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Vahna wasn’t one to overthink things. In fact, she usually left all the ‘thinking’ to Tav. The little AI-turned-android was much smarter than her, after all. While he could easily run Devourer knows how many math equations in his head in the blink of an eye, Vahna’s solution to problems was usually to either drive it away as aggressively as possible, or bite the thing and be done with it.
It made sense why she was the ‘bodyguard’ of their little shop.
Vahna and Tav didn’t have much, their shop being set up in a dumpster in an alleyway, but it was enough for them. Vahna in particular had gone most of her life trapped in a tomb, and then wandering the wilds completely alone, so the dumpster shop was as close to paradise for her as it could get.
As for Tav, well, he was the one who created the shop, long before Vahna arrived. The dumpster they set up in was the very place he built his body, in fact. A lone AI, thrown out to the trash, only to make that trash his own.
Vahna didn’t know how he did it, but then again, she didn’t have the best grasp of technology. Again, she grew up in a tomb, and she doubted the other Serpentine used stuff like phones or computers or whatever. The only ‘technology’ she encountered on a daily basis were the scraps they sold in their shop. Useless hunks of metal and wires that might sometimes work ever-so-slightly.
Tav may be an enigma to her, but he was nonetheless her very best friend. Her only friend, really, unless you counted their ‘best customers’ as friends.
Despite being a dumpster in an alleyway, Vahna and Tav were a popular stop for a certain pair of ninja and a samurai.
Yes, the very saviors of Ninjago themselves visited their little shop.
The Water and Lightning Ninja were perhaps their most frequent visitors, always picking up as much scrap as they could carry, laughing about a project they would use it all for. The Samurai, Pixal, visited as well. The fellow android was practically Tav’s second best friend, with the way he always got excited when she visited.
Though Vahna rarely interacted with them face-to-face, they knew her well, and she knew them well. Or at least, as well as one could learn from such short interactions.
At least, through those tiny interactions, Vahna often got a hint as to when danger would strike the city again, mostly from idle chatter between the three heroes. That same chatter was how she and Tav were prepared when the whole city flooded, nearly turning it into an underwater ruin.
They had fled to the top of one of the buildings their shop sat between, and waited out the new crisis. They watched as a giant serpent arose from the depths, reminding Vahna painfully of the Great Devourer, only to eventually be defeated by another serpent, this time made entirely out of water.
Then, the water moved back to the ocean, and the city was no longer flooded.
Vahna and Tav, of course, had to repair their shop. It had been completely obliterated, swept away by the tides. They were used to making repairs. In fact, the first thing Vahna ever did upon meeting Tav was help him repair the shop after the Devourer destroyed it.
With crisises practically a weekly occurrence, they had gotten pretty fast at repairs, and it quickly went back to business as usual.
Except…
After that day, none of the three heroes visited their shop. Pixal had shown up exactly twice, and then there was neither hide nor hair of the shop’s most valued customers.
There was no explanation. Only a seemingly desolate Pixal those two times she visited after the disaster. She hadn’t said anything, and neither Vahna nor Tav asked. It wasn’t their business, after all.
But Vahna had to wonder… what had happened?
Despite her generally seeming uncaring, even rude, Vahna was far from it. She did care, at least for Tav and that little android he’d brought home, and now she was rapidly accepting the fact that she cared about the Ninja, too.
But despite all that, she never learned what drove them away from their little shop.
Until a year had passed, and a new crisis began.
The attack of the Crystal King took Vahna and Tav by surprise. They didn’t have their usual warning, of course. It was quite obvious what was happening, however, when a giant crystal impaled their dumpster and nearly Vahna herself.
They fled. Of course they did, leaving the city entirely and hunkering down where (hopefully) things were less dangerous. Vahna took care of Tav and his friend during that time, being the only one with even an ounce of survival knowledge.
They watched the city, wondering when the crises would end. And eventually, like always, it did. With a giant flash of light and a roar they could hear from their camp. The crystals covering the city disappeared, and Vahna and Tav made their way home.
They had to repair. Of course they did. The dumpster had a giant hole in it, but they merely patched it up with the leftover scrap. A scar on their otherwise perfect shop, but it was a sign they’d survived. Again.
And then, those three heroes visited again.
They were laughing and joking, like usual, but something was different. The Lightning Ninja looked shaky, clutching his partner with trembling hands. The Lichtenberg scar covering half his face looked… faded. As did his eyes. The Water Ninja had strange scars that hadn’t been there before, twisty and swirly like nothing Vahna had ever seen.
And Pixal just looked tired. Tired but so, so relieved.
Something had happened. Something big.
Vahna didn’t ask, she never did, but if she was noticeably friendlier from that day on, only Tav would know the reason.
She knew the signs of loss. And though she would never understand exactly what they’d been through, she decided she would become someone to confide in.
A rock, just as Tav was to her, just as she was to Tav.
It was the only thing she could do for them.