Eight: Season 4

Episode 81: Love

  Shoto-
  I was walking with Tamaki, Gray, Hanta, Kirishima, Yo, Bakugo, Tetsu, and Midoriya. We heard a horrendous noise. "Agh! She's still messing with that?" Hanta asked, picking at his ear.
  "Yep...I think she's struggling to find the right frequency." Kirishima said.
  "That's an awful noise." Gray said.
  "Yeah." I agreed, and then we heard a different noise.
  "Jesus! That sounds like a dying pigeon!" Bakugo exclaimed, putting his hands over his ears.
  I closed one eye. "Yikes." I said.
  "Shoto...thank you for letting us help you rebuild." Gray said.
  "Hey, I'm grateful for all the help we can get. With everyone helping, it should go by much quicker." I said, and Gray nodded.
  "Hey...I know you and Kana were in a relationship...how...how are you, really?" I asked.
  "I'm hurting, and to be honest. I wanted to blame you, but you're not the one that pulled the trigger. That was Xia. It's been hard, I've been angry, confused, and scared all at once. But then I think about after she died. You and the other clan heads were tortured for half a month, so in a way...she was granted mercy. And for that...I'm thankful." Gray said.
  "Yeah, and she'd want us to press on." Tamaki said, gripping Gray's shoulder.
  I smiled and nodded as we continued to walk.

  Barbra-
  We were unfreezing Toya and Silver. "The three of you failed." I said.
  "You're just as responsible for that failure Babs." Tabitha said, wrapping Xia and I sighed.
  "I know. Now we've lost our prized goose. I want to get her back." I said.
  "You could let us try." Lapis said.
  "Yeah, after all...we're her family." Zeke said.
  "I forgot the two of you existed, you're so quiet. Very well, go to Arcadia, get Jade, bring her to me, and the rest of us will find the Royal Dynasty camp and join forces with Enji Todoroki. Our plans have failed over and over again thus far, perhaps someone whose plans have succeeded... is just what we need." I said, and I laughed evilly.
 
  Zeke-
  Night came and everyone was asleep. Barbra hadn't given us permission to leave. I woke Lapis up. "Come on Lapis, we have to go before Barbra figures out that our chips are fried." I said.
  "Yeah." Lapis said, and I grabbed her hand as we left the camp.
  "Barbra won't take this betrayal lightly." I said.
  "I know, but it beats spending another minute with those psychopaths." Lapis said.
  "Agreed." I said, and we headed towards Arcadia.
  "Zeke...are we gonna tell them?" Lapis asked.
  "Maybe after we've shown that we're not their enemy. We don't want them to think we're turning them against dad." I said.
  "You're right." Lapis said.
  We had to fight through Harbingers and mercenaries, and we both got pretty banged up, but we arrived to Arcadia at daybreak. "Halt!" The boy with blue hair and glasses said.
  We both stopped and put our hands up. "We just want to see Jax Jareau." I said.
  They, naturally, put us in cuffs and took us in. We came to a tent and dad ducked out from under. "Zeke? Lapis?" Dad asked.
  "Hey dad." Lapis said.
  "They requested to see you." The boy said.
  "You can take them out of the cuffs Iida, thank you." Dad said, and Iida crossed his arms in an X over his chest quickly, dad did the same and Iida freed us.
  "Come inside, quickly. I don't need anyone else seeing you yet." Dad said, and we nodded and walked into the tent.
  Mom was asleep on a hammock while Elarza and Seth slept together in a blanket. "What do you kids want? Are you trying to pull something?" Dad asked.
  "No dad, our chips fried. We escaped Barbra and them over night. We don't want to spend another second with that...that...that mad woman!" I exclaimed.
  "So...you're both, back to normal?" Dad asked.
  "We wouldn't have come if we weren't." Lapis said.
  Dad pulled us into his chest and hugged us. We both reluctantly hugged him at first, and then...well we just melted into him, gripping him tightly. "I'm so happy to hear that." Dad said.
  "Mom, Elarza, Jade, and Seth?" I asked.
  "Are more forgiving than you'd think and they don't know about the chips, so don't say that. Just come up with some sort of story." Dad said.
  "Sure." I said.
  Lapis nodded. Morning came, and mom, Elarza, and Seth woke up. "Zeke!" Seth shouted, standing up, protectively over Elarza.
  "Lapis?" Elarza asked, gripped Seth's shoulder.
  "Hey sis." Lapis said.
  "What's going on here Jax?" Mom asked, pushing Elarza and Seth behind her like a grizzly bear with her bear cubs.
  "Barbra brainwashed us, Jade...helped us break free." Lapis said.
  "Kai's tech again? How cruel." Mom said.
  "So...you were brainwashed like mom into abusing us?" Seth asked.
  "Yes, we never wanted to do any of that to you." I said.
  They instantly relaxed. "That's really nice to hear. We're happy to see you." Elarza said, hugging us.
  Seth teared up and ran to me and buried his head into my chest. I chuckled, smiling. "Hey little brother." I said, patting his back.
  Seth gripped me so tightly as he relaxed into his arms, and I smiled, rubbing his back. "I'm sorry Seth." I said.
  "It's ok, I know what it feels like to have someone else in control of your mind...better than anyone." Seth said.
  I smiled and rustled up his hair. "We're so glad that the two of you are back with us." Mom said, hugging us and we both just melted into her arms crying.
  Seth and Elarza joined in and dad too. It was almost a full family hug. "Can we see Jade?" Lapis asked.
  "She's still in a lot of pain, she may not be ready yet." Mom said.
  "I see." I said.
  "Lilith, I think Jade will be fine." Dad said, putting his arm around her.
  Mom sighed. "Ok Jax." Mom said, and the six of us migrated to the doctor's tent where there was a very unpleasant noise.
  "UGH! DAMNIT!" Jade yelled, and there was a clattering, and she pressed her hand into her forehead.
  "Jade?" Mom asked.
  "I can't get this stupid thing to—" Jade began, and then she saw us.
  "Zeke?" Jade asked.
  I nodded, and she turned to Lapis. "Lapis?" Jade asked, and Lapis smiled and nodded.
  Jade teared up and we walked to her so she could hold us. "I'm confused." Seth said.
  "Me too." Elarza said.
  "When Barbra and her people were torturing me...Zeke and Lapis took the best care of me they could when the audio and visual feed would go off. Barbra never figured it out, they're a big reason why I'm still alive. They fed me, gave me water, treated my wounds, cleaned me up, and comforted me when I was scared. It's like with mom, at first I didn't want to forgive them...but the more they were there for me, the more I realized...they were genuinely sorry...and I forgave them." Jade explained.
Mom and dad smiled, mom's head on dad's chest. We all hugged for a long time and then...well we integrated into Arcadia and became friends with pretty much everyone.