Zane hummed as he walked through the city of Ninjago. Everything was just as beautiful as he remembered it.
He continued walking until a flyer caught his eye. "Hm?" He walked over and read it to see that next week was going to be dedicated to the Ninja and all they did for Ninjago.
Zane felt his power source become warmer in a facsimile of joy, excited that he and his friends would finally be recognized positively in the public eye; Zane rushed home to find that his brothers had all received notifications that they would be guests of honor at the parade on Tuesday.
Zane beamed to himself as he went through the mail pile.
Zane searched the pile, but his power source became colder as the only things he found were the court orders that both the treehouse in the birchwood forest and the lighthouse his father was held captive in were now government property, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Which was weird…since one of those properties belonged to Samukai.
To make matters worse, they weren't even addressed to Zane. Instead, they were addressed to Dr. Robert Julien. (Which made sense in hindsight.)
Zane entered their main room, frowning deeply, his power source not the usual chilly but cold. Truly cold.
"When were you guys going to tell me about this?" inquired Zane
"Oh yeah. Zane, good you're home now. I'm thinking spaghetti for dinner," said Kai casually like he didn't even hear Zane and continued trying to beat Jay in their video game.
"Are you guys even listening to me?" asked Zane, finally understanding what it meant when humans were "disgruntled".
"Yeah yeah, now go make dinner," said Jay, also ignoring Zane's words.
Zane sighed, getting much-needed air into his systems. Perhaps they were just a bit hangry as they did when they weren't fed for a while, and he knew they were practically useless by themselves when it came to cooking.
Zane went to the kitchen without complaint. Kai said he wanted pasta, hm? The others were usually agreeable with Kai's choices in food.
This continued for around a month before Zane started to get agitated. The parade week had gone and passed, and the rest of Ninjago no longer even recognized him as one of the Ninja. Whenever he tried to say something to his brothers or even Wu, they just told him to cook or train. Which was already annoying from his brothers but Sensei Wu?
Needless to say, Zane was getting annoyed.
Hoping to find solace in The Temple of Light, Zane manifested his ice dragon and flew to The Dark Island.
He smiled slightly at the walls depicting the greatest moments of the team. It made him feel warm instead of the biting cold that has plagued him this past month.
Zane went to the Pillars of Elements and sat in front of his own. If there was something, he could admire, it was his Pillar with its beautiful chiseled shape and intricate glass snowflakes.
But Zane perked as suddenly; a door opened up at the far end of the temple.