The ninja were young when Sensei Wu found them. Jay, Kai, and Zane were all (thought to be) thirteen when they first met, with Cole being just a year older at fourteen. Nya was a year younger than Kai at twelve years old—the baby of the group.
However, to everyone's surprise, she also became a weird sort of mother/unhinged older sister to more than one of the ninja. And even more surprisingly, it didn't start with Lloyd.
You would never know looking at them now, but prior to everyone's growth spurts, Zane was the shortest of Wu's five students, just a little smaller than Jay. In addition to being the quietest of the group, he was also considered 'the weird one,' a sort of puzzle that no one seemed to know what to make of.
Part of that puzzle was how almost as soon as Zane and Nya first met, they became as thick as thieves, and had been ever since.
The other three ninja observed somewhat confounded as Zane followed her around like a duckling wherever she went. He avoided any and all eye contact as he subtly shuffled closer to her whenever someone else was in the same room. He wouldn't say anything, or give any reason why, but just being near her seemed to make him more at ease and relaxed.
Cole thought that maybe Zane was just scared of Kai, and he was using Nya as a sort of human shield. And to be honest, that was a perfectly reasonable conclusion to jump to; Suddenly having a loud, short-tempered, hot-sauce-chugging older teenager become your roommate overnight could be a little overwhelming.
The only problem with that theory was that Zane rarely showed any signs of fear. Like, ever. The only time he looked anything close to afraid was when Wu checked the weather forecast and found that the next week would be in the upper nineties and the AC was irrevocably broken in the monastery. Jay had never seen him so pale.
One time Kai found the two slumped on the couch one night after a movie, Zane's head on Nya's shoulder and Nya's head on top of his. Zane's mouth was open a little, breathing quietly while Nya's snores rang out for the entire room to hear, some drool coming out of the corner of her mouth. A blanket was tucked up under Zane's chin.
When Kai tried to shake them awake to go to bed, Nya snorted and opened her eyes blearily. When she focused on her brother she viciously swatted him away, glaring at him as she wrapped her arm tighter around the sleeping boy next to her. "Don't. You. Dare," She hissed. "He's sleeping ," she added unnecessarily.
Kai left her alone after that.
Nya stuck up for him in arguments, made sure he got enough to eat, and was his sparring partner when no one else wanted to be. And whenever Zane was with Nya, he focused better, smiled more, and taught her whatever sparring moves Wu didn't teach her. For whatever strange reason, the two obviously had a special bond. And that bond continued to grow throughout the years.
Yes, Jay might be her Yang and Kai her beloved big brother, but water and ice were more closely connected than almost any other element. And that kind of bond went deeper than anyone knew.
When the ninja came back from the First Realm, after… everything with Garmadon, after the party was thrown for them, and after the endless stream of thank yous from the citizens of Ninjago, the sorry team couldn't bring themselves to summon their elemental dragons all the way to the monastery. They would only have to fly right back early the next morning to help clean up the city.
So, they pitched camp in the sanitation plant Nya and Lloyd had been using as a hideout for the past three weeks. Just for the night.
Nya woke up in a hot sweat, dreaming about Harumi finding Lloyd. Wincing as she strained her injured shoulder, she sat up on her elbows and looked around the nearly pitch-black plant.
Out of habit she scrambled out of her sleeping bag and stumbled through the warehouse, picking her way through the other occupied sleeping bags until she found Lloyd curled in a ball on the floor, sound asleep against Kai, who was also out cold, propped up against the wall, and a sword in his hand.
Nya sagged and exhaled slowly through her nose in relief. Lloyd hadn't slept more than five hours since the ninja were 'killed' almost three weeks ago, and it showed. Nya hadn't fared much better. She couldn't really remember the last time she had actually slept. Her memory was becoming pretty patchy after four days of zero sleep.
But hearing him breathing, evenly and without suppressed sobs automatically made her muscles relax. However the shaky feeling in her gut from her own nightmare wasn't going away. It stayed both inside and outside of her, pricking her like needles and keeping her head swiveling around looking for an unseen enemy.
She ran a hand over her face and shuttered. Nya needed sleep. She really needed sleep. And yet she couldn't bring herself to walk back to her sleeping spot.
She flexed and relaxed her fists, feeling like she needed to make herself useful. Yeah, that was it, that would help. She looked around, brightening when she spotted the outline of her spear placed carefully on a worktable, glinting tiredly in the skylight's glow. Someone must've found it after she lost it earlier.
Gingerly stepping over more sleeping bodies, she grimaced as she got a better look at her beloved weapon. It had served her so well in her battles. Now the steel was tarnished, rusted from exposure to the elements, and even bent halfway through the triple-prong blade. She balled her fists and glared at her weapon as wetness dripped down her cheek.
Grabbing a rag from the table she sat down and started furiously scrubbing the blade. Her tired arms burned and her back ached as she hunched over the spear. She was so engrossed in her work she didn't notice that someone had woken up.
She nearly had a heart attack when she glanced up and saw two glowing blue eyes staring back at her in the darkness.
"Dang it, Zane. You scared the sh–" She caught herself, clutching her racing heart, leveling a glare at the innocent-looking robot.
"Shovel… out of me," she amended, stifling a hiccup.
Instead of correcting her mouth like she expected, he got up and came over to her, metal face radiating concern.
"What are you doing up? Weapon cleaning is not a mandatory task at the moment." Zane droned, kneeling down and resting a cold metal hand against her forehead as if checking for a fever. Then he noticed what must've been tear tracks on her dirt-stained face.
"Before you say anything, I'll have you know that I was doing absolutely fantastic until forty seconds ago," Nya said proudly, sniffing the snot back up her nose for all she was worth.
"Nya…" Zane said gently, starting to take the spear from her lap when Nya yanked it back.
"No!" she shook her head. "I need it." She started scrubbing at it again, deciding that she was going to distract her stupid brain until sunrise if it killed her.
" Nya ," Zane finally said in that voice, taking her hands and holding them. Nya glared at them until she felt ready to meet his eyes.
Zane took a deep breath through his nose and squeezed her hands before continuing. "Let me help you." After a moment of awkward hesitation on Nya's part he gently added, "It's alright. Nothing is going to get us tonight. I promise. I'll keep watch for you."
Without waiting for further preamble or objections, Zane reached one arm under her knees and the other on her back and easily picked her up, careful not to step on Jay passed out face-first on his pillow.
"Zane!" she hissed, trying to use the arm not wedged against titanium to push him away. She wasn't a baby! He wasn't Kai carrying her around Jamanakai Village anymore, and she certainly didn't need anyone treating her like some helpless child. "I have legs. I can walk … hey, I'm talking to you." After an infuriating lack of response, she growled, "Zane, I know you can hear me."
Just as she was starting to accept her grim fate he set her down on her sleeping mat and, rather unexpectedly, gently shoved her forehead with his splayed hand until it sunk into the pillow, flicking a switch on his wrist she suspected was his hearing switch.
He gave her an innocent look, opting to change the subject to lighten the mood. "You do know that a human requires at least eight hours per night to function at optimal capacity, right?"
"Per night ?" Nya balked, starting to count on her fingers.
"Yes, Nya, per night," he affirmed unamused, resting his head in his hand with tired eyes.
"Well crap, Zane, that would've been nice to know like, four years ago."
"You are using humor as both a coping mechanism and a diversion from the problem at hand." Zane deadpanned. "And I don't appreciate your language."
He then broke the seriousness with another smile and pulled her blanket up over her shoulders. "Sleep," he said simply.
Nya blinked and realized just in time that he was getting up to leave. She noticed the seemingly vast space surrounding her, making her feel exposed and vulnerable. Before she could stop herself she reached out and grabbed his arm before he was out of reach. "Wait. I uh… could you stay here actually? I just…" She bit her lip, not sure how to continue and cursing her impulsiveness. She really was acting like a child.
Zane looked a little surprised but nodded slowly, lowering himself back down into a sitting position. "If that will help you sleep better, then of course."
Nya sighed, grateful she didn't have to explain herself further, and burrowed back under her blanket, murmuring, "Just don't stare, kay?"
"Go to sleep, Nya," Zane practically ordered in his exasperated-mother voice, making her snicker. It was the first time she laughed in a while.
For a while she knew she was out cold, drifting in and out of boring peaceful dreams she didn't really remember. When she woke up a second time it was still dark in the warehouse, the only light coming from Zane's blue eye lights. Nya squinted and followed the light to the robot sitting next to her, knees bent as he leaned back on his hands. She saw his medical scanner sweeping each sleeping body methodically, repeating every few minutes almost compulsively. She saw each person's heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and other stats she couldn't make out.
In the dim light she also noticed the harsh dents in his metal peaking out from his sleeves, one of his shins was noticeably caved in, and even the light in his left eye flickered with the dent around his socket, as if something hard had slammed into his face.
He was still scanning people, not noticing that she'd woken up. She reached out and gently placed her hand on top of his, startling him out of his diagnoses and cutting his gaze down to her hand, then back up at her.
Nya gave him a look and smiled. "Nothing's going to get us tonight. I promise. Go to sleep, Frosty."
Zane finally switched his lights off so he was no longer blinding her and gave a bashful smile. "Sorry."
"It's way too late to say sorry, wait till tomorrow," she yawned widely, switching to the other side of her sleeping bag so her head was closer to Zane, and laced her fingers through his. Physical touch had never exactly been her "love language," and frankly, except for Pixal, it wasn't Zane's either. However, even if it was just for tonight, they relished each other's company. And for just a couple more hours, they were kids sleeping on a sofa, passed out after a long day. And Nya knew that was just where she belonged.