Hey guys! This was a request from a guest named Mystey, who wanted to see some bonding time with the ninja after Season 2. Also, a massive thanks to StoriesAreMagic and RandomDragon2.0 for their reviews over the whole collection! You guys are awesome. :) Enjoy the chapter!
Jay let out a quiet, content sigh, his eyes fluttering shut as his head rested on Cole's arm. Being turned into an evil minion by pure dark matter and saving Ninjago with golden energy really drains you. It had already been a few days, but the ninja had slept away most of the hours, and none of them had left their home since. Ninjago was still recovering, and helping with the clean up might have been a good idea, but honestly, they deserved a few days of rest.
The others seemed to agree, as Cole was leaning back on the couch, half asleep as Jay soaked in the Earth Master's warmth. On the other side of the couch, Lloyd was sleeping with his foot elevated on an ottoman, hands folded in his lap. Kai and Nya were draped over each other on the other couch, Kai not having left Nya's side since the Final Battle was over, and Zane was sleeping by himself in a chair across from the siblings, a book in his hands, open as if he had paused his activities to take a quick nap.
Cole stirred a bit, and Jay lifted his head up for a moment to look at the Earth Ninja, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.
"Hey, Jay," Cole yawned, and wrapped an arm around the Lightning Ninja, personal space being thrown out the window. After the recent events, they were all too glad they all made it out in one piece to really care about "expected" friend behaviors.
"Hey," Jay mumbled, and relaxed once more.
Lloyd raised his head, rubbing his eyes, and took a second to focus on the room around him.
"I see you two are up," He smiled, and Cole nodded. "That's good. We should all probably start being more productive."
"Nah, you deserve some rest, Greenie. Enjoy this brief period of time when we're not being threatened by world-ending disasters," Jay chuckled, and Lloyd shrugged, but couldn't suppress a smile anyway.
Nya was next to wake, and Kai followed almost immediately after.
"What time is it?" Kai grumbled, his hair sticking up even more than usual.
"No idea," Nya replied, yawning and stretching out her arms, "accidently" hitting her brother on the nose.
"Is Zane awake yet?" Jay turned, but the Ice Ninja hadn't stirred. The Lightning Ninja could see the many dents that littered the Nindroid's skin from the battle a few days ago, his short sleeves doing nothing to hide the damage. As if reading his mind, Cole looked at the Ice Ninja with disapproval.
"Shouldn't we fix those? Surely they can't feel very good," He said, and Jay nodded.
"Yeah, I'll get around to it eventually. If he ever wakes up," He sat up, releasing himself from Cole's arm, and the lack of warmth made him shiver. He stood, and walked over to Zane, lightly shaking the Nindroid's shoulder.
Zane grumbled a bit and swatted Jay's hand away, opening his eyes.
"C'mon, we gotta fix up your arms."
"I am fine, Jay. I can handle it on my own."
"Well, you've got a personal repairman who hates seeing you with dents in your arms so we're going now."
Zane sighed and set his book down on the table, letting Jay lead him out of the room.
"And then there were four," Lloyd joked, stretching his arms.
"Where's the rest of the crew? I mean, let's see, we've got Sensei, and Dr. Julien, and Misako, and Garmadon now, apparently," Cole counted off on his fingers.
"Huh, I guess I forgot about Garmadon. Y'know, with all the craziness. We just kind of... passed out after, you know?" Kai scratched an itch on his arm, and stood. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm in need of some good ol' food and water."
"Same here," Nya followed suite, and the rest were soon to join, all headed to make the meanest batch of sandwiches Ninjago has ever seen.
Zane rested his head on the hand that wasn't being looked at by Jay, the Lightning Ninja chastising the disinterested Nindroid, who was sitting on Jay's workbench.
"You can't be this reckless, Zane. Surely this has to hurt, right?"
"It doesn't matter. It's quickly fixed, so I don't see it as much of an inconvenience."
"But does it hurt?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"Then that settles it. It does matter."
Zane didn't retort, and Jay took that as a sign that the conversation was over.
"Do you really think you being hurt is less of a deal then one of us?" Jay asked a few minutes later, all criticizing tone gone from his voice.
"It takes significantly longer for one of you to heal than it does me, so the logical answer would be-"
"No."
"Pardon?"
"There's your 'logical answer'. No, it's not."
Just as Zane was about to retort, Dr. Julien stepped in, and Jay could see Zane's features visibly soften at the sight of his father.
"Pardon my interruption, I was just wondering if I could be of assistance to you both."
"Actually, if you want to take over fixing Zane, that'd be great. I need to go grab some food anyway," Jay let go of Zane's arm, and gave Zane a pointed look as he went through the doorway.
"Fixing you, eh? I'm sure it's nothing too bad," Dr. Julien took Jay's place, and Zane shrugged.
"They make a bigger deal out of my scuffs and dents than I do. It is merely an inconvenience, nothing more," Zane's gaze traveled over the imperfections in his usually smooth skin, comparing them mentally to past injuries.
"Do forgive me, but I did hear a bit of your conversation walking in. The cuts in your skin matter just as much as the ones in ours, son," The man opened Zane's wrist panel and tapped a few buttons, and Zane could feel power rushing to the dented areas. Within moments, the craters began to rise, reversing the damage.
"But, how did you..." Zane trailed off, staring at his now fixed arms in awe, feeling where the dents once were.
"My apologies, I didn't include that in your standard blueprints. It was more of an extra feature that I added later on."
"I didn't know I could do that," Zane stated. "What was the code?"
"04689."
"Duly noted."
"But I don't want this to further prove your argument Zane. Your pain is not less valid because of who you are," Dr. Julien helped Zane down from the table. "You were built to protect others, and you can't exactly do that with broken pieces."
Zane seemed to take this to heart, thoughtfulness reflected in his eyes.
"Let's go get you some food, shall we?" Dr. Julien smiled, and put an arm around Zane's back.
"I've missed you greatly, Father," Zane said softly, his arm going around his father's shoulders.
Dr. Julien laughed, and Zane couldn't help but smile.
"Me too, son. Me too."
