So I wrote something for Post too! Because I have zero chill and plus I feel really inspired for the first time in a long while. It’s a bit longer than the last one, but I still hope you enjoy it!
@sogzaneau
It had been a few days since the ninja had saved their beloved friend. They were all currently sitting in the kitchen, half asleep, talking. They had missed Zane, but the poor guy was heavily traumatized. Much to Zane’s dismay, he had kept most of them up the last few days due to his break downs. He couldn’t leave the room he was in very long or he broke down sobbing and freaking out. He also seemed to hate the mirror that was in there. Whenever he looked at himself, he would start to freak out. Especially due to the one red eye. That freaked him out the most.
“Ugh… I feel like a train hit me.” Cole complained.
“Agreed.” Jay grumbled. He wasn’t the most comfortable with Zane, not since the robot gauged his eye out, but he still was trying to help. He was probably the only ninja who had actually gotten any sleep, due to his fear of getting close to Zane on his own or at all.
“Shut up, Jay, you didn’t even stay up with him, you chicken.” Kai grumbled as he rubbed his face.
“Speaking of Zane, who’s watching him right now?” Lloyd asked.
The ninjas paled as they all realized, no one was in with Zane. Pixal was out, getting supplies. Sensei Wu was probably sleep, and the rest of them were sitting in the kitchen trying to wake themselves up.
The small group, besides Jay, jumped to their tired feet and rushed to Zane’s make shift room.
What they found there was Zane curled into a ball, sobbing and shaking. He had been like this a lot lately. However, they also saw the mirror was broken, and the poor android was leaking artificial blood everywhere.
“Zane?” Nya spoke up, “Are you okay?” She knew he wasn’t, but she still figured she’d ask.
Zane jumped a bit at the sound of her voice, his shaking began to worsen.
“Get away!” He cried. “I’ll just hurt you!”
“Zane, you wouldn’t…” Cole trailed off as he thought back to the last year or so. He knew Zane was forced into that but it was still hard to get comfortable around him. They didn’t know if they had completely rid him of the evil programming.
Zane let out a small wail at this, the reminder of the fact that he had hurt them made him ache worse.
Nya rolled her eyes and approached Zane. She grabbed the blanket from the floor and draped it over him. If he was going to lay on the floor, he should at least be warm, was her logic. Then she remembered, he’s a robot. He doesn’t need to be warm.
The gesture seemed to comfort the young AI to some degree, as he removed his head from his hands to look at her.
“Nya…?” Zane blinked, some tears dripping from his face. “You aren’t scared of me?”
“Why would I be scared of you? I’m confident in Pixal’s and my abilities. Besides you were basically brainwashed into doing all that.” Nya crossed her arms.
Zane stared at her for a moment before looking at the other three. Jay was missing. “He’s still scared of me…” Some more tears flooded down his cheeks.
“I’m getting the first aid kit… er… Zane’s first aid kit, be nice.” Nya snapped as she noticed Jay poking his head in. She passed Jay as she left the room.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Zane broke down sobbing violently once he saw Jay.
Jay didn’t say anything, he just turned and left. He couldn’t handle this right now. Just being around Zane made his eye socket feel like it was burning as well as the other wounds Zane had inflicted.
Zane let out a small wail again, curling up more.
“Zane, he’s just a bit scared. It’s okay.” Lloyd finally managed to find some words.
“Go away! J-Just go away!” Zane cried.
“But you’re hurt.” Lloyd bit his lip.
Zane wanted to tell him that this wasn’t anything new, that he couldn’t feel the pain from it, but that would only concern him further. Instead, Zane stuck out his hand and hid under the warm and thick blanket that Nya had draped over him.
“Zane…” Kai sighed as he walked over and knelt down. “Why did you punch the mirror?”
Zane didn’t reply. He didn’t want them to know that he hated the reminder that he had hurt them. That he had hurt people. He would rather have a missing eye then have his red one. He didn’t want to tell them that he had almost pried it out using a shard of glass. He was glad they hadn’t noticed the damage yet.
“Zane, come on, you’re our best friend…” Lloyd walked over and sat down besides Kai. “You don’t need to tell us why you punched the mirror, but at least let us comfort you.”
“Please… just go away…” Zane whined. Why were they being so stubborn about this? He wanted space.
“Are you going to hurt yourself more if we leave?” Nya spoke up as she entered with a tool box and some other important mechanical items.
“I won’t hurt myself…” Zane mumbled.
Kai, as he was the fire elemental, yanked the blanket off of Zane, he wanted to make sure Zane wasn’t secretly harming himself.
That’s when the group noticed the blue blood leaking from around his eye.
“Zane…” Nya nearly dropped the tool box as her eyes went wide.
“Oh my god.” Lloyd paled.
“Please… don’t look at me…” Zane looked away. He fidgeted as he used his good hand to reach for the blanket.
“Let me patch you up, please…” Nya let out a soft whine. It hurt to see someone she cared so much about hurting so badly. He was practically her brother at this point and here he was, suffering.
“I don’t deserve it.” Zane mumbled, he felt around for the soft blanket. He pulled his damaged hand closer when Nya knelt down and went to repair it.
“Fine. Be like that.” Kai growled, getting up and leaving the room.
Zane’s sobs got a little quieter, he didn’t want to upset anyone else.
Noticing that Zane was desperately reaching for the blanket, Lloyd grabbed it and covered Zane with it.
“Please…” Zane choked out. “Leave me alone.”
Nya looked to Lloyd and Cole, before sighing. “Maybe we should? And just let Pixal handle this when she gets home… maybe she can help him.”
“Okay.” Lloyd nodded his head and covered the rest of Zane with the blanket before getting up.
“Thank you.” Zane managed to whisper.
“Just… call for us if you need us, okay?” Nya spoke softly.
Zane nodded his head.
“Alright, I’ll come check on you in a few minutes, just to make sure you don’t bleed out on us.” Nya stretched out as she stood up.
Lloyd followed her example, and soon the three were gone. It was going to take a while to get Zane comfortable, and that made Lloyd upset. It made most of them upset. Jay was the only one who seemed on the fence about this entire thing. He was clearly still scared of Zane, which they could all understand, but that wasn’t going to stop them from helping their best friend. Nothing would. He was family, and ninja never quit. Especially not on family.
The End.