Hiya, everybody! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It's more of a filler, fairly short, but I hope it'll do until you can see the next chapter. It's just kind of my idea of the other ninjas' family lives and how they deal with it, and then all the ways I can see those stories connect to Zane's.

-LizzyLuckyAs another week passed, Zane and the other ninja had each had their chance to bond with the other, bringing them all closer as a whole. And Zane himself was finally becoming able to cope with the loss of his father.

At one point, Nya and Kai had spent some time with him, showing him how they coped with growing up without parents, and still managed to run a blacksmith shop. Being that there were two of them, Kai, the elder, took role of parent and watched after Nya from the moment he realized that they were alone.

"We were just playing one day, while our parents were working. I don't know what happened, but at one point, they were just... gone." Kai explained.

Nya had never thought of him as a parent, but most certainly an older brother. She'd gained the mindset that older brothers just came that way. Kai spent every day pouring over his father's books and designs, teaching himself, and, eventually, Nya, how to blacksmith. Growing up, they'd burnt themselves plenty, as you can imagine, but did actually figure out how to create tools and weapons. When they were still little, the town's people took pity on them and were pretty constant in making sure they had food and clothing to keep them going. As they got to be old enough to create and repair tools, selling them for decent prices even, Kai took charge of budgeting and became the one making sure they always had enough. It hadn't even really occurred to Nya for the longest time that she might not have a home or food to eat if it weren't for her brother.

Kai had even taken it upon himself to do all the little in betweens, kissing scrapes better, tucking his sister in for bedtime, buying her toys from time to time. For Nya, who didn't know her parents very well at all, she hadn't missed too much of what it was to have a parent. Kai, however, had. The difference was that his parents had left a fully functioning shop which he learned to utilize, placed in the middle of the friendliest villages in the whole of Ninjago. He'd learned to make a spot for he and his sister growing up without parents, but Zane hadn't.

Then Jay, of course, had already related his story to him. He'd always had both his parents. He'd always had one home. He'd always had everything that he truly needed in life, and it was always enough for him. It made him humble. The only thing he ever wondered about, except for the cool toys they couldn't afford when he was little, was what it was like not to have that kind of comfort, which he learned from Zane.

Cole, though, had almost an entirely different story. It was similar, in many ways, but almost the exact opposite, too.

Thing was, when Cole was little, his mother had passed away, rather than his father. He grew up somewhere in between. They had a nice home and more than enough food for their little family of two. His father, a different kind of "Blacksmith," had made a name for himself. He and the rest of his group, the Royal Blacksmiths, constantly had shows they performed at. So, despite the attention from his father, and the wealthy amount of schooling and good living conditions, Cole was often left home alone.

His father was rather a good guy, but didn't really know how to be the same kind of affectionate parent that most had. Firm, back-breaking hugs were about as close as he got. He was a right-jolly guy, too, and payed for any kind of classes Cole wanted to take, dance being the only one he enforced. Cole'd grown up more rugged because he never had the same kind of comfort from his father. "Goodnight"s were rather brief and meals were lonesome. It was a bit of a strange relationship he had with his father, but not necessarily a bad one.

In the way that they were similar, both Cole and Zane had never known their mothers, Zane still unsure as to whether he ever even had one. What made it different was how Zane had thought he'd grown up alone. When he'd first been activated, his father was encouraging and kind and affectionate. When his memory had been flipped he'd thought he was alone, simply roaming from one place to the next, as he'd explained to Jay. It wasn't quite the same, but Zane was glad to know that Cole understood what it was like to have a father, but feel alone at the same time.

It took him long enough, but at this point, Zane had nearly forgotten about the piece of the will that Wu had. And he'd finally learned not to care anymore. If his father had something he didn't want Zane to know, he had to respect that.

Little did he know, that was exactly what Wu was waiting for. Rather, that was what Dr. Julien was having Wu wait for. It may not have been completely necessary to wait so long, and it likely wouldn't have quite the same effect that Dr. Julien had wanted at this point, but regardless, that's what was going to happen.

Wu himself had actually been unsure of this plan, but Dr. Julien seemed to have had this planned for a long time.

And that had to be good enough.

-LizzyLucky

Cute, yeah? To be honest, I'm a huge die-hard to the more blatant facts in Ninjago, like Misako being Garmaddon's wife rather than Wu's, despite the fact that Garmaddon basically cheated into getting her love, and Wu still holds feelings for her. In ways, I do ship Wu and Misako, but like I said, I'm a die hard, and though I'm fine with, and even supportive of, all the moments between Wu and Misako, I think I will always ship Lloyd's mother with Garmaddon.

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the kind of bonding I put between the two older members of Destiny's Bounty, and I hope my interpretation of the ninjas' backstories did well. Thanks for reading guys! Tell me what you think!

-LizzyLucky