(Second person POV)
Removing your Clarity Bell, you decided today you won't need it and walked out onto the upper deck with your sketchbook and a pencil. Today was the day you finally drew the entire Destiny's Bounty. Flipping to a new page, you began drawing down the perspective of someone on the upper deck, looking directly into the control room. Before long, the sound of footsteps caught your attention, making you look up from your pages briefly.
I swear, if it's Kai, I'm gonna be so pissed... Koun muttered, and honestly, you had to agree. The hothead has been especially annoying now that he knew you were going to be punished, pushing all of your buttons every few seconds.
Much to your relief (and the red ninja's safety), Zane emerged from below deck in his pyjamas with a washing basket of clothes, heading straight for the place where the dragon figurehead was attached to the ship.
"Good morning, Zane," you greeted, walking over to see if he needed any help, "Do you need my assistance?"
"Good morning, (y/n)," the male smiled, "Thank you for your offer, but I believe that I'll be alright,"
"I see..." you murmur, deciding to go back to focusing your attention on your drawings.
"So, what brings you up here this fine morning?" he asked, placing down the box of washed clothes.
"I'm just doing a little drawing," you answer, showing the teen the various illustrations you had done using a single grey-lead pencil and an eraser.
"Wow," he beamed, eyes lighting up in pleasant surprise, "You are a very good artist. These drawings are extremely vivid and life-like,"
"Thank you," you reply, giving him a polite smile, "It's the one thing I've been doing the most of since I woke up here,"
Giving you a quizzing look, the ice ninja echoed "Since you woke here? As in the time you woke up on The Bounty today or...?"
"Ah, no, I mean as in when I woke up in Ninjago." Seeing that Zane still didn't understand, you explained "I have no memories of my past. I just... woke up in a forest five years and nine months ago. I managed to stumble upon Kusho Sensei, the original Master of Void, and he decided to make me his disciple.
I don't remember who my parents are, or any relatives in general, but that's not a problem for me. All I need is my teacher and Dart to be satisfied. But..." Trailing off, you gently gnawed on the inside of your cheek, not having the strength to finish your sentence. But you didn't need to. The implication of your words hung in the air, the silence that followed allowing them to set in harder than they should.
"...I also don't remember my parents," Zane murmured, his voice at a soft volume as he knows that you're sensitive to sound, "So I understand your pain."
Eyes lighting up in surprise that you've found a kindred spirit and a new confined, you blurted out "R-really? I didn't think that I'd meet someone else so... so similar!" Excitedly, you grabbed the male's hand in your own and beamed brightly, a genuine smile blooming on your face. You haven't smiled like this since...
"Oh, sorry," you apologise, letting go of the male's hands as you didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable, "I got lost in the excitement,"
"No, no, it's fine," he replied, giving you another smile, "I haven't seen you this happy before. It's very endea-" Stopping his sentence with a cough, the ninja with a flushed face almost hesitantly murmured "S-so if you encounter any problems in the future... I-I hope you're comfortable enough to talk to me about it,"
Nodding, you respond "Thank you, Zane. I hope that you'll be able to do the same with me. Oh, and, uh, I hope you don't mind if we don't make much physical contact, or at least warn me before you do anything. I'm... not very comfortable with it... And, uh, I can't feel emotions intensely and has next to no sense of humour. I hope it doesn't bother you too much,"
"Well, good thing I do not have one either," the ice elemental grinned, seeming as glad as you to have finally found someone who understood him.
Suddenly, a familiar yelp caught the attention of both of you, the familiar silk-like aura making you realise that Dart had probably just gotten herself into some trouble. "I need to go make sure nothing's wrong," you sigh, placing your notebook and pencil back in your pocket dimension. "See you later, Zane!" you bid goodbye, rushing toward the source of the sound as the teen stared at your retreating figure with an almost longing stare.
Feeling his heart skip multiple beats, he swallowed down this odd sensation, deciding to focus on the task at hand, but this feeling wouldn't cease no matter how hard he tried. Why was this happening? What is this... this... emotion...? Was it all because of you? He didn't know, but he did know that it... didn't feel bad... The entire time, as he absent-mindedly hung up the laundry, his head was filled with you, your smile, your delicate touch, your manners, and just... you...
Unbeknownst to you, a pair of eyes watched your interaction, jealousy brimming up inside them before the onlooker decided to do something about it...
"Hey, Zane-" Lloyd greeted, walking onto the upper deck, snapping the ice ninja out of his love-drunk stupor, "Whoa, what's up with you? You're looking redder than Kai's ninja suit!"
"A-ah, no, i-it's nothing," the older of the two replied, using his ice element to cool himself off, "What brings up here this morning?"
"Kai wanted me to pick up his gi. He said he threw it in with your whites." the boy nonchalantly replied, digging through the basket of clean clothes before pulling out a familiar crimson suit, much to Zane's horror. "Here it is! Thanks!" the child grinned before walking back below deck, leaving the teen to his own business.
While that was going on upstairs, you were trying to find your dragon but you ended up walking through the entire ship, only to end up empty-handed. "Dart!" you called out, barely able to hear your thoughts from Koun's relentless blabbering.
Oh my god, I swear, you're collecting lovers like Pokemon cards or something, the silhouette snickered, confusing you more than anything as you walked through the hallway.
"Dart! Where are you?!" you tried again, only to be met with silence-
"Over here, Mama!" an unfamiliar girl's voice answered, making you jolt out of surprise.
Turning to your shared room, you almost hesitantly pushed the door open, hoping it was just Nya trying to joke around. Instead, you saw a child with long jade-black hair that reached to the middle of her back and shining arctic eyes. She had patches of snow-white in her hair, almost mimicking that of your dragon companion's scales, but... she was a human and Dart was a fantastical beast.
"Y-you are...?" you murmured, confused as to why this child has the same aura pattern as your companion.
"Dart, Mama!" she beamed, throwing herself at your waist and hugging you. Freezing from the unprompted physical contact, you stared at this person claiming to be your reptilian companion. "Hey, hey, Mama, can we go see Grandpa? It's been a long time!" she grinned, still clinging to your side.
"W-who?" you managed to utter, trying to pry the child's embrace off you, "I think there must be a mistake here. I'm the mother to any human and even if I did, I don't have parents so there would be no 'Grandpa'."
"But... Mama found me in an egg?" the girl mumbled, tilting her head to the side as she thought, "And when I popped out, Mama was there with Grandpa looking angrily at me!"
Realising this human was recounting the time your dragon hatched out of the egg, you inquired "...Are you actually Dart?"
"Yep! I found out how to turn into something like Mama, just smaller!" the kid beamed, leaping up into the air, "I can turn back if you want!"
Nodding, you saw her become enveloped with a soft magenta shade, turning back into the shape of a magical beast before turning back. "See!" the child you now deemed to indeed be Dart smiled before enveloping you in a hug once more.
"Mhm," you answer, still not used to physical contact in general, "I see now. Let me grab my Clarity Bell before we introduce you to the others, just in case they see you and get confused-" Suddenly, you stopped. The earring was no longer sitting on your bedside table, replaced with a strand of hair, while the rest of the items on the table remained undisturbed.
It's gone. you mutter in your head, eyes blank with shock as you looked all over your room for the ornament, It's gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone, Sensei's gone-
Suddenly, you felt Lloyd's aura near your door, before it opened and sure enough, the child was standing there, nervously twiddling his fingers. "What do you want?" you inquire, your tone sounding cold and harsh despite you not wishing for it to be that way.
"W-well, before, I went to the upper deck and I saw Zane hanging the washing-" the boy began, only for you to cut in.
"Get to the point," you snap, too irritated to care about your manners right now.
"I found this in his pocket," the kid announced, pulling out a cerulean tasselled object, the calmingly familiar trill of your Clarity Bell rang throughout the cabin.
Taking the earring from him, you hooked it on its spot on your left ear, feeling relief wash over you in a wave. Then, it was overtaken by the feeling of betrayal and anger from knowing that the one person you thought was a kindred spirit had stolen the charm from you.
"...Where is he?" you ask, your voice surprisingly monotone and calm despite how angry you felt.
"In the boys' room," Lloyd answered, moving aside for you to leave as you straight-up floated to the location, your eyes burning with rage behind your cool mask.
"You couldn't be happy with the top score! You had to rub it in my face!" Kai's enraged voice yelled from the sleeping quarters, and surprisingly, it wasn't directed at you.
"You know how long it took me to make that?! Three days! Three! Days!" Cole emphasised as you walked in, just in time for Jay to start accusing you.
"(y/n)! I know you were raised in the mountains, but it's an unsaid law, okay?! You don't touch a man's robot!" the lightning elemental ranted, looking you directly in the eyes.
"How am I supposed to strike fear in this?!" Zane cried, holding up his ruined suit, "It's pink!"
Shutting them up before your headache could overtake your anger, you muted them all with your sound element before grabbing the ice ninja by the collar of his pyjamas. "I trusted you. I thought we were kindred spirits, but no, you just had to take one of the few things my teacher left for me," you hissed, glaring at him as the objects around the room began floating without your knowledge.
...But something didn't feel right. Why would Zane take your things in the first place? Besides, the laundry room was on the opposite end of the ship, and you could have sworn he didn't go near your room. Besides, Dart was in there too-
Letting go of the teen and allowing him to fall to the floor, you teleported back to your room where the dragon was playing in her human form, looking like an eight-year-old girl. "Mama? What's going on?" she inquired, looking up at you with those innocent baby-blue eyes, "Are you angry?"
"...Yeah, but not at you. Can you come with me for a second?" you inquire, picking up the strand of hair that sat on your desk where your bell once was. Taking the child's hand, you teleported back to the Ninja's room and held up the lock to compare.
Since it's a strand of blond hair, Kai, Cole, Nya, and Jay are out of the question, you deduced, walking over to Zane who seemed extremely confused. "Don't move," you commanded, placing the side of your index finger under his chin and the pad of your thumb on his chin to make him meet your gaze.
(Doing this, btw)
Then, you compared the strand of hair to the teens, only to find that it wasn't a match. Zane's hair is more of a bleached blond, nearing white, while this hair is more of a dirty blond... you thought, releasing the blushing male from your hold to do your analysis, The only other blond person on this ship is...
"...Lloyd..." you growl, searching for the child as a wolf does its prey.
Suddenly, the door burst open, revealing Master Wu who shook his head at the four teens arguing among themselves while you looked around with calm anger that was far scarier than if you had straight-up gotten agitated. The man pushed open a sliding door, revealing a cackling Lloyd with the various items he had used to provoke the group to his right.
Letting out a collective gasp, the Ninja yelled "You did this?!"
"(y/n) was right..." Zane muttered, looking at the blond boy in annoyance.
"Guys, I get first dibs on-" Cole declared, only to be stopped by his teacher.
"No dibs." the old man asserted, "I put him up to this for today's lesson I wanted to show you the destructive power of rumours, and that jumping to conclusions can only lead to trouble." Pausing for a moment, he continued "Did any of you other than (y/n) ever think to find out if the accusations were true?"
"Uh, no offence, Sensei, but lemme jump to this conclusion: today's lesson is lame," Cole remarked.
"Yeah, why can't you teach us to paralyse your enemy with one finger, or find out if a person is lying by the twitch of his nose?!" Jay rambled, still mad that his robot had been tampered with.
"Because not all lessons are about fighting!" Master Wu retorted before his tone became more ashamed. "...And I misplaced my lesson book..."
Glancing over at Lloyd who now seemed nervous after seeing how eerily calm yet angry you were and stared down at his feet, giving you and a certain hothead a direct view of the pamphlet tucked in his back pocket.
"You mean this lesson book?" Kai inquired, holding it up for all to see.
"It was the perfect plan! Until you had to show up and mess everything up-" the child fumed, his voice causing you irritation due to the echoing in the room.
Seeing this, Cole closed the sliding door, muffling the boy's voice and making you sigh in relief. Giving him a grateful smile, you found that everyone had turned their attention to you, or more specifically, Dart who had somehow climbed onto your shoulders and was now braiding your hair.
"This is, uh...?" the earth ninja inquired, wanting you to explain who this kid is and where she came from.
"Dart is Dart!" she answered before you could, "Nice to meet you, Papa!"
Hearing this, the temperature in the room seemed to drop to sub-zero, as everyone seemed shocked and tense at the announcement. Glancing from you to Cole, the rest of the team looked stunned as well as... something else...
"W-w-wha...?" the male in black stammered, his face turning redder than Kai's gi while you seemed unaffected by the proclamation.
"No, Dart is the child of the dragon that was placed to monitor my teacher and guard the Void Vanquisher," you explain, earning gasps of relief from the three other teens for some odd reason. "She can use the Void element, which is pretty much just copying other elements,"
"Then Mr Black isn't my papa?" Dart asked as you shook your head. "Then what about Mr White? You two seem to be good together!"
"No, he's not your father and we are just venturing into the territory of friends."
"Then... Mr Blue? I saw you carry him and he looked very embarrassed," she giggled, only to be let down again when you denied it. "Mr Red..." she began, making the fire elemental perk up, "...isn't my papa, right? He's too mean and angry all the time!"
"You're completely right," you smile, ruffling the dragon's silky onyx locks while Koun was wheezing with laughter, "Kai's my 'rival', as he proclaimed,"
Letting out a hum, the humanoid twirled around, the frills on her simple black and white dress looking like a blooming flower. "Then, if you had to pick one of them to be Dart's papa, who would it be?"
Saying nothing, you merely patted the top of the girl's head and answered "Well, I doubt I know them well enough to make that decision."
Suddenly, the intercom came on and Nya's voice rang through the room, making you stop in your tracks. "If you're done fooling around, I could use you guys on the bridge. We do still have a snake problem to attend to. Over and out!"
Pausing for a moment, you nudged Dart toward the door and whispered "Run along now. I'll go play with you in a bit, alright?" Letting out an affirmative hum, the girl nodded before wishing you good luck, racing back to your room to start doing some drawing.
"It's one thing to have the son of your nemesis live with you. But having his babysitter, her dragon-child, and my sister here? I thought this was a ninja headquarters!" Kai grumbled, sending a not-so-subtle glare in your direction.
"You do know I can hear you..." the girl muttered over the P.A. system, before cheerfully announcing "Over and out!"
Well then, I'd better head over to see whats wrong, you thought as you began walking toward the control room, wanting to save your energy for the fight that was sure to come, I can't wait to beat up Pythor... Stopping momentarily in your tracks, you wondered aloud "...Since when did I become so trigger-happy...?" but only silence answered your call.
Author's note:
This chapter was 3003 words long (nice, a palindrome) and I hope you liked it! There wasn't enough relationship development with Zane so I added some lol. Anyway, I'll see you in the next one :)