~ Part 1~ | Messages

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**  Now or Never (Julie and the Phantoms) **
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"Don't look down
'Cause we're still rising
Up right now
And even if we hit the ground
We'll still fly
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever
But live it like it's now or never"

~Julie and the Phantoms

This chapter is dedicated to Chaoscat211 . I love reading your positive comments :) they make me so happy. Thanks for being an awesome possum!

*****

The canister let out a satisfying hiss as he pressed down on the nozzle. The colours stained his fingertips a bright neon green but he didn't care as he carefully created abstract shapes with the spray paint.

The sound of footsteps made his heart skip a beat with a burst of adrenaline. Paint covered cans dropped into his backpack, fingers automatically moving his black hood and pulling it farther over his face.

"HEY!" A man walking by suddenly caught sight of the artist in the alley way.

He couldn't quite make out the kid, but he definitely knew he was there. His gaze slid to the wall by the teenager. Huge graffiti letters were climbing up the brick wall. Reading: Can't Forget Me. The man paused. He recognized that unique graffiti style. His eyes suddenly flew to the small symbol at the bottom.

The Green Ninja.

With a jerk the kid moved from standing perfectly still to snatching up his backpack and bolting. The man cursed and tried to follow, hand grasping the kid's arm. The teen turned, and all he saw was a flash of green as he wrenched his sleeve away, the fabric ripping with a horrible sound before he managed to wiggle out of the man's hold.  In a flash he disappeared into the shadows, weaselling through the tiny gap behind the buildings.

The man just stood there, panting a little as he moved to lean with his hand against the wall. His eyes strayed to where the kid disappeared, unsure what to do now. He glanced at the wall.

"Crap..." the man jerked his hand back.

Wet green spray paint covered his palm.

******

"Oh my god, Cole! How did you manage to ruin toast?!!!" Jay screeched as he threw that totally blackened bread at his friend.

Cole fumbled to catch it, crumbs spraying everywhere. "I didn't ruin it!"

"Cole, it just tastes like soot. Disgusting, burnt, soot." Kai told his friend bluntly as he decided to serve himself some fruit instead.

Zane politely took a bite of the bread, trying and failing to hide his disgusted face as he swallowed the scorched food. Even Nya slipped her toast back into the serving plate stacked full of night black toast.

Cole scowled, slouching in his chair, but he accepted the replacement food handed to him without complaint. He glanced up as he dug his fork into the sausages, his gaze landing on the headmaster.

Master Wu sat there, distractedly looking at his plate as he contemplated what Cole assumed was something important. Or maybe he was just strategizing the best way to buy tea before the morning rush again. Whatever it was, the subject was occupying Wu's mind so much that he picked up Cole's food and placed it in his mouth.

The students all snickered when Master Wu suddenly recoiled, spitting out the bread with a series of hacking noises. "Cole," Wu wiped his mouth profusely with his napkin. "Do us all a favour and don't touch the toaster again."

Jay snickered and Cole gave him a glare, making sure to aim a hearty kick at the ginger's shins. "OW!" Jay complained.

Zane ignored his restless classmates as Kai began to poke some fun at Jay, and turned his attention to Master Wu. His intelligent eyes narrowing. "Is everything alright, Master Wu?"

"Yes- well... it will be." Master Wu sighed. His worry filled words got the attention of the rest of the group.

"Is there anything we can do?" Nya offered in concern.

"At this moment, no." Wu chuckled, standing with his plate. "For now, maybe you can work more at your classes, I won't be here but I expect you to keep up with your education."

That got some groans from his students.

"And maybe in your free time you could think of some ideas to spread the word of the school." Master Wu added, raising an eyebrow. "Think of ideas that are from you."

Kai leaned back in his chair. "What is that supposed to mean?" He yelled as Wu left the room. The door slammed in answer.

"Where do you think he's off to?" Jay wondered aloud.

Cole shrugged, snagging Jay's plate and eating his leftovers off of it. Jay slapped his hand in retaliation.

"Let's not worry about it now." Zane chuckled, taking a few of the dirty dishes. "I'm sure Master Wu will tell us when he's ready."

"Who knows?" Cole chewed on Jay's grape thoughtfully. "Maybe he's finally getting a beard-cut." 

******

"What about....posters?"

"Posters, Jay? Is that what we're stooping to?" Kai teased.

Jay shot him a glare. "Well what's your great idea?"

"How about you got into the middle of Ninjago City, scream at the top of your lungs, and pour paint on yourself for a good two hours, and we'll say that 'if you don't come to Master Wu's School for Self-Discovery you'll turn out like him.'" Kai suggested with a smirk. Nya made an 'eughhh' sound and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling as Cole looked up from his notebook.

"I vote for Kai's idea!" Cole raised his pen.

"Zane? Nya? What's your judgement?" Kai turned to the...less chaotic members of the school.

Nya squinted at her brother. "NO!"

Kai raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, sheesh! Everyone's entitled to their own opinion." Kai sniffed.

Zane shook his head with amusement. "I'm going to have to veto against that idea as well, sorry Kai."

"Besides, Wu will never let you do it." Nya laughed, doodling with a purple gel pen on her palm.

"It's not like it would've worked anyways, KAI." Jay said his name like it was an insult. "I live outside of Ninjago City, a lot of the people know that I'm here anyways."

"I live in NGC and I haven't heard of you." Cole commented. "Then again I haven't been home for a bit..."

Jay sat down with a thump and began to dig into the box of crackers they had open. "Really? I've never really left home until now." Jay glanced his his friend.

Cole shrugged. "I went to another boarding school for awhile."

Kai scoffed. "Ignacia didn't have many schools to begin with, much less prissy boarding schools."

"Kai, we're at a 'prissy boarding school' right now." Nya reminded him. "And you like it here."

"I do not!" Kai snapped.

"Kai, it's been a month." Cole rolled his eyes. "Just admit that you feel at home with our little Wu-crew family."

Kai squinted at his dark haired friend.  "I admit that everyone's company, minus yours, is amazing and the meals cooked for me, minus yours, are also quite enjoyable." Kai retorted.

Jay whistles as Cole stuck out his tongue.

"Come on, Kai." Nya snickered, getting to her feet. "It's our turn to set the table for dinner."

"Oh wow, I suddenly have a completely real emergency called the bathroom." Before Nya could protest, her brother zipped off.

"REAL MATURE!" Nya shouted after him. Cole snickered from behind her, earning himself a look.

Jay raised a shy hand. "Um- I can help."

Nya's expression softened. "Thanks, Jay." She gave him a hand up and he went to follow her to the dining room.

"OoOoh." Cole sang in a girly voice when Nya rounded the corner.

"Shut it!" Jay hissed and slammed the door.

Zane cast an amused look at a cackling Cole. "Do you think he will finally act on his obvious romantic affections for Nya?"

Cole snorted. "He's too chicken. It's going to take some good prodding to get him to do more than help her with dishes."

As he said that his phone buzzed obnoxiously from its spot on the coffee table. Zane raised an eyebrow at the name. Simple, three letters, with a picture of an older man with a moustache and slicked back hair.

Dad.

Cole rolled his eyes, clearing the text message before he even got a look at what it said.

"Why do you ignore your father's acts to reach you?" Zane asked him curiously.

"What do you mean?" Cole played dumb as he cleaned up the room, moving the pens and crayons back into their case.

"Your father, Lou Brookstone, messages you often. He originally called two to three times a day before limiting it to once or twice every three days." Zane laid out the information with a proud smile.

"Wh-you- how do you know that?" Cole sputtered. "That's so creepy Zane!"

Zane furrowed his eyebrows. "The internet is there to gather information, if that is its purpose why is it creepy when I use it for its desired function?"

"Just because that's its purpose doesn't mean you should do it!" Cole snapped in exasperation. "Cigarettes are made for you to inhale its drugs and yet its highly advised for you not to smoke them!"

Zane thought for a moment. "You offer some valid points." He shrugged. "But if I could remember my father I would answer his calls."

Cole started to say something but his words caught in his mouth when he comprehended what his friend said. "WHAT?"

Zane didn't say much about his personal life. And sure, Cole didn't exactly either but he mentioned where he lived and a few stories. Jay talked a lot about his parents and Kai and Nya would sometimes mention a thing or two. But Zane barely said anything. Not a word. Not until now.

"I do not remember my parents or guardians." Zane answers simply.

Cole said a bunch of indecipherable sounds before he exclaimed. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"You did not ask."

"When would I ever ask: 'Hey, I remember my parents, do you remember yours?'" Cole pinched the bridge of his nose. He quickly sat down and took a deep breath before turning back to the blonde boy.

"...did you have an accident or something?" Cole asked carefully. Not many things offended Zane, even the most awkward and uncomfortable questions but he didn't want to be insensitive.

Zane blinked. "I'm unsure. All I remember is waking up and not remembering everything. Someone found me and brought me to a hospital."

"As you can tell I have a..." Zane hesitated. "Different way of thought than others. The people in charge of my well being thought it would be a good idea to send me to Master Wu's school."

Cole was speechless. He thought Zane was just...like Zane because he was socially awkward. He assumed when the boy didn't know certain things about himself it was because he sheltered or was indecisive. Now that he knew it was because he just didn't remember that seemed to change everything.

"I wish I remembered my family." Zane spoke up softly. "And my friends, if I had any. But happy that I gained some new companions."

Cole smiled, clapping him over the shoulder. "I'm glad I met you too, Zane."

******

A boy in a black hoodie slipped easily through the broken rusted gates that surrounded the building and crept inside. As soon as he made it into his room he let out a sigh of relief and popped down his hood. Revealing a head of blonde hair and two brilliant green eyes. He looked white but his features were slightly different, the different shapes signalling to his half Asian heritage. But the green smudge on his cheek pointed to something else.

"Sneaking out to vandalize, were you Lloydie?" Came a taunting jeer.

The blonde teen rolled his eyes, dropping his bag at the door and kicking off his shoes. "Don't you have something better to do, Bradley?"

"Nah. Watching you pretend to be a rebel is much more fun." The dark haired boy barely looked up from where he was playing what was probably a violent video game. "If you think you're going to break my record for most things destroyed you're not even close. I just blew up Mr. Davis's office."

Lloyd furrowed his brow. Mr. Davis was the school librarian and one of the nicer teachers. Which says a lot because he's the kind of person who screams at you for a good two hours for sneezing. But occasionally he would put aside a comic book or two for Lloyd. He knew he should say something but Lloyd had long since learned keeping his mouth shut was a much better idea.

"Whatever." Lloyd replied uncaringly. "Can't wait to see how much homework you'll get for that."

"You and I both know I won't do it anyways." Brad muttered boredly, his fingers flying on his device and he began to ignore his roommate. Poking fun at Lloyd was great but it grew annoying after awhile. He just wanted to get to the next level.

Lloyd huffed and moved to his bed, confusion etching his face as he found a yellowed envelope on his feet sheets.

"Hey, Brad..." Lloyd picked it up, flipping it over and inspecting it. "Did one of the other boys come in today?"

Brad cackled. "Oh yeah, might not want to use your shampoo for awhile. Or your toothbrush."

Lloyd made a face at him before turning back to the letter. The neat handwritten words were too fancy and clean for one of his schoolmates to do. Unless they managed to wrangle Gene into it but the nerdy brat acted like he was too cool to help them with any of their ' amateur' pranks. Lloyd's breath caught, his heart beating faster as he managed to read the return address printed in swirling letters.

Uncle Wu.