Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long. I had a lack of motivation this summer, and then I ended up working on a Oneshot that took up way too much time. Anyway, I finally finished this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy!

grungekitty: Thank you so much!

bookkeeper2004: I think we all would like to adopt those babies.

Captain Vers: What can I say? It's a cool idea. There's nothing crazy about it, so I have no reason to call it crazy.

MyHeadIsSpinning: Thanks! It's actually from the Star Wars movies in general, but I guess it could also technically be from the paint video.

ChildOfGod8080: Thanks so much for reading!

The Mayor Of Ninjago City: Thanks so much! I'm so glad to be done and moving on to the next thing in life.

"Misako!" Kai screamed. He shoved past his sister and banged against the window.

"She's not coming, Kai," Nya frowned, "Don't you see? They gave us up."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Nya shook her head.

Kai turned to the driver, "Where are you taking us?"

"To a foster home," the lady replied, "Until new parents come to take care of you."

Nya folded her arms and blew on her bangs, "Nobody can replace our parents!"

"Yeah!" Kai added, "Nobody can!"

"Come on, it'll be fun," the lady assured them as she made a turn onto the highway leaving Ninjago City, "There will be lots of other kids to play with, plenty of toys, and three strong meals a day!"

"Okay," Kai sulked.

(Time skip)

"Good morning, gentlemen."

"Good morning, Ms. Annie," two janitors cleaning the porch of the Ninjago Orphanage greeted.

"Who have we here?" the shorter of the two asked.

Nya hid behind Kai, "Mama said not to talk to strangers," she whispered.

"Children, these are janitors Will and John. You'll see them around during your time here. Now, let's head inside and show you your room," Annie explained.

Kai and Nya followed her inside. Children were everywhere playing with an assortment of broken toys. A couple girls in pigtail braids waved at Kai. He shyly smiled back. Annie took them down a flight of stairs to the basement.

"We're a little low on space, so you'll be in the basement for now. I trust you two won't be here long, anyway. The bathroom is down the hall and to the right. You may play with the other children until lunch," Annie said before walking out, leaving Kai and Nya utterly alone in the cold basement room.

"So..." Kai sighed, plopping down on one of the cost, "I guess this is home now?"

"No." Nya stated as she stood in the doorway not even bothering to set down her tiny suitcase or her stuffed giraffe.

Kai frowned, "What do you mean, no? We have nowhere to run? Our partners are gone, and Misako and Garmadon didn't want us."

"This isn't home. We'll get out of here somehow, and then we'll run back home."

"How would we even do that? We have no way of getting groceries!" Kai protested, folding his arms.

Nya grinned, "We'd take over the shop. You could make swords, and I'd run the cash register!"

"I'd be a terrible blacksmith!" Kai laughed, "That's a stupid idea!"

"Fine!" Nya stomped her foot and dropped her suitcase to the ground, "Then I'm doing it without you!" Twirling around, she hugged her giraffe closely and ran down the hallway.

Kai peered around the door, "Nya?"

She was gone.

(Time skip)

Wu had gotten used to being alone. Since the battle against the time twins, the elemental alliance dissipated. The others got married, had kids. Wu was alone. Except for the funeral after Ray and Maya's disappearance, he hadn't seen any of them. Last he knew, their children were safe with Garmadon and Misako in Ninjago City. Meanwhile, Wu had the monastery to himself to train for when Acronix returned.

He was busy trying to lower his time on the Spinjitzu course when a knock on the door interrupted him. And he most certainly wasn't expecting visitors.

"One second!" Wu shouted, dodging the dummy and jumping off the course. He wiped beads of sweat from his forehead, and pulled open the door, "Garmadon?"

Garmadon barged in without so much as a proper greeting, "I need your help," he said, making his way through the courtyard and inside.

"What is it?" Wu asked, following along.

Garmadon clambered into the kitchen and began preparing tea, "Misako is pregnant!"

"Congratulations!" Wu exclaimed and pulled his brother into one of those awkward hugs between siblings.

"No! This isn't good, Wu. The venom is getting stronger. At the visitation, I almost hurt Nya. I can't be around kids. I'm going to hurt them! I can't hurt my child! Please, Wu! I need help!" Garmadon cried.

"Okay," Wu sighed, "Let Misako know you're staying with me for a few days, and we'll see what we can do."

"I can't," Garmadon sniffed, "She can't know where I am otherwise she'll try to find me, and I'll hurt them both. I know how messed up this is, but if you say you're going to help me, you need to keep my location a secret from her."

"Okay," Wu says after a minute, "No matter what happens brother, I hope you know that I'll be forever by your side."

(Time skip)

It had been two days. Kai searched every corner of the home hoping to find Nya, yet he had no luck. The girl was crafty, she'd probably made her way back to Jamanickai Village by now and was somehow reopening the shop, Kai imagined. The worst part was being surrounded by adults, all of whom found no reason to panic, despite Kai's various attempts to get their help.

Then one day, he spotted her, she was in a classroom, designed for some of the older kids who needed summer school or tutoring, except Kai and Nya hadn't been to school yet. She was reading with an older girl. Kai stared for a moment. When did Nya learn to read? He'd barely learned to trace his letters, yet here his little sister was connecting those letters into words.

The cat chased the mouse, but the mouse got away.

Nya turned the page, briefly looking up as she did so, "Kai!" she gaped.

"Nya, what are you doing here?" Kai asked, walking into the room. He stared at the brightly decorated walls, filled with posters of animals and words Kai didn't know. He could see why Nya liked this room.

"Reading," Nya shrugged, "Ms. Daisy says that if I work hard enough I can go to kindergarten this fall! I already know math, so I'm learning to read now. Isn't it great? We can go to school together!"

"That's great, Nya," Kai sighed.

"Is something wrong, Kai?" Nya frowned. She shut the picture book and placed it on the kidney bean shaped table.

"I've been looking for you for two days!" Kai stomped his foot, drawing the attention of the teacher, Ms. Daisy, and the eyes of the few remaining kids not already paying attention, "Where have you been?"

"With the older girls. I made a new friend. She says I'm really smart, and I should be an engineer like her daddy used to be before he died. I don't know what that is, Kai, but I want to find out. I want to do it!" Nya spoke enthusiastically.

That night, Nya returned to the room with Kai. She pulled out her picture book about the cat and the mouse and read it to her stuffed giraffe. Kai listened intently, although he was facing the other way. He'd never let Nya see he was jealous.

The cat chased the mouse, but the mouse got away.

Nya turned the page. Already, Kai could feel his mouse getting away.

I hope you all enjoyed this somewhat less angsty chapter (although still angsty). I realized the last three chapters have had some really big cliffhangers, but I thought this one made sense to do a little softer. Not everything is resolved since it's not the end of the story yet, but it's not super dramatic either.

This is my last update for this story until after college starts for me, although I plan on updating Deserttown before then too (fingers crossed). Once classes start, I really don't know when I'll update, if I'll even have time at all, but I'll definitely do stuff over my breaks, and I'll finish my stories eventually.

Until next time, thanks for reading, and God bless!

#God's Not Dead!