was always water meditation, but as the season began to grow cold, he found it harder to do so. Not that he couldn't, of course. He'd grown very skilled with working in cold water, but it was, indeed, more difficult, and most certainly not as safe for his health.
(Even though Zane's a Nindroid and his element is Ice, I still like to think that he has his own body heat and has to maintain a proper temperature...)
And so he trained harder. He'd virtually mastered every move he knew of, and continued to learn new ones, as well as make up his own. He became stronger, faster, and more focused. It was all well and good, but with no danger and no need for ninja, it didn't do him too much.
Either way, this is what he did. He'd worked into a routine of wake up, eat, teach, train, eat, reminisce, sleep, and repeat. Weekends were a little different, of course, where he wouldn't have to teach, and he would spend that extra time either training even more or re-reading Dr. Julien's old journal. It was only a matter of time before he had the book memorized, or hurt himself through over-exertion in training.
On one of these over-exerting weekends, he did just that. Naturally.
"And just how did you sprain your ankle, again?" Nya repeated, still skeptical.
"The target board on the post was loose when I attempted to kick it. Resultantly, I had not rebounded as expected and I rolled my ankle upon landing on my feet." Zane explained. Nya shook her head.
"Only you could manage to do something like that, Zane." She said, a hint of humor in her voice. Zane smiled gently.
"I suppose so."
"Hold still, please. It's kinda hard to twist wires back into place if you won't stop moving."
"My apologies." Zane replied sheepishly, willing himself to keep still.
"I'm not hurting you, am I?" Nya looking up at him from the ground, where she was working on his ankle.
"It's not comfortable, but I'll live." He said from his spot on the couch.
"Okay. Just let me know if I'm being too rough. I'm not exactly a robot, but I can't imagine that twisting wires inside one's leg would be comfortable. Especially not with the complex nerve system Dr. Julien created for you."
At the mention of his father, Zane's shoulders slumped slightly and his expression fell.
"Oh. Sorry. I guess I can forget how much of a delicate subject that still is." Nya apologized. She sounded guilty. Truth was, most of the nina had forgotten. It had been a good month since they'd found out.
"It's okay. I still miss him, but it is what it is. You cause no offense." Zane smiled reassuringly. Nya did the same.
After a moment of silence, she exclaimed, "There! No more broken wires! Now we just need to patch up the skin and keep you off that ankle for a few days. That's gotta be a plus to being a Nindroid. Healing doesn't take as long with minor injuries!" Nya chuckled lightheartedly.
"Minor ones, true. Thank you, Nya." Zane said respectfully.
"No problem. Just try not to make it anything more than minor next time. Actually, I'd be pretty pleased if you just didn't hurt yourself at all, next time!" She laughed. Zane chuckled.
"I'll do my best." He said with a grin.
"And I wouldn't expect any less!" She added enthusiastically. As she began to patch Zane's ankle back together, a roll of bandages on the floor and at the ready, her expression became more serious.
"Hey, Zane? If you ever, you know, need someone to talk to, you're welcome to come to me. I know it's not the same, but both my parents went missing when I was pretty little. To be honest, I don't think I was quite so close to either of them as you were to your father, but both Kai and I know what it's like to lost a parent."
Zane wasn't sure what to say. It was so kind of her, and it was actually starting to make him somewhat... emotional. This kind of reaction from him wasn't usually easily evoked, and he wasn't certain how to express such feelings. It was a little uncharacteristic.
"I... Thank you, Nya. I appreciate it and will keep that in mind." He said with genuity. Nya smiled warmly.
A few more minutes of silence passed, and Nya had managed to get the bandage wrapped securely around Zane's ankle, studying her work as she finished.
"Should be all ready to go! Just, not too fast. Or harsh. Actually, try not to walk on it tons. And maybe don't train till it's better!" She said, a pause between each sentence. Nya could really be a bit of a mother hen, sometimes.
"Don't worry, Nya! I will be cautious." Zane assured. As he stood up, thanking her yet again, he decided it would be best to simply rest for the day. With that in mind, he turned for the largest room in the Destiny's Bounty, filled with video games, books, movies, snacks, and, what was now occupying his thoughts, his falcon and his father's journal.
As he exited the room, he focused on his feet, watching to be sure he didn't step on his foot wrong and aggravate his sprain. He kept one hand on the wall, leaning on it heavily. But, seeing as how he wasn't looking where he was going, he pretty immediately bumped into someone already in the hallways. Looking up and uttering an apology without even thinking about it, he met the eyes of Sensei Wu, to which he began to apologize more excessively.
"Forgive me, I wasn't looking where I was going. I was just going to the- to find the other ninja, I wasn't paying any attention, Sensei. I didn't mean to-"
"Slow down, Zane. One apology is plenty. What have you done to your foot?" Wu asked, noticing the bandage.
"I sprained my ankle whilst training." Zane said simply.
"I see. Well, that's no good. I suggest you rest up, then."
"Yes, Sensei." Zane replied. He clasped both hands in a respectful gesture and bowed, but stumbled on his ankle as he stood without his arm against the wall to support him. Before he could trip or fall, Wu grabbed onto his upper arm with both hands, pulling him straight so he could put his hand back against the wall.
"Be careful, my student." Wu smiled sympathetically, and Zane sheepishly.
"Thank you." Zane said with a chuckle. As he began his slow walk down the hallway, testing his balance without the extra support, Wu decided to walk beside him.
"How are you persisting today?" He asked.
"I am doing better. I miss my father, but I am... Okay." Zane answered.
"Very good." Wu said delightedly. Zane looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't speak.
"What is troubling you?" Wu asked, noting this.
"There would be no point in asking you; you have already denied my request persistently."
"Ah. The last piece of Dr. Julien's will, I presume. You will have to forgive me. For now, at least, all I can tell you is that I have promised to keep this piece of information undisclosed to you until the time is time will become ripe, but not now. And I do intend on keeping my word." Wu explained.
"It is the most honorable thing to do. I just wish my father had trusted me enough to tell me himself. Not that it would matter now. It is impossible to ask him myself, considering that he is no longer here. Considering, that I don't... That I don't have a father, anymore." Zane said, turning his head away almost shamefully.
"Nonsense, Zane. Perhaps Dr. Julien has passed on, but that does not mean you no longer have a father. He will always remain so as long as we remember him. Dr. Julien will always be your father. And you still have the Ninja. They are your brothers. Nya, your sister. And I will always be your mentor. We are your family." Wu said, putting a hand on Zane's shoulders. He'd adjusted enough to his ankle now that he no longer leaned on the wall.
"But it's not the same thing. I care for each of you as such, and would call you family, but..." He trailed off.
"But none of us is a direct relation. Not by blood, nor law, nor, in your case, creation. We are all surrogates. Dr. Julien was your father. He was your family."
Zane nodded sadly. As they reached the end of the hall, he pushed open the door to the room he'd been seeking, and smiled slightly at Wu.
"Yes. And now that I do not have Dr. Julien, I feel as though I do not have family." He said with finality.
Before Wu could really respond, Zane turned around and walked into the room, not bothering to close or open farther the door. He sat down on a couch, and sighed, hunching his shoulders. It wasn't often he confided something like that in anyone, much less his Sensei. He'd grown to trust Wu, though. He trusted him differently than he trusted anyone else, and didn't feel quite so uncomfortable as he would with the other ninja. Still though, he felt it was more than enough to confess to someone in a day.
As he pulled out his father's journal once more, calling his falcon via wireless connection at the same time, Zane settled into the couch as comfortably as he could. Wu watched him, concern bubbling in his mind. He hadn't wanted to aggravate Zane, but he now held a very important bit of information. Like he had said, he intended on keeping his word. He was going to see Dr. Julien's plan through, and what Zane had just admitted had taken it a step closer to its end. The time was nearly ripe.
-LizzyLucky
Yay! Anyone getting excited yet?
-LizzyLucky
