"I am sorry for not giving you a more adequate warning," Pixal apologised as she sat in Zane's lap. "there was no way for me to tell you without it going much worse than it did."
"I am sorry for overreacting," Zane expressed, stroking her hair. "the intensity of my auditory hallucinations overrode my innately peaceful personality."
"You did not overreact," Pixal corrected. "you managed to stay resolutely calm under the circumstances – reflecting on our behaviour under the Angel Subroutine, I expected you to attempt dismemberment."
"Out of respect for you, and your desire to accept those droids as your family, I opted to leave dismemberment as a lingering threat so she would not push my boundaries any further." Zane elaborated.
"Thank you," She purred, leaning into him. "you truly are an angel."
"Not an angel, just willing to admit when I am wrong."
"You saved my life, that makes you an angel." She refuted with a giggle.
He chuckled at her saccharine comment and held her hands in his. He raised them up and simply looked at them for a while. These hands of hers, that were soft and delicate, but could do serious damage after just a year of training. Her nails that were long enough to scratch where he couldn't reach, or tickle the back of his neck, and that glowed at night like her bodily circuits. These hands… how he loved the feel of them on his face, on his body… on his heart.
"What do you see?" She asked curiously.
"I see the loving, doting hands of my darling wife," He murmured. "who loves me and places me on a pedestal so high that I get vertigo."
"You think I praise you too highly?" She baited. "You who gave his life for all of Ninjago? You who gave my life meaning? You who saved me from rotting in the basement of Chen's dungeon?"
"I think you are so busy giving me credit that you do not pause to give yourself any," He kissed her on the cheek. "you are the reason I fought to come back, you rebuilt me, you encouraged me to break free of my chains and find my friends; put me on a pedestal if you wish, but you must put yourself on it with me."
Zane had this way with words that made Pixal wilt and go weak. He was so charming and sweet that she melted at his emotive sentiments, and she often wondered where he learned such mastery of language.
"I should apologise to Kiku," Zane sighed. "I did not give a good first impression."
"Neither did she," Pixal refuted. "I cannot imagine why she thought it would be amusing to remind you of your frustration and unease from last year."
"It was a poor attempt at humour, but now that the heat of the moment has passed, I am regretting my behaviour." He admitted.
"On the contrary, I feel as though she needed to be 'put in her place'," She countered. "she needs to learn that she cannot come into someone else's territory and claim dominance."
"Miru and Hanasu were not nearly so incendiary, I am curious to know why Kiku felt the need to be arrogant."
"Kiku retains her original personality, while Miru and Hanasu were given personalities closer to my own," Pixal theorised. "because of how the neural drive was defragmented and rebuilt into three separate drives, one of them would have had the original droid's overconfident nature."
"May I ask why your father kept that droid?" Zane queried. "I know the reason that he gave, but I cannot help feeling there is more to it than that."
"Your intuition serves you well," She smiled and turned to look in his eyes. "he is training them to aid us, should we move to New Ninjago to take over."
"I suppose we should discuss that at greater length, now that we are in the new year." He gave a half-smile in return.
Pixal clambered out of his lap and sat in front of him, so they could have a face-to-face conversation. This was a big decision, for both of them, and not one to be made flippantly or lightly. It would mean taking Zane away from his team – his only family in the wake of his father's death – and Pixal did not want him making his decision based on her alone.
"How do you feel about leaving the temple?" She probed.
"I am… uncertain, I have been with my friends my whole life, and have only been away from them for short periods of time; the only times I have moved, I have moved with them," He confessed. "however, as Lloyd once told me, 'we won't all be in the temple forever… at some point, we'll all go our separate ways'."
"It is a profound way of looking at things," She noted. "did it help to hear it from your leader?"
"It made me more open to the idea of leaving, but I would like more time to think about it."
"Of course, we have plenty of time to consider our position," She beamed. "my father has a lot of procedures to put in place before he can actually step down from running New Ninjago."
"It is all well and good asking me how I feel; but how do you feel?" He insisted.
"About running New Ninjago?"
"About everything; taking over the reins from your father, your new sisters, leaving here…"
Pixal responded by leaning over and placing a gentle kiss on his lips, before taking her place in his lap once more.
"As long as I am with you, I will be just fine." She sighed, nuzzling into him.
"I am serious," He said as she stroked her cheek. "I want to hear you; I want to know your feelings."
Pixal hesitated.
"I am sad that my father wishes to retire, it means he is getting older, and getting weary," She disclosed. "I am aware that, as a human, his existence is finite, and it frightens me."
"I can understand these emotions, I felt similarly powerless when my father passed away," He put his arms around her. "it was not easier when it happened a second time."
"I do not want to say goodbye," She sniffled as tears began to fall. "it will hurt too much."
"No one likes goodbyes, darling, but goodbyes are a part of life, there is not much we can do about it," He retrieved a handkerchief from his pocket and delicately patted her cheeks. "however, we can make the most of our loved ones while they are still here, so let us dry those tears and go downstairs to join them."
Pixal smiled and nodded, while Zane wiped her sadness away, kissing her cheeks when he was done. She stood up and, once he too was on his feet, she pulled him close for a warm hug. She lingered there for a few moments, then let go of him. He held her hand, and they left their bedroom together. As they travelled down the stairs, they could hear a jovial conversation going on in the living room.
"Hey there," Jay waved as Zane and Pixal entered the room. "cooled off now?"
Zane briefly glanced at Kiku, before tilting his head upward in a disgruntled fashion.
"I'll take that as a no." Kiku mumbled sheepishly.
"So, how is everybody else getting along?" Pixal asked politely as she and Zane sat down on the floor, putting some distance between him and Kiku.
"Pretty well," Nya grinned. "we were just telling your sisters about the wedding."
"Cole was showing us the photos," Miru nodded. "it looked like it was a wonderous evening!"
"It was amazing," Pixal sighed reflectively, leaned against Zane and batted her eyes at him. "the best night of my life."
"You looked stunning that day," Zane curled his arm around her shoulder. "just when I thought you could not get more beautiful."
"Ow, my tooth!" Jay laughed. "Can you guys stop being so cute for like five minutes?"
"You're such a cheese ball." Lloyd teased, giving him a playful shove.
"Thank you again for letting me stay with you," Kiku smiled at Kai. "I know I didn't make the best first impression."
"Hey, don't worry about it, we all make mistakes." Kai mentioned.
"I hope your girlfriend doesn't mind me staying in your room," Kiku paused. "I mean, maybe I'm assuming, but a handsome young ninja like you must have a girlfriend."
"Uh, no, actually," He sheepishly replied. "I've met someone I'm interested in but that's as far as it's gone."
"Oh, so you're single?" She noted. "That's interesting... can't be easy, being in a place full of couples..."
"Well, Cole's girlfriend lives in the city, and Lloyd's single like me, so there's only two couples actually living here at the temple; Zane and Pixal – a classic 'love at first sight' kinda pair – and Jay and Nya," He clarified, cracking his knuckles. "who I'm only invested in because Nya's my sister."
"Oh dear," She giggled sweetly. "big brother is watching, huh?"
"Kinda…" He deflected, changing the subject. "So, do you mind if I ask about these?"
Kai gestured to the pointed red earcups on either side of her head.
"Those are my high-strength signal receptors – or as the lab techs called them, my 'horns' – basically they give me heightened hearing abilities," She made air quotes with her fingers. "it's one of the few things I was able to be programmed with, the rest has to be learned manually through training."
"So, what sort of training are you here for?"
"Dad says I gotta learn to be a ninja – sneaking in and out of places, lurking around unnoticed, going undercover – that kind of stuff," She explained, as she opened her duffel bag. "he said if I wanna be head of security I gotta start taking things seriously."
"That's a lot to learn, sounds like you're here for the long haul." He noted, watching her shift through the contents.
"Yeah, I know, your sensei said it would be like, 6 months at least," Kiku sighed. "Miru and Hanasu have it so easy compared to me; they didn't have to be sent away for training; all their specialties are things that can be programmed into them and– ah, got it!"
"Got what?"
"My aerial hoop," She beamed, looking around the room. "you mind if I put this up in here?"
"Uh, sure… what's it used for?" He noticed her pull out a fabric drawstring pouch, full of what sounded like metal bars.
"Exercise mostly, but sometimes I sleep on it."
She opened the pouch and began slotting the curved bars together, screwing them in place one by one until she had a large metal hoop that came up to her chest. Kiku beamed at Kai proudly as he tilted his head, completely puzzled by the fact that she apparently slept on this.
"How do you sleep on that thing?"
"Upside down, like a bat," She grinned. "and I don't always sleep on it, but I used it a lot when I was first built a couple years ago and I'm kinda attached to it."
"Do you know how to install it?" Kai wondered. "I'm not much of a DIY person."
"I should be good, all the rigging bits and pieces are in here, I can do it while you guys are eating dinner," Kiku stated. "me and my sisters don't eat so…"
"You can still hang with us though, Pixal always does, and she doesn't eat either," Kai offered. "I don't want you to feel like you can't join us for communal stuff."
"Maybe I will, after tonight," Kiku nodded, smiling politely. "are you always this hospitable to random interlopers who crash in your bedroom?"
"Manners cost nothing," Kai shrugged. "besides, you're here for training, that makes you one of us."
"You've been very welcoming to me; I really appreciate it."
Kiku bowed to him, and as she stood up straight again, gave a subtle wink. Kai was taken aback by it. He'd had plenty of female attention before, but never from a droid. It was… strange to be on the receiving end of flirtation by an AI.
"Hey Kai!" Cole yelled up the stairs. "food's ready!"
"I'll be there in a sec!" Kai shouted back to him, then turned to Kiku. "If you need any help with this thing, let me know; Jay's handy with tools and stuff."
"Thanks."
Kai waved at her and left his room. Kiku seemed nice enough, although she appeared less than amused that she had to engage in actual training rather than just being programmed to know. He felt for her in a way, both she and Pixal couldn't simply have the ninja skill set transferred to their neural drive, they had to learn it manually like a human.
As he joined the others for dinner, he wondered why Kiku needed to be stealthy if she was supposed to be gunning for the position of head security person; security guards were meant to be seen, to create an appearance of authority and deter troublemakers.
"How's your new roommate?" Nya giggled, breaking Kai's train of thought.
"Settling in okay," Kai responded. "she's putting up some kind of hoop thing."
"Hoop thing?" Lloyd asked.
"She said she uses it to exercise." Kai explained.
"That reminds me, I need to bring over the spare bedding over from my closet." Nya mentioned.
"I was most surprised when you offered to have her stay with you, Kai," Wu noted. "you normally prefer your own company."
"Yeah, I assumed she'd be with me like Pixal was." Nya added.
"Indeed," Wu concurred. "you are aware that she will be here for several months, correct?"
"Yeah, she told me; honestly, I don't mind," Kai reasoned. "and like I said, my room is the furthest away from Zane's."
"It is appreciated," Zane spoke up. "I wish to maintain distance."
"Come on, Zane, you can't stay mad forever," Lloyd sighed. "she's not the same droid that attacked you on the island."
"It is easy for you to say that, when it was not your sanity being worn away." Zane stated frankly.
"I'm leaning towards Zane here," Cole interjected. "you didn't see him yesterday, slamming his head against the wall to try and get the voice to shut up."
That instantly got Pixal's attention. She dropped her glass and turned to Zane with terror in her eyes.
"You did not tell me this!" Pixal squeaked.
"I did not want to worry you." Zane insisted.
"If I had known that you were tormented to the point of self-harm, I never would have allowed her to be here!" Pixal's eyes began to well up with tears. "Angel, you must not hide such things!"
"I am truly sorry, darling, I thought that telling you would be too upsetting; now I see that not telling you was worse." Zane apologised, pulling her close as she cried.
"Cole!" Nya snapped. "Look what you've done now!"
"What?" Cole held up his hands defensively. "It wasn't me who was tormenting him!"
"We must contact my father," Pixal sniffled, her sadness becoming anger. "she is a demon and cannot stay here."
"Does she not deserve a chance to prove herself?" Wu repeated. "You said yourself she is not the same droid from a year ago."
"Mental sabotage is bad enough, but for Zane to attempt to damage himself?" Pixal argued. "This is deeper than mere physical harm; this is intentional psychological cruelty!"
"So, what happens next?" Wu posited. "What happens to your sister if you will not allow her to be trained?"
"Trained? Trained? What makes you believe she can be trained when she is capable of such malice?" Pixal stammered. "She needs to be beaten into obedience, she needs to suffer, she needs to experience what she put my husband through!"
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Wu harshly advised.
"Losing an eye is the least that should happen to her…" She hissed.
Pixal broke free of Zane's embrace and stood up, her passive green eyes were now shining red with a hatred no one had ever seen in her before.
"Kiku! KIKU!" Pixal shrieked.
"Pixal, don't-" Cole put his hand on her arm.
"Do not command me!" She barked, yanking her arm away from him. "KIKU!"
There was the sound of rapid footsteps, rumbling down the stairs and into the room.
"Hey sis, you need something?" Kiku grinned.
Before anyone could stop her, Pixal launched herself at the other droid and pinned her down. She grabbed Kiku by the hair and smashed her face into the floor. There was a universal wince as the sound of coated metal smashing against the tiles rang out.
Chaos ensued as Lloyd, Cole and Kai pulled Pixal off of Kiku, while Nya and Jay helped Kiku up from the floor. Kiku looked utterly bamboozled by Pixal's attack, and as she touched her face, she realised that her faceplate was dented. Pixal fought against the three ninja holding her back with everything she had, trying to break free. It took Nya and Jay putting their full weight on Pixal's legs to keep the furious droid from advancing on her sister.
"Zane, do something!" Kai shouted. "Your wife has gone ballistic!"
"YOU!" Pixal spat at Kiku. "You DARE to call me sister after what you did to Zane?"
"I don't understand, you were on my side earlier!" Kiku said, incredibly wounded by Pixal's words.
"Your irrational decision to toy with Zane's mind caused him to injure himself in an attempt to stop the signals!" Pixal accused. "I would never have called you my sister if I had known!"
"It was supposed to be a joke! I thought he would find it funny!" Kiku responded. "I didn't know what it was actually doing to him!"
"A joke is only funny if everyone is laughing, now calm down; both of you!" Wu demanded.
Pixal, full of infuriated energy, continued to try and free herself, until she felt Zane's hands come up from behind her and cover her eyes.
"Pixal, be still, I am fine..." Zane murmured quietly.
"She hurt you!" Pixal growled.
"I am unharmed, we are safe..." He purred softly in her ear.
"But your head…"
"It was only once," He spoke in a hushed tone. "I should have told you; I am sorry…"
Pixal's body began to relax, and the ninja no longer needed to hold onto her. Jay and Nya got up from the floor, Lloyd and Kai tentatively let go of her arms, while Cole noticed the blue glowing on Zane's palms and wondered if he was doing some sort of hypnosis.
"No more secrets?" She asked.
"No more secrets." He confirmed.
Zane removed his hands from her eyes, and they had returned to their usual green. She stood still for a few moments before she coolly walked over to Kiku. Kai and Lloyd prepared to grab her again, only for Zane to stop them. Pixal slowly approached Kiku and gave her a delicate hug. Kiku cautiously reciprocated the out-of-nowhere hug and patted Pixal's shoulder.
"I am sorry for hitting you." Pixal said.
"I'm sorry for going too far with my dark humour, and for causing you and Zane harm." Kiku replied.
The two droids stayed in the anxious hug for a few more moments.
"Now, has everything been forgiven?" Wu hinted.
"I'm good." Kiku nodded.
"We are… even now," Pixal dazedly uttered. "but I think I will just go and have a lie down."
"Good idea, you should get some rest," Zane patted her hair affectionately. "I will check on you in a little while."
She wandered out toward the stairs in a semi-conscious fashion, and he waved her off with a half-smile.
"Come with me, Kiku, I can fix your faceplate," Nya intervened. "it'll only take a minute."
"Uh, thank you." Kiku followed Nya out of the room.
"I should apologise on Pixal's behalf, I believe my recent ill health has made her a touch overprotective." Zane announced as he bowed deeply.
"Gee, you think?" Lloyd stammered. "I haven't seen a temper like that since that time Cole couldn't have any sweets for two weeks!"
"Worst two weeks ever." Cole snarled, crossing his arms.
"Seriously, she went psychotic!" Jay gasped. "I can't believe we almost had a catfight going on in here!"
"It would hardly be a fight, if only one of them is trained for combat," Wu corrected. "I dread to think what could've happened just then."
"Yeah, what was that thing you did to Pixal?" Cole questioned, briefly putting his hands over his eyes.
"It is an update to the Angel Subroutine; neurological calming, it is a means of quelling the storm before the subroutine triggers," Zane clarified. "because the original subroutine was intended for stationary devices, it requires frequent updates to make it compatible with the mobile nature of droids."
"So, she can do that to you?" Kai enquired.
"She could, but she has not unlocked it yet because she has not processed the update." Zane mentioned.
"In future, perhaps you and Pixal should complete your updates at the same time," Wu strongly suggested. "this kind of behaviour is not proper."
"Yes, Sensei." Zane agreed.
"All better!" Nya declared as she and Kiku re-entered the room. "She even showed me the aerial hoop, and you should see her on it, she's amazing!"
"Cool, now you can show me how you sleep on it too." Kai laughed.
"You sleep on that?" Nya asked in astonishment.
"Sometimes," Kiku smiled at Kai. "follow me, and all will be revealed."
As the two of them made their way back to Kai's room, Kiku seemed a bit off. Well, she did just have someone tackle her to the floor and slam her head into it, so she had every right to be feeling out of sorts. Especially when that someone was supposed to be her sister.
"Ta dah!" Kiku gestured to the hoop now hanging from the ceiling. "Isn't it awesome?"
She excitedly sat inside the hoop and gently spun herself round, giggling as she went.
"Yeah, it looks pretty fun." Kai smiled.
"Hey, watch this!"
Kiku leaned so far backwards that she dangled in the hoop by the small of her back. In one swift, rather startling motion, she gripped the hoop on either side, pulled her legs to her chest and pushed them upwards so that they hooked onto the top near the strap fixing it to the ceiling. She hung upside down and grinned at Kai, her newly fixed face practically aglow with delight.
"Ready for bed now, Master of Fire?" She joked, winking at him again.
"Wow, that's so cool!" He praised, going ever so slightly red.
"You aren't really gonna sleep there, are you?" Nya said, as she walked in on Kiku showing off her skills.
"Nah, I'm good being on the floor." Kiku chuckled as she got down from the hoop.
"If you were any kind of gentleman bro, you'd be sleeping on the floor." Nya teased, handing Kai the shikibuton and spare bedding from her room.
"He already offered," Kiku lied. "he even insisted, but I didn't want to be any more of a bother than I have been."
"Oh… in that case," Nya turned to Kai. "I'm sorry I questioned your manners."
"No problem." Kai dismissed, waving his hand.
Nya smiled and went out the way she came in. Kai raised an eyebrow at Kiku.
"I don't wanna seem ungrateful, but why did you cover for me just then?" He queried.
"You did the same for me," Kiku answered. "you put me up in your room, you held Pixal back from attacking me again, and you let me modify your personal space for my own comfort."
Kai gave a half-smile at the little sincere grin she was making at him.
"I don't want you to think that our association is purely transactional, though," Kiku tucked her hair behind her ear. "I can sense that you're a good person, and I'm looking forward to spending time with you... in training, I mean."
"I'm looking forward to spending time with you too," He grinned flirtatiously. "and since you're staying in my room we can start now."
Kai couldn't help but chuckle at how her facial circuits seemed to glow brighter at his words. Was he really flirting with a droid right now? Or was he just enjoying teasing her? Well, she was cute, and quite sweet, and she did need someone to lean on.
"Hopefully, the dust will have settled by tomorrow," Kiku sighed as she sat on Kai's bed. "I didn't mean to cause so much mayhem."
"Well, you'd be surprised what a good night's sleep can do, even for droids." He assured her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but why are you comforting me?" She repeated his own question back to him. "Doesn't it bother you that my poor humour put your friend though so much pain?"
"It's not that it doesn't bother me – no one wants to see their friend suffer – but you're willing to change," He elaborated as he sat beside her. "last year, you were his enemy, and the best way to defeat your enemy is to make them your friend."
"Look at you, being all philosophical and stuff!" Kiku playfully shoved into him with her body.
"Well, I can't take credit for that one, it's one of Sensei's wisdoms."