Chapter Four: Home is Where Heart Is
[Author's Note at end of chapter]

Sara held Ackar's arm as she followed him and Berix back to their hut. After getting to know the Toa, it was clear it was starting to get late and everyone needed to get home. Ackar gladly let Sara stay with him and Berix in their home, since Berix was technically a kid still that meant he couldn't live alone. The three made it to a hut that had small bits of smoke coming from a chimney and Ackar opened the door, walking inside with Sara and Berix behind him.

The main space felt both cozy and spacious, on Sara's left she could see a makeshift couch which had a thick dark grey blanket folded up and resting on the back in front of a dwindling fire which Berix was immediately at to tend to. On the right was a small kitchen with a large stone as an island counter Sara could only guess was with four makeshift chairs that rested at the island, Sara could also see a hallway past the kitchen which had a faint glow as Ackar went to the hall. Sara walked over to Berix as he fed the dwindling fire some twigs which made the flames grow a bit before he put in some chopped logs in to keep it going. He then stood back up as he brushed his hands off, "What'd you think?" He asked Sara as the blonde looked around from where she stood, "Ackar tries to keep the place in the best shape he can even when he's not here." He said as he took his satchel off and placed it by the door. "It's nice, it reminds me of home." Berix looked at Sara at that, "As in my childhood home, nothing fancy but it was the memories of growing up in that home that made it special." Sara explained to him as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"That sounds nice.." Berix spoke quietly, not being able to relate to that as easily as he went over to the kitchen. There was some technical stuff that seemed practically out of place in the room but given what they can salvage and whatnot from ruins left by the Great Beings, Sara didn't question it. Some of which being a functioning kitchen like a modern one in her world, including a sink. Berix opened the fridge, muttering quietly to himself which made Sara confused. "I'm guessing no one here knows how to cook?" She asked on a whim, Berix cackled at that. "Heck no, I never learned how to being on the streets and Ackar keeps burning stuff whenever he tries to." He said, Sara rolled her eyes at that.

"Well considering yourself lucky I'm here then." Sara said while she rolled her sleeves up as Berix looked at her. "You can cook?" He asked surprised, Sara gave a grin at that, "And I'm damn good cook at that. I just need something to hold my hair up so it doesn't get in the food." Sara said as she brought a hand to her chin, Berix perked up at that as he went to his satchel, "Hold on I think I got something here." He said as he searched inside it, fitting his occasional jokes he makes with how it was practically bottomless. "That's not it.. no.. Found it!" Berix exclaimed as he pulled out a long pink ribbon from his satchel. Sara crossed her arms over her chest at that, "Do I wanna know what tempt ya' to 'collect' that?" She asked him as she shifted her weight to her left leg, Berix laughed nervously at that as he walked over. "Eh it reminded me of you since you wear a lot of pink, and when I got it I was missing you like heck." He explained, Sara awed as she put her hand over her heart at that. "Awe that's sweet." She said in a touched tone.

"Let me put your hair up." Berix said, Sara squatted down a bit as Berix immediately began to put the blonde's hair up in a ponytail. "How do you even know how to do a ponytail?" She asked him once Berix finished tying off the ribbon allowing Sara to stand back up straight. Berix laughed nervously, "I guess the whole metal bodies makes it easy to think that we don't have hair." He said as he took his helmet off, Sara suppressed a snort. Berix's hair was almost like Finn's from Sara's childhood show Adventure Time, it was long enough it went to his mid back in a raven color with a silver streak in it, but what made Sara almost laugh was with how fuzzy it was, she almost thought it was a lions mane especially with the uneven cuts it had.

"Why is it so fuzzy and poofy?" Sara asked once she swallowed her laugh, Berix rose a brow arch at that before he noticed at the corner of his eye making him groan, "Damnit!" Sara froze a bit at hearing him swear, "I hate when it does that." He grumbled as he walked off down the hall, probably to either a bathroom or his bedroom. Sara shook her head with a sigh as she began to take the necessary things out to cook something simple up. She was surprised to hear Berix swear but then again with his time on the streets he was bound to hear things. Sara finally decided with what they had to make some vegetable dumplings and immediately got to work preparing everything for them, washing the vegetables she took out of them and also preparing the dough for the dumpling.

As Sara chopped up the vegetables Ackar walked back in and immediately noticed Sara cutting up the vegetables, "Since when did you cook?" He asked her as he leaned against the wall a bit, Sara rolled her eyes amusedly at that. "Since the day my mom let me in the kitchen with her, it's better to cook something you want yourself especially when you know what's going in your own food then when someone else prepares it." She said, her smile fading a bit with remembering her mom which made her cutting the vegetables slow down. Ackar noticed as he walked over to Sara and hugged her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. With their obvious height difference it made it look weird but neither of them complained. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Ackar asked her, Sara just gripped the knife handle tighter which the fire Glatorian immediately noticed.

"No.. Maybe later.." She sighed as she continued cutting up the vegetables. Ackar kissed her cheek making Sara smile a bit at that. "Mayday! Mayday!" The two perked up as Berix walked in while fumbling his hair in a braid. "Did you forget to braid your hair again kid?" Ackar snorted as he walked over to Berix which the said bot rolled his eyes at. "Oh hah hah, very funny old man." Berix replied sarcastically which made Sara snort as she began to cut up the dough to the dumplings into squares.

"No, it's in fuzz mode again that it undid it's braid from this morning. Just help please." The look Berix gave Ackar was a pitiful one which made the fire Glatorian chuckle as he took the leather cord from Berix while putting it in his teeth as he began to braid the boy's hair with ease. Sara could notice some steam emitting from Ackar's armored fingers that flattened the hair as he braided. "We're talking about how the heck you can do that later." She said as she began to put the chopped up vegetables into the dough wraps and folded them half circles for dumplings. "Alright fair enough." Ackar chuckled, finishing braiding Berix's hair after tying off the leather cord to hold the braid in place. Berix sighed in relief once his practical lion's mane was finally tamed again.

Sara giggled at that as she began to fry some of the dumplings after putting them in a pan of heated oil that was on the stove, flipping them over once a side turned a golden brown color. "Oi someone grab some plates!" Sara said, Berix immediately rushed to grab four plates, three for them to eat with and one for the dumplings to rest on. "No side dishes?" He asked her which the blonde snorted at that. "Honey I hate to say but y'all barely had enough to make these." She said as she took the finished first batch of dumplings out of the pan and placed them on the plate and immediately placed the second and last batch in the oil. "I knew it looked empty in that fridge, even for us." Berix said as he went to grab a dumpling which Sara immediately grabbed a wooden spoon that was nearby and hit his hand making the bot yelp out an ow as he quickly drew his hand back.

"Don't test me young man." Sara warned, Berix sighed at that which made the blonde woman roll her eyes in evaporation as Ackar shook his head with a chuckle. Berix grumbled a bit at that as Sara flipped the dumplings cooking as she turned the heat off on the stove. "If you're that hungry make your plate already, it's only two batches. Plus it's safer to eat with chopsticks instead of your hands when it just came out of the oil." Sara told him, which Berix immediately grinned at that as he immediately did so. Ackar and Sara laughed a bit at that as Sara took the other dumplings out of the oil and took the pan off the remaining heat to cool it off for easy cleaning as Ackar made both their plates. Sara grabbed two more pairs of chopsticks as she sat down with the two. The chairs now being more clearer that stone was definitely a makeshift kitchen island.

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Timeskip
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Sara walked back into Ackar's bedroom after, to her miracle a shower. Since she only had the clothes she arrived in she was basically walking around in her sweater without her tank top under it and her lace underwear. She looked up to notice Ackar taking his helmet off and shook his head a bit that shook his hair slightly. Ackar's hair was a semi military cut, slightly fluffy and some strands fell on shaved parts, in those styles of shaved patterns his was the familiar symbol representing Volconus on the right side of his scalp while his hair in color was almost like a dye job red with how bright and almost unnatural it was with some yellow and orange highlights representing fire. Ackar brushed some of his strands out of his face as he looked down at Sara with their painfully oblivious height differences.

"I did not expect that to be your hair style." Sara spoke after a minute of awkward silence. Ackar snorted at that, "What did you expect then?" He asked her amusement clear in his voice. "Something simple maybe that didn't require a lot of upkeep?" Sara half asked not sure herself. Ackar laughed at that, "Eh it used to be that, then I saw what Kiina was doing with her hair so I decided to be creative with mine. Even if I don't show it often." He said, his laughter was still clear in his voice while he took off some of his armor. Sara sat down on the bed, "What's her's and Gresh's like?" She asked, curiousity getting the better of her.

Ackar took his gauntlets off as he spoke, "Gresh I'm not a hundred percent sure I think it's in dread locks or protective twists all the time. Though Kiina's was always at shoulder length, and everytime Tajun would win a Glatorian fight she would add a new braid in her hair. You'd only notice it because those were the times of the day after the tournament you saw her without her helmet. When Tajun looses a fight she doesn't touch it and keeps her helmet on the next day." He explained as he fumbled the buckles of his chest plate.

Sara snorted a bit, "Reminded me of a character from some books I've read called Game of Thrones. The character was named Reynera Tygerian and a thing with her land whenever they've won a fight they add a new braid to their hair but when they lived a loss fight they cut off all their hair to show for it. She had so many braids in her hair." She explained as she put her hair in twin braids to keep the waves in while it was still damp. Sara paused a bit as Ackar finally got the buckles undone and took off his chest armor and the shirt he had underneath it.

Sara didn't expect their body anatomy as they were given the Bionicle's deal, but she did not hate it one second. Even if she thought it was like this she could already imagine Ackar would've been built but not as much as he was, and the amount of various ages of scars on his torso alone showed how many fights he had been in especially being both the first and second Glatorian of Volcanus. Sara could only imagine with movement he made it would highlight a different muscle. Ackar looked at her as she was staring into space at him with all the wild thoughts.

He chuckled while shaking his head which made Sara snap back to reality, "Like what you see?" He asked as he extended his arms out. Sara's face flushed a deep pink as she turned her head away. "S-Shut it..." She mumbled out as Ackar chuckled a bit. Once she made her blush go away she looked back at him as he got a box out. "How did you do that thing with straightening Berix's hair? She asked him as Ackar walked over with a makeshift measuring tape.

"I'll explain but I need to measure you." Sara raised a brow at that as she stood up and put her arms out in a t-pose manner as Ackar measured her waist. "Why do you need to do this exactly?" She asked him as he grabbed a charcoal stick with the bass wrapped in cloth of a makeshift pencil and wrote down her waist measurements. "Well I can tell you definitely don't need to have only one pair of clothes being here so I'm measuring you for new clothes to be made." Ackar explained as he began to measure her arms in length and width then wrote down the measurements. Sara gave a quiet huh at that.

"So wanna explain to me what I mentioned earlier?" She asked him as Ackar began to measure the length and width of her legs, being respectful to not touch places without consent and stare at certain areas. "So you remember when Mata Nui upgraded our weapons, correct?" He asked her as he wrote down the measurements of her legs before he stood back up and measured her height. "Well the abilities in those somewhat split into ourselves so we can use them even without our weapons." He explained, as he then gave a quick kiss on Sara's cheek and wrote down her height. Sara lowered her arms as she sat back down on the bed, "Since when did you know how to sew?" She asked as soon as she noticed the other sewing stuff he brought out. Ackar shrugged, "I've always known since I make my own armor, because a good armor maker also knows how to sew." He explained as he looked through the colored cotton fabrics he had currently before taking out a cream colored one.

Sara snorted a bit, "If you knew how to cook and my mother met you I swear she would've straight up said, 'that's a keeper right there Sara! Don't you dare loose him'!" She kicked her mother's voice, her shoulders falling as she looked at her lap. Ackar turned to look at her, "You wanna talk about it?" He asked her worried. Sara shook her head, "It's late and I'm honestly exhausted, maybe in the morning." She said as she crawled to the head of the bed. Ackar sighed not wanting to push her to talk if she wasn't ready. "Alright you can tell me when you're ready." He said as he took a pair of makeshift scissors out and began to cut the fabric to size.

"Please do not stay up all night making me clothes I know you'll regret it being the village leader." Sara said as she went under the blankets. Ackar just muttered a yeah yeah over his shoulder making Sara snort of the Deja Vu. She turned facing away from the light stone at the end table which Ackar got up to take away for the table in his room so it didn't bother her and kissed her head. "Just get some rest love, I'll be here." He said, which Sara smiled as she tried to drift off. Ackar went back to the table while taking the light stone over and just sewed as Sara slept.

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Chapter Four: Home is Where Heart Is
End

[A/N: Yes headcanons galore in this chapter and it's longer than the last two!

Yes I've had the hair thing planned out for a long ass time mainly of Kiina and Berix's the longest
I was not joking of that reference to Reynera from Game of Thrones with Kiina's hair and Finn from Adventure Time for Berix's

Eh what can you do?]

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