Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Chapter 17

***Okay, so I'm reading this sad Jaya AU right now, and I know it's going to end bad and make me cry my eyes out, but like a drug user on the prowl for their next hit, I can't seem to keep myself from reading it. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Yeah, I know I write angst, but like...when it all happens in my head, everything's different.

Also, my favorite villain is Pythor lately because he's so much fun to write about.

Okay, that being said, here's the first chapter of your double update. It's not angst. I don't know that I can do angst right now LOL Hope you like!

Fun fact: It's 5,500 words. I had to fit a lot into it, though, so...yep.

Also, please excuse the occasional innuendo/reference in this chapter. I apologize in advance if that's awkward for you - I try to keep my books kid-friendly, yet still accurate. I promise I won't make too many references <3

Also, there's a time skip here of 2-3 days from last chapter - given that it starts with Cole's POV, it was kind of hard to talk about that time skip, so this is just FYI.***

***(Cole's POV)***

You know what's difficult? Proving your ninja-training-home is worthy of foster home status, that's what's difficult.

All efforts to adopt Seliel have pretty much fallen through – Ninjago City law is such that single people and those under twenty years of age are highly unlikely to be able to adopt someone. That rules out everyone I know – Lloyd's mom, whose husband is a dark lord banished to another realm, any of the guys, and my dad. Jay's parents would probably be happy to offer, but given their age and the fact that they live on a scrapyard, I'm not holding my breath.

The only solution that I can think of is proving the monastery is suitable as a foster home and hoping Seliel doesn't get adopted away from us. I mean, she's about the same age as Nya, so it's highly unlikely she'll be adopted within the next year, but it still bothers me.

I show the government official around the monastery. "So this is our bunkroom. Our home is rather – er – diverse, given that we have several teenagers inconsistently living here. But Seliel would almost never be without adult supervision. There's Mrs. Garmadon" – who honestly shouldn't even count as a guardian, with how little she comes out of her study downstairs – "and me and Zane, who are both eighteen. Right now, we also have Jay living here, and he's eighteen. And then there's Nya, who's about Seliel's age. Those two are great friends. It'd be a shame to separate them."

As if on cue, Nya's door slams. She comes out fuming.

"Sel, you stole my conditioner again!" she yells, wrapped up in a bathrobe with her hair dripping water along the floor.

"I have more hair than you do!" Seliel retorts from her bedroom. "And since I'm the one who handles the moneybox around here, that conditioner is technically mine!"

I blush. I guess they both must have forgotten that today was 'pretend-like-we're-all-one-big-happy-family' day.

Nya turns and sees us, then blanches when she realizes she's wearing a short bathrobe in front of a stranger. Her skin goes pale, and she leaps behind her door, waving and smiling like nothing happened.

A plastic bottle comes flying out of Seliel's room and slams into Nya's door, barely avoiding her.

"Here's your stupid conditioner, Nya!" Seliel yells. "Go finish your shower and leave me in peace."

I cough, walking over to Seliel's room and poking my head in. "Uh...Seliel, we have a visitor."

"Oh, hey, babe," she says from her bed, her cast propped up over her footboard. "You look extra sexy today. Tell our guest that I'm unavailable right now, okay?"