Over the next few days, Zane devoted every spare moment to showing the young girl around the Bounty. He gave her a very nice tour of the ship, which (as Pixie had already seen) had two bedrooms, a dining room/kitchen, and a TV room, as well as some rooms she had not yet seen, including an exercise room with free-weights, a training room with a bunch of special equipment, and a special room for Master Wu to sit and think about the happenings of Ninjago without being disturbed. Then Zane moved on to introducing his new companion to each of the Ninja one by one. He knew that having her meet all of them at once could be way too overwhelming, considering her shrieks of horror just a few days before. In just a short time, the girl could easily find her way around the ship and seemed to be interacting well with the ship's other passengers.
There was only one thing that still concerned Zane.
In all the time she had been there, the girl hadn't spoken.
Not one single, solitary word.
Zane had spoken with Master Wu about it, and the wise sensei had advised him, "Give her time. Remember, she may still be adjusting to life here. She'll come around, I'm sure of it." But it was still nerve-wracking for the Titanium Ninja to just be patient and wait for her to speak on her own time.
It didn't help much that Kai seemed to get annoyed at the young girl for just the tiniest thing. The day that she had been introduced to him, he had (a bit begrudgingly) asked if she wanted to play Fist to Face 2 with him. Zane had been apprehensive about Kai's offer at first, but as the hours went by, everything seemed to be fine.
Until Kai suddenly screamed in frustration and bolted out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Zane could hear his frustrated screams reverberate through the entire ship. "AAAAAAUUUGGGGGHHHH! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! THIS KID SHOWS UP OUT OF NOWHERE AND I TRY TO BE NICE TO HER AND SHARE MY GAME WITH HER AND NOW SHE'S BEATEN ME FIVE TIMES! FIVE TIMES! AND SHE'S NEVER PLAYED IT BEFORE, EITHER! IT'S LIKE SHE'S SOMEHOW ONE WITH THE GAME! WHY?! WHY?! WHYYYYYYYYYY?!"
Zane decided right then and there that that was something he never wanted to hear again in all his living days. After Kai finished up his rant, he took a deep breath, panting profusely, and then Zane heard Nya saying, "Feel better now?"
Kai responded with, "A little." Zane, however, felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach. He just knew that the girl would probably be a basket case of tears by now. So it was no small surprise when he peeked into the TV room and saw that the young girl had fallen asleep on the hard wooden floor. He quickly carried her to Nya's room and tucked her in bed, trying desperately to keep his burning shame from overwhelming him. His head started to ache violently, and he had to resist the urge to confront Kai and tell him what was what. But he managed to stagger over to his bed and all but collapse onto it. He just hoped that this incident wouldn't cause the girl's trust in him and the others to totally crumble.
But the next day he couldn't find the girl anywhere. A panicked search of the Bounty revealed that she was in the training room, trying to imitate Lloyd's training routine. Though she wasn't really doing a good job of it. Her eight-year-old body wasn't really the right size to handle the kick-back of the hanging punching bags. She aimed a side kick at one of them and instantly landed on the floor with a sickening thud. Zane panicked and ran over to her, asking worriedly, "Are you all right? Are you hurt?" The girl quickly nodded her head yes, then shook it no. Well, at least it was a step above just remaining in total silence all day. Just then, Lloyd came dashing into the room, having heard the thud from upstairs. Not for the first time, Zane wondered if Lloyd was secretly part dragon, to have hearing that keen. "Is she alright?" he asked, worried.
"It seems so." Zane replied. Then he turned to the girl. "Why don't we head upstairs and work on lunch while Lloyd works through his routine?"
The girl looked up at Zane and smiled. She liked watching Zane cook in the kitchen and had even had a few impromptu cooking lessons with him. She dashed up the stairs before Zane could even blink. "Hey! Wait up!" he cried. She's even faster than Jay, it seems.
He hiked the stairs quickly and carefully and was just reaching the sliding door between Lloyd's old room and the deck when he heard Kai screaming his head off at someone. But it took a few seconds for Zane to realize that that someone was the young girl.
"LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO! CAN YOU NOT WALK ACROSS A DECK WITHOUT CRASHING INTO SOMEONE?! WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM?!"
An awkward silence fell. Knowing what might just come next, Zane thought to himself, Oh, no. Sure enough, the air was pierced by the young girl's wails as the full weight of Kai's hot-tempered words sunk into her. Zane slid open the door to see the girl running off with her head buried in her hands. He then noticed the Fire Ninja kneeling on the ground with a bunch of broken dishes in a heap close to him. Normally, Zane would eagerly help clean up the mess. But today, that little girl's broken heart was more devastating than a couple shattered plates.
Zane had known for weeks that there was a board in the Bounty's deck that squeaked if you didn't step on it just right. He quickly walked over and deliberately put all his weight on the board. Kai, startled by the noise, whirled around to see a very angry Nindroid glaring at him with his hands on his hips. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Zane had heard the whole thing.
"Oh, Zane," Kai stammered, trying to come up with any excuse he could to explain his not-so-pleasant outburst. "I…I didn't realize you were listening, and…"
"Don't. Just don't." Zane replied, fighting back the urge to freeze Kai in a block of ice. It would be easy enough, and the Fire Ninja deserved that and more. But he managed to walk past Kai, glaring all the way, and get off of the deck before he said or did something he'd most surely regret later. Once he had closed the door behind him, he turned his attention to looking for the girl. The door opened a second later to reveal Lloyd standing there. His face was drawn with concern, and Zane flushed inwardly with embarrassment. Had everyone aboard ship heard Kai's outburst?
But the only thing Lloyd said at that moment was, "I think I know where she might have gone."
And sure enough, he did know where she had gone. Master Wu's chambers. Zane remembered that Lloyd had come here time and time again in the past whenever he felt overwhelmed or upset at something. He'd formed the habit shortly after he was told he was to be the Green Ninja, and there had been some rather tearful times in those days when he'd simply hidden away in here. He had mostly given up the habit after the incident with the Tomorrow's Tea, but there were a few scattered times when he had reverted back to it. There was one hiding place in particular that he had turned into his own little hideaway. And that was where they found the girl now.
She was curled up into a tight little ball, half-hidden underneath a green-and-gold blanket in a small back corner of an adjacent room. She was laying on top of a small green beanbag chair, which was quickly being saturated with tears as her chest heaved with sobs. When Zane gently lifted the corner of the blanket, she fell silent—deathly silent. Her eyes were red from crying, and tears were streaming merrily down her cheeks.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Zane knelt down and pulled the little girl into his arms. He could hear Lloyd leaving the room to give them both some privacy. For several minutes, Zane just sat in silence, holding the girl close to his breast. He could feel her silent tears dripping onto his titanium body, and that moment, he wished he could cry with her. This little girl—this precious little girl—had suffered a wound that went deeper than any cut or gash. Her heart had been broken by a Ninja's stupid outburst, and he didn't blame her if she never wanted to trust anyone else again.
Then he started to try and offer some comfort, rubbing her back and simply saying over and over again, "It's okay. I'm here. You're going to be all right, I promise. No matter what happens, I'll be here for you." She made no answer.
Suddenly, he could hear footsteps coming down the hall. Great, it's probably Jay and Cole, and I know for certain they will want me to tell everything. He gently laid the girl back on the beanbag and was just about to get up to leave when all of a sudden, he felt her cling tightly to him, as if she never wanted to let go. And then, she spoke the first words he had heard her say in all the time she'd been here.
"Don't…leave…me."
Zane was stunned. "What?" he asked, confused, as he turned his head to meet her gaze.
"Don't…leave…me!" she pleaded, looking as if she might start crying again.
Zane could feel himself trembling, but not out of cold or fear. Being unable to cry, he simply put his head on her shoulder and said, "I will not leave you, I promise. No matter what, I'll be right here for you."
Then the little girl, choking back her sobs, whispered, "Pixie. My name is Pixie."
Zane's chest ached within him. "Pixie?" Almost like P.I.X.A.L., he thought to himself. Then he tried out the name once more. "Pixie." It seemed to fit somehow. "What a…what a beautiful name." he stammered.
No answer. Zane looked down to find that Pixie had fallen asleep in his arms. "Pixie." he whispered to himself one more time, before he closed his eyes, determined to stay by her until she woke, as he had promised.
Several minutes later, the other Ninja (except for an embarrassed Kai) quietly peeked into the room to find that Zane and young Pixie were curled up together, comforting each other even as they slept.