Hello! I applaud those of you who stayed long enough to actually read this far. I've got 6 chapter and two days of story. Lame. And I'm so mean to my characters. Ninjago's characters. My favorite characters, especially. I know, I don't get it either. Any time an idea pops into my head, I use it. And most the time, Zane is the focus of my cruel theories. Sorry, Zane… But I promise I won't kill him! At least not all the way… Anyway, I hope you can sympathize with me enough to stay until the end of the story. I've got a few surprises for you later in the story, but I don't seem to be able to get very much into a single chapter. I'm working on it, though. Here's chapter 7, and I hope you like it!

-LizzyLucky

"She's mute?" Zane repeated, scratching his head and looking at the ninja next to him.

"Yeah." Jay responded, pushing the door open. He walked forward a few steps.

"Well, I mean, sort of." He said.

"What's 'sort of?'"

"She has a voice. She laughs and makes… noises. But she doesn't talk. I don't think it's that she can't, she's just… She doesn't." Jay tried to explain. He and Zane turned toward the table. Kai sat at the end nearest them. The seat across from him was empty. Presumably where Jay had been sitting. Next to Kai was Cole, and Misako across from him. Next to Cole sat Garmadon, another empty seat across from him. At the very end of the table sat the girl.

She had mid-length brown hair and vibrant green eyes. She had on a plain white t-shirt and some jeans. At the moment, she was listening intently to something Cole was saying, laughing every now and again.

As the door closed behind Zane and Jay, she turned her attention. For a moment, her eyes and Zane's met. Zane was immediately filled with a warm curiosity. He felt already so much like her being here was just… right.

He realized suddenly that he was staring directly at her and shook himself out of it. Jay laughed at Zane's stupid look and took his seat across from Kai. Zane felt almost surprised at himself and felt a strange rumble in his stomach. At this point, he wasn't sure if it was purely hunger anymore, either.

Apparently, the rumbling of his stomach had been louder than he thought, though. As if the situation didn't already feel awkward enough, Kai laughed and turned to Zane, gesturing behind him and to the empty seat next to their guest.

"You sound like you could use some lunch. There's an empty seat over by Misako." He said simply.

"Oh, right! I knew I was forgetting something!" Jay stood back up and ran to the kitchen, returning only seconds later with a plate, on which were two sandwiches. He offered it to Zane, who took it gratefully and walked over to the empty seat.

"I kinda forgot that you didn't eat breakfast." Jay commented, sitting back down.

"You wouldn't be the only one…" Zane replied, grinning awkwardly. Unbeknownst to him, the girl behind him was watching curiously. When he turned back to his plate to pick up a sandwich, he was surprised to see a pair of green eyes only inches from his face. Their owner was stood up, leaning over the edge of the table to study him more closely.

Zane leaned back in surprise, his own eyes widening with wonder. She was already such an interesting person.

"Uh, hi." He said, not knowing what else to do. She cocked her head at him, then smiled and sat back down contentedly. He blinked and shrugged it off, taking a bite of his sandwich.

Garmadon, across from him, chuckled.

"It would seem she's taken in interest in you, Zane.

"I hadn't noticed." Zane said, friendly sarcasm lacing the statement. The figure beside him giggled and took a hungry bite from her own sandwich.

Zane was only just now thinking about the fact that they had all welcomed her in so willingly. They were already treating her like a friend, rather than someone who came crashing through the window, injured.

Of course, he wasn't too surprised. From just the two minutes sitting next to her, he could tell she was just an absolutely bubbly person. Easy to be around. She was happy and energetic. Everything she did, she did with energy and a massive smile on her face. And if not a smile, she was very expressive about whatever she was feeling. Right down to the way she moved her eyebrows. They raised up noticeably when she was excited or surprised. They scrunched together when she was confused or curious. They curved upward when she was laughing, like she'd been laughing too hard or smiling too long, which she did a lot. Everything remotely amusing made her giggle, and everything that made her happy made her laugh. But it didn't seem to bother anyone. She just lightened the mood of the whole room. Despite the fact that she didn't talk, her voice could be heard above everyone else's.

And at that moment, he realized that he'd been laughing along with her. Everyone had been. He realized that everything negative he'd been feeling had completely left his mind since he entered the room. His nightmare, passing out, the injury on his head, the attack, even, that she originated. He'd been focusing solely on how delicious his sandwich tasted when he was hungry, and how interesting the new girl had been. That along with everything else that went through the conversations at the table. Stories, jokes, memories, and just… Laughter. Everyone was happy, and for the time being, all of their worries had melted away.

He didn't know how she was able to do what she was doing, but he did know that she was the most positive thing that had happened to them in a while.

And it was amazing.

"Hey, Zane! You haven't introduced yourself!" Kai called from the end of the table, interrupting his thoughts.

"Introduced- What?" Zane blinked. He hadn't even been paying attention.

"We told her our names, you tell her yours!" He said, clapping his hands together.

"Oh, I- Uh-" He hiccupped. A round of laughter echoed in the room, and Zane sat up in surprise. Hiccups? He hadn't had those in a while. Occasionally, he did have just one hiccup, though. Another silly thing that happened every other time he surprised himself.

"Just introduce yourself. Name and element. That's what we did." Cole said, shrugging and stuffing half a sandwich into his mouth.

Zane turned to the girl next to him, who had her head turned curiously. She sat upright expectantly.

Who are you… He blinked as he heard the phrase echo in his head. Where had that come from?

"Oh. Yes. Uh, I-I'm Zane. My element is ice." He said awkwardly. Did he really just stutter?

She giggled, pleased, and stuck out a hand, apparently for a handshake. Zane slowly stuck his own hand out, half expecting her to shake the whole table with whatever energy she put into it, but was somewhat surprised at her gentle touch and firm, but short, shake. She retracted her hand and went immediately back to eating contentedly.

Zane couldn't help but to watch her. She was so childlike. She held an air of innocence and joy. She seemed fascinated by everything around her, even ordinary objects.

Even after everyone had been properly filled, the chattering had gone on. They'd gotten caught up in telling stories, now both for the amusement of their guest and themselves. They reminisced, remembering back to the earliest adventures. How they met Sensei Wu, how they met each other, training with each other, testing and strengthening their friendships.

At the moment, they were caught up in the wild tale of how Lloyd had "grown up." After the earlier story of how Lord Garmadon had gotten their weapons and forged them to make the mega weapon, to which Garmadon chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, they'd gotten into the action of the day he brought the Grundle to life, basically programming it with ninja hunting instincts.

"And then even though I technically lost, the grundle showed up and we took the illumi-swords anyway!" Lloyd was lept up and throwing his arms through the air for exaggeration.

"It didn't really do us any good. Those things were freaking flimsy!" Cole commented.

"No kidding! And of course, like every comic book in that store, I'm sure, the situation got only as bad as it could have." Kai said, rolling his eyes.

"We had no weapons, no spinjitzu, no elemental powers, and we were KIDS, protecting a bunch of KIDS, not to mention the unstoppable ninja-hungry hunting Grundle and the fact that ALL THE EXITS WERE BLOCKED!" Jay exclaimed, banging on the table with every word he shouted.

"And you were eating cotton candy." Cole laughed. Jay fauxed offence and pouted at him.

"And who was it again that just had to stop for cake on the way home afterwards and make us late? Oh, yeah, it was you!" Jay said innocently. Cole glared at him.

"Remember we took those ninja suits, too? That was hilarious! 'Authentic ninja suits signed by the ninja!' Pfft!" Kai remembered.

"I didn't even know those were there, much less that we signed them!" Zane added with a laugh of his own.

"Anyway, we'd've been Grundle chow if Nya and Sensei didn't get our message and come to help. They were the ones to unblock the exit, and they brought the solution to all our troubles in the form of tea!" Cole explained, moving the story back on track.

"I remember! The lady at the tea shop was so reluctant to hand it over to us, and we were getting worried." Nya said, looking upwards as she thought back to the day.

"Is that what took so long? Jeez." Kai said amusedly. Nya giggled.

"Well, it solved almost all our problems." Lloyd said, referring to the tea.

"Oh, yeah, that's right! If we used tomorrow's tea, it would turn the grundle back to a pile of bones, and the rest of us would be returned to normal! Except Lloyd, who was already normal. You were still a kid." Kai said.

"I was gonna miss out on the rest of my childhood…" Lloyd said, almost sad.

Their guest had been sitting, listening contentedly the entire time, giggling every time they made a joke, or when one of them got all excited and jumped up. She gasped and widened her eyes every time they came to a part where the whole adventure seemed lost, or like they were in some kind of danger they couldn't get out of. Then she would pump a fist into the air and "Ha!" when they explained their solution to her. It was both amusing and joyful.

"True that. But you put your own needs down and used the tea anyway, to save the lives of your fellow ninja and the children in the shop." Garmadon said with an air of wisdom. Lloyd smiled at him.

"Anyway…" Jay said after a moment of silence.

"Actually, I don't think we need an 'anyway.' That was really about it. We were turned back to normal, cleaned up the store, and saved the day." Kai said, sounding distant.

"Something wrong, Kai?" Cole asked.

"I was just thinking is all." He replied.

"Perhaps it is time we take a break." Misako said. Everyone was happy and well fed, but they'd been sitting at that table for over two hours. They'd done more talking and story telling than eating.

Nods and hums of approval went around the table. Each took their turn standing up and walking away, silently.

Odd, Zane thought. The silence had come on quite suddenly. It wasn't exactly eery, nor was it a depressing kind of feeling, but it really came out of nowhere. It seemed likely to be a result of the day's busy events.

Before Zane stood up, he turned to glance at their guest, who had an almost unreadable expression. It somehow echoed the strange feeling that the sudden quiet brought on. Her eyes were wide with curiosity and wonder, but also with something else. Something about that other look in her eyes almost put out the glow that brought them to life. If he really tried, he thought he could see fear in them.

And for a moment, it entranced him. It was fear. Utterly paralyzing. She stared ahead of her, suddenly becoming an abandoned child, frightened alone. Even as Garmadon and Misako stood up, ushering her to do the same, she looked like she just felt alone.

Zane broke the gaze and looked down at his hands. Then back at the girl. Then back down to his hands.

He looked back up decisively. An idea had just occurred to him, and he wasn't sure if it was right. But if it was…

Well, either way… It was about time he went to talk with his brothers about that dream.

Ha! Yeah, I know. My chapters all kinda suck. I try to be a good writer, I stretch out scenes a bit, almost entirely unplanned, so they never quite make a full round. They're almost more drabble worthy than they are chapter worthy. Oh well. Hoped you liked it anyway. Thanks guys!

-LizzyLucky