Ninjago Oneshots

Crochet

For the first time in quite a while, the monastery was quiet. The ninja were out enjoying their lives. For today, Ninjago is safe. These days, though few and far between, gave Master Wu the rare chance to meditate. A clear mind was far overdue. Typically, Wu would have to divide his time between aiding or fighting alongside the ninja and training them for their next battles. He dared not jinx it, but, far within his mind, he carefully considered the idea that those days may be behind him.
No matter. With a kettle and some incense in hand, soon those thoughts would be peacefully sent on their way. With a wave of relaxation, Wu could finally hear the faint creaking of floorboards beneath his feet as he walked to his typical meditative space, a creaking that could only be heard if all else was quiet. The warm sun's glow shone proudly from beyond an awning, greeting faint scents of chamomile and peppermint with a polite bow.
Wu gingerly slid open the entrance to the space, allowing stress to peacefully exit with a sigh. Along with the strong aroma detected before, the curious sight of a familiar nindroid met his gaze, bent over a work of various colors of yarn. Underneath his white clothes, wires and panels exposed themselves to the open. At once, Zane's eyes shot a startled glance at the disturbance.
"Master Wu, I..." he struggled, "I apologize, I did not know you were planning to--"
"You're quite alright," Wu said definitively, "You do not have to leave. If you would be willing, I would simply like to join you."
That seemed to relax him enough to bring his focus towards the ground. With a small nod, he invited him in. Wu closed the door behind him, sitting across from his student as he placed on the floor a kettle and set of teacups. Zane hid a silent shame by folding his project into his hands.
"This.. may seem like a reflection of a fast-growing softness in me in a time of peace," he began with a shaky, metallic voice, "but I assure you, master, it is quite the opposite."
Wu glanced over the figure across from him with an impartial stare only a mentor was capable of. A light chuckle was all that came of it.
"Chamomile and peppermint," he commented, "are you struggling to open your mind to what's troubling you?"
Zane painfully gazed at the fabric he held.
"Precisely. It does not appear so, but I am facing my fears."
"What is that you fear?" Wu asked simply.
After a long sigh, the nindroid continued his work, speaking as he focused.
"Last night, I had a dream. I was in a line with the other nindroids working for the Overlord. We stood in perfect rows and columns, and when I would receive notification of a task, I would complete it and go back to my same spot. Stand in line, receive an order, fulfill it, and return. That cycle, I felt as if I had lived a lifetime in it. It was often mundane, things far simpler machinery has already been built for..." he trailed off.
Observing the fabric that he held between two large, hooked needles, he set one of them down to snip a thread with a pair of scissors, and tied another color to its loose end. Blue.
"Go on," Wu lightly urged him.
"I got another order. The building was being invaded by us. However, instead of following them, I was following my instructions. I had to... eliminate them," he spoke with quiet disbelief, "I felt no hesitation. There was nothing, no feeling or thought that told me this order was any different from standing in line. I was a machine."
Zane looked with pity at the blue string, handling it delicately. Hesitantly, he continued.
"When I woke up, I was terrified. I felt if I did not act in that very moment, I would be taken over by someone who cared only for what I was capable of. So, I reached into my chest and pulled out the first component I felt. I didn't want to destroy it, but damage it enough so it's function would be on par with that of a human. It was only when I had gotten four parts in that I realized how foolish I was being. It was only when I had repaired them this morning that I realized the extent of it."
He shook his head slightly, disappointed in himself. There was no frustration, just defeat.
"You must not dwell on the past," Wu gently reminded him, "you said you learned from your mistakes. What did you learn?"
Zane swapped the color on the fabric again, this time to green.
"Do you remember when the ninja and I had to break into the explorer's club to retrieve the second Scroll of the Forbidden Spinjitzu?" he asked.
"I did not know you chose to break in, but yes," he answered.
"There were other artifacts there. One of them was a mirror in which you could see your worst fear. Nya saw herself become a civilian after discontinuing the lifestyle of ninja, Lloyd saw himself turning into his father, and I saw myself as a machine, designed to follow any orders given to me. I had began to realize something then, but I have come to understand it today," he explained.
"You seem very wise," Wu laughed.
"I have most certainly learned from my experiences," he said, "I've known since I learned of my robotic nature that my worst fear was becoming nothing but a machine, but I did not know that I was being driven by fear away from my robotics just as equally as I was being driven by love towards my humanity. I had confused the two so much that, before I knew it, I had become terrified of my own circuits and wires."
Another color, gray.
"I must learn to embrace both with an open mind," he finally added.
Master Wu had long since closed his eyes, absorbing each word with careful examination. They opened again after a long period of silence.
"You do this with... yarn?" There was no judgment, only curiosity and perhaps the faintest hint of pride.
"Yes," Zane began, "crochet, specifically. As to date, there is no specialized machine capable of making the transverse stitches associated with it, thus it is the only fabric work that may only be made by humans."
Master Wu hummed in understanding. The gray yarn was switched out for white.
"And all this?" he gestured to various panels and components along Zane's body that he had left exposed.
"I used to think of nindroids and humans as being like a sliding scale, where the more you are one, the less you are the other. When I see the alloys and wires of my arms working on something only humans are capable of, I know that is not true," he explained, the shame finally gone.