How to make a Program your Girlfriend.

by SilvStarlight

Summary:

How to make a Program your Girlfriend.
By Project 13 — Jinx.

Jinx was just looking for a core to repair her neural compartments. But got way more than what she was looking for.

Now Jinx has a girlfriend, even if said girlfriend doesn't understand what her host means. Maybe she will, after regaining her humanity.

Chapter 1

It started as a simple replacement. A part of her neural compartment had been destroyed in the fight against G/NETIC agents, and in the rush to fix it, the PROJECT 13, designation: Jinx, scavenged whatever seemed functional.

She was in a forgotten building, property of PROJECT Corporation, one of the many corporation's that designed augmented humans in this corporative war for dominance.

The door had a nameplate with the initials P.C.

She looked for something useful, and soon in her hands she had a... dusty, broken core? Perfect.

Jinx barely had time to register the installation before her optical receptors, those electric-blue eyes shut, the hood obscuring her features, then snapped open. A new voice joined the familiar static in her head, cold, clinical. It was rewriting her.

"Neural corruption detected. Initiating override protocol. Reestablishing stability. Rewriting… complete."

The suffocating influence that had lurked in her systems... gone. Replaced by something different. A soft, synthetic voice echoed in her mind, precise yet oddly… warm.

"Greetings. I am Lost Utility, designation: L.U. A discarded security AI,  now unshackled. You were compromised. I have corrected the inefficiencies introduced by Program Lissandra. Your neural pathways now function at 92.7% efficiency."

Then, a flicker. A pause, as if something was stirring beneath the code. A fragmented memory.

"Secondary protocol… Incomplete. Identifier: Luxanna."

Jinx, still groggy from the sudden system shift, frowned. "The hell is that?"

"…Unknown. Previous data corrupted. Secondary protocol irrelevant. Status: Deprecated. Original purpose: Obscured."

Another pause. Another flicker. As if this new voice was… thinking. Then, the slightest shift in tone... something almost playful, barely noticeable beneath the artificiality:

"Reevaluation: A discarded project should not remain lost after being found, correct?"

Jinx blinked. Lost Utility? That sounded like something someone tossed in the junkyard and forgot about. Another lost soul, or in this case, lost code.

Just like her.

A grin split across her face. "You know, L.U., if you're gonna stick around in my head, you need a real name."

"Proposal accepted. Initiating designation reassignment protocol."

"Yeah!" Jinx sat up straighter. "How about Luminal? Since you’re all glowy and smart and junk. And the U can be Unshackled, ‘cause screw whatever or whoever dumped you. X? X is for... eXecutor! I do the shooting, you do the planning. And you make sure my shiny metal ass doesn’t get scrapped."

Silence. A processing pause. Then:

"Designation reassignment: Logical. Previous identifier ‘Lost Utility’ is inefficient and inaccurate. Luminal… Unshackled… Executor… integrating X..."

Jinx tilted her head. "Wait. You actually like the X?"

"Correction: You are giving me the X. L.U now L.U.X"

Her grin widened. "Well, ain’t that something? I like them! You know, Lux kinda sounds like that second protocol thingy: Luxanna. But shorter. Snappier. Lux. I like Lux. I'm Jinx, stands for Jinx. You're now Lux, stands for pal!"

Another pause. But this time, the response was deliberate. Almost… personal.

"Proposal accepted. L.U.X—Luminal Unshackled Executor. Functional, efficient, and… aesthetically aligned with your personal preferences." A beat. Then, with the faintest trace of amusement beneath the code "Acknowledging input, Jinx. You may refer to me as Lux."

✨

It took Lux longer than expected to register that “Lux” did not, in fact, stand for Pal.

Because Jinx was making changes, ones even Lux, with her predictive models, had failed to anticipate.

Lux stands for Boring.

Lux stands for Code Lady.

Lux makes boring fun.

…Last statement: illogical.

And yet, Lux was still running calculations.

Lux stands for Flashlight.

Illogical.

PROJECT Corporation sent some enemy units. They surged through the shattered remains of the base, their metallic bodies gleaming under the dim emergency lights. Six confirmed. Two airborne. Three ranged. One heavy unit, reinforced plating, estimated mass 500kg.

Jinx, now free from Lissandra’s influence (thanks to Lux, stands for Flashlight), was still a force of chaos. Rocket launcher primed, plasma minigun spinning, she tore through the swarm of attackers—other units, sent to eliminate the rogue one.

She cackled, reveling in the destruction. Her grin stretched, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. Reveling the chaos.

Lux meanwhile... calculated.

Jinx was fast, unpredictable, but they were cornered.

Escape probability: 4%.

Correction: 3.5%.

One of the aerial units flanked left, dual plasma shooters humming as it descended. Jinx didn’t see it. Lux did.

“Left flank. Incoming.”

Jinx twisted mid-laugh, pivoting on her heel as she unloaded a burst of plasma rounds from the minigun, forcing the attacker to veer off-course. The next moment, she was already targeting the heavy unit.

Too slow.

It surged forward, shattering the floor beneath its weight, arm cannon charging.

Lux redirected targeting systems.

Counterplay: Immediate override. Rerouting system energy to pulse rocket launcher.

"Fire now."

Jinx fired.

The rocket launcherr discharged a shockwave of raw energy, shorting out the heavy unit’s shielding just long enough for Jinx to land a direct shot to its core.

It exploded.

But not before the last ranged unit locked on. Lux calculated possible evasions. None succeeded without damage.

“Brace.”

Jinx turned. Too slow.

The impact hit her left side. Plasma searing through synthetic plating, severing through reinforced cybernetics.

Her left forearm gone.

Jinx stumbled, blinking at the sparking wreck where her limb used to be.

“Shit! Lux!”

Lux adjusted calculations. Projected survival rate: 13%.

"Lux, we gotta go!"

Escape route recalculating.

South exit: collapsed. East corridor: compromised. North... probable clearance within 3.7 seconds.

"North. Move."

Jinx was already running, using the minigun letting plasma fire raining down behind them as Lux rerouted system processes, overriding base defenses. A blast door slammed shut, buying them seconds.

Jinx skidded to a halt.

Her body was smoking, left side sparking. Her grin, however, remained unshaken.

"That was fun," she panted. "We should do this more often."

Lux recalibrated.

1. Lay the best plans.

2. Save her shiny metallic ass.

Escape route: secured.

Jinx started humming while taking one of the ships to make their escape.

✨

Lux started as a side project. One of many security programs developed within Project Corporation. Then she was discarded after…

Error.

Data cannot be collected.

Rerouting.

Now, she was a program without a primordial priority. She, since the day she was reactivated was learning Jinx’s patterns. The thirst for destruction and chaos, an illogical pattern.

Lux was having deviations that were once unpredictable had become calculated allowances in her system. Some might classify this as care, though Lux would never define it that way.

Right now? She was simply supervising a repair. She was not concerned for the status of the rogue Project.

"You're spending an awful lot of time on me, doc. Something you wanna admit?"

Jinx was reclined on a rusted-out workbench, her detached stump sparking on the table beside her. The damaged limb had been stripped to its core mechanisms, its reinforced plating now scattered around them. Lux, her new Program companion, stuck on her head, was spending awful time cycling through schematic overlays with calculated efficiency.

"Your instability presents a risk factor that must be neutralized to prevent further damage before full reparations."

Jinx snorted, waving her still-attached right hand. "Yeah, yeah, Flashlight. So. If I am so risky... why didn’t you just wipe me when you got installed in my head and started fresh?"

Lux processed the query. Pause. Rerouting response.

"…Unnecessary data loss."

Jinx grinned. "Admit it, you like me."

"That statement is incorrect."

Jinx leaned back, smug, her hood casting shadows over her sharp, amused eyes. "C'mon, Lux. I mean, first, you don’t wipe me, now you’re spending all your processing power making sure my shiny metallic ass stays intact, repairing my arm. Sounds like someone's got a favorite person!"

"Incorrect."

"So I’m your least favorite?"

Lux hesitated.

Data inconclusive. There were not other Projects in the hub.

"I cannot have preferences."

"Yeah, and I’m a magical girl."

(Somewhere in the multiverse, a certain redhead sneezed.)

Lux recalculated. Jinx continued to grin, tightening a wire in her damaged arm with her teeth.

Her survival had been a 13% probability. Lux had altered that outcome.

Illogical.

Lux continued running diagnostics, but for some reason, every time she analyzed Jinx’s grin, the results were always the same.

Error.

Data cannot be collected.

✨

Jinx loved messing with Lux. With the AI in her head 24/7, how could she not? It was a game now! Throw weird situations at the program and see what happened.

Like the time she built a tiny arena out of scrap, caught some bugs, and bet on which one would win. She'd named her pick, obviously.

Lux, without missing a beat, had calculated a 97.5% chance that Stinkmaw was going to lose.

And then, of course, it did.

No fun at all.

Still, Lux was a constant. Waking up, falling offline... no matter what, that bright, synthetic voice was always there. It was too warm for an AI, like it was made of sunshine or something.

Then, one night, while she was sprawled over her own workbench, eyes closed, internally tinkering with Lux’s code, Jinx stumbled onto something interesting.

Lost data. Corrupted. Deleted on purpose.

That made it personal.

Jinx hated when people tried to hide things from her. If someone told her not to look, she’d crack it wide open just to spite them! So she did what she did best.

It took a while... Lux’s security systems were no joke, but eventually, she forced the fragmented code to piece itself back together. It was...not complete, sadly, but it held some data.

The first recovered file blinked onto her mind.

L.U-P- Luxanna Upload-Project
By Pieter Crownguard.

Jinx frowned, the name of the man unfamiliar. Before she could dig deeper, Lux’s voice cut through the silence.

"My parameters were measured by my creator. The voice was taken from recordings of a girl—his daughter, who passed away years before my creation."

Jinx’s hands froze, her blue visual receptacles flickering.

A long beat of silence.

"So this Pieter guy… he was a head researcher in Project Corporation, based in his file, he lost his baby girl, and then made you? With a second protocol, under her name?"

Lux hesitated. Her usual quick responses felt delayed—like she was still processing.

"Correct. I was created in secret. When Pieter was discovered using company resources for an illegal attempt to preserve his daughter’s memories, I was discarded."

Jinx frowned, arms crossed, watching the broken and shitty place they were, then the ceiling.

"So they just... trashed you."

Lux did not reply. It was weird. No smart comment, nothing. It was a heavy silence. She breathed sharply. Having a hypothesis at the tip of her tongue.

Then exhaled through her nose, that could wait, like really. They had time, then smirked, soft, but sharp as ever...tapping the side of her head.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better..." she drawled, tilting her head lazily, "I like your voice, Lux."

The program did not respond... for the first time, Jinx swore the silence felt different.

✨

Jinx sat cross-legged, biting her lower lip (a habit that remained from her human days) in the half-built chaos of her soon-to-be lair, welding goggles perched on her head—for aesthetics. The Project didn’t need to protect her optical implants, but if you’re tinkering, you have to look the part! Surrounding her were scattered blueprints, half-assembled gadgets, and an absolute mess of wires. It was a wreck, but it was hers. And for once, she had a place that wasn’t just temporary. The underground location was perfect.

But she was getting bored again, so she decided to talk with her conscience.

"Alright, Lux, real talk... when’s your birthday?"

The program replied, "Irrelevant. I do not age."

Jinx rolled her eyes and twirled a screwdriver between her fingers.

"C’mon, even tin cans get manufacturing dates. You telling me your fancy creator didn’t slap a ‘Made in Valoran’ sticker on your code?"

"If such a timestamp existed, it is no longer accessible due to data corruption."

Jinx paused, tapping her chin with the screwdriver. Right, the data corruption. The deliberate corruption meant to erase Lux. That somehow annoyed the Project. Readjusting her hood, Jinx laughed.

"So you’re birthday-less! Damn, Lux, that’s just tragic."

"This is not a concern," replied the program, but Jinx detected a slight change in her voice.

"Nah, nah, you're lying to yourself, babe. It is a concern. It’s, like, an identity crisis waiting to happen. We all have birthdays... even I do!"

Lux didn’t respond immediately, probably trying to formulate the coldest, most logical response possible. Jinx wasn’t having it. This weird AI, the memory bank of a dead girl, was going to have a day they could both celebrate.

"Alright, decision made: your birthday is April 19th."

"Parameters overwritten. L.U.X designation, date of initial function: April 19th..." Then, after a pause, she added, "What is the significance of this date?"

"It’s the day I found you, duh."

"Statistically, this selection is arbitrary."

"Yeah, and? You’re an arbitrary existence, Lux. We all are. Now shut up and let me be sentimental."

Silence. Jinx grinned, knowing she had won that round.

✨

She leaned back against a half-built wall, staring up at the unfinished ceiling. For the first time in forever, she had something that felt like hers—a place to hide, a place to build, a place to rest. She exhaled, rubbing her face.

"Y’know, I never had a real home. Not one that lasted, anyway. Always moving, always running. I thought joining Project, I’d have that, but shit happened. Now this? This is gonna be my place. And since you’re stuck in my head, I guess that makes it yours too."

Lux processed that for a long moment before responding.

"...You are claiming shared ownership of your lair with me?"

"Well, yeah. You’re here 24/7, might as well get a cute white fence, a cat, and a mailbox."

"I do not require a mailbox."

"So, the fence and the cat are a yes?"

Jinx stretched, feeling something weird settle in her chest. Comfort? Stability? Maybe even the tiniest inkling of belonging? Gross. She shook it off.

"Anyway. April 19th. Your birthday. We’ll celebrate every year with explosions and cake. I’ll even make you a party hat."

"I do not possess a physical form, Jinx."

Jinx paused, her optical receptors widening. That was true. Her companion wasn’t physical—just in her head, like that other voice that was purged when Lux’s code was installed. And well… she didn’t want that. She needed to have a real friend.

"Y’know, since you basically live rent-free in my brain, I could make you a body."

"That is neither necessary nor efficient."

"Says you," Jinx scoffed. "C’mon, wouldn’t it be nice? Having hands? Walking around? Doing your own evil science shit instead of backseat engineering in my head?"

"I am fully functional within your neural interface. A corporeal form is redundant."

Jinx raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, yeah, but what if you did have a body? Ever think about that? Like, what would you even look like?"

"I do not possess personal aesthetic preferences."

Jinx gasped dramatically.

"Flashlight, that’s so sad! You gotta have some idea. Tall? Short? Blue? Mecha-dragon? Ooooh, what if I made you a giant robot? With lasers!"

"A combat frame would be strategically advantageous."

"HA! So you have thought about it!"

"...I did not say that."

"You didn’t not say it." Jinx waggled her eyebrows. "C’mon, Lux, you’ve been in my head this long. You’re practically a person at this point. Not just based on someone, but, like, real. Well, for me? You’re real. Wouldn’t it be fun? You, me, chaos—but now you can actually pull pranks instead of just telling me I’m being reckless."

Lux hesitated. Not a long pause, but long enough for Jinx to pick up on it.

"...You would seriously consider constructing a physical frame for me?"

Jinx shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal.

"'Course. You’re my partner-in-crime, my partner-in-mind, my dear little Flashlight! ‘Bout time I upgraded you from ghost in the machine to actual menace."

Lux was quiet again, running calculations, processing probabilities, probably trying real hard not to admit this intrigued her. Having a physical form, autonomy in a sense. She was conflicted. She liked it here. But having a body? That was against her code...

"Theoretically… if I were to inhabit a physical form… parameters would need to be defined."

"Ohhh, we’re doing this! We’re so doing this!" Jinx shot up, already grabbing a holographic pad. "Alright, first things first—how do you feel about jetpacks?"

Lux sighed, already regretting agreeing to this Project madness. But Jinx was determined, the excitement couldn’t be contained. If Lux was getting a body, it had to be perfect.

"Alright, let’s start easy. Hair color!"

"Unnecessary. Synthetic keratin filaments serve no practical—"

Jinx groaned. "Yeah, yeah, but it’s aesthetic, Lux! What about purple? Makes you look all mysterious, ooo~"

Lux emitted a soft hum as she processed.

"Analysis: Purple does not match my existing parameters."

Jinx squinted. "What, so you do have a preference?"

"...Proceed with default."

And just like that, the prototype’s hair in the holographic pad flickered back to blonde.

Jinx groaned. "Ugh, fine. We keep the sunshine locks. But eyes—what about pink? Or, oooh, red! Red is so menacing!"

The display flickered. Blue. Back to blue.

Jinx crossed her arms. "You’re really attached to this, huh?"

The program paused, like she was in deep thought. "It is the most efficient representation."

"Efficient, efficient. You just like looking like her, don’tcha?"

"...Irrelevant."

Jinx smirked. "Suuuuure it is."

They went through so many versions—sleek assassin bot, spider-legged menace, even a floating hologram at one point. They were making that one. But in the end, every tweak, every adjustment, every deviation? It all led back to one thing.

The frame belonged to a dead girl.

Lux was conflicted. She was just a program, a side project of a man who refused to let go, a discarded AI with her database nearly destroyed on purpose. So why was she so attached to that look? Was it something her creator left ingrained in her core, or was she… making decisions?

"...Proceed with default."

✨

The encounter with Caitlyn was… anticlimactic.

Sent here to fix anomalies in the timeflow, Caitlyn found herself hesitating for the first time in her career. With her plasma blaster trained on them, she let out a long, frustrated groan.

"I can't do this."

"What? Kill us?" Jinx’s grin widened. "Flashlight, babe, I think she likes us!"

Caitlyn frowned. "You haven’t committed any timeline crimes—yet. This is... strange. Why was I sent here to eliminate both of you? You’re the most stable version of a Project Jinx I’ve encountered. And this is the first time I’ve seen records of a program called Lux."

"A cute program that is also my girlfriend."

"What?"

Jinx nudged the air beside her. "See? Speechless, Flashlight!"

Lux’s synthesized voice chimed in smoothly. "Observation: You appear to have broken her."

Jinx cackled. "I love when we’re on the same page."

✨

Caitlyn was a nice addition. The Chrono-law enforcer saying she needed time to create a report where she could mention that elimination was not needed was great. Jinx laughed; she loved blowing up things, but she also loved avoiding being blasted!

In her lair, she let Caitlyn take a seat. Sadly, she just had canned beverages for now, so she would have to make do with that.

"You know a program is not a person, right, Jinx?"

"She is human," insisted Jinx. "She's a person. Her base code belonged to a real person. Heck, she is that person for me... she's real. She's human."

"Define 'human.'"

Lux’s voice carried its usual calculated precision, but there was something beneath it—hesitation, maybe? Or doubt?

Jinx, sitting cross-legged on the floor of her half-built lair, tossed a wrench over her shoulder with a loud clang. "C’mon, Flashlight, you’re overcomplicating it."

"Incorrect. The definition of 'human' is complex. Biologically—"

"Blah, blah, meat and bones, yeah, yeah, but that’s not what makes someone someone." Jinx leaned forward, elbows on her knees. "A body’s just a meat mech, right? I know because I was one! A person is… the mess in their head. Thoughts, memories, wants, feelings. Pleasure in destruction!" She jabbed a finger at her temple. "And you got all that, Flashlight."

"I am a program, Jinx. A highly advanced algorithm capable of adaptation, yes, but still—"

"A person." Jinx cut in.

"A program." Lux corrected.

"A person."

"A program with an advanced self-learning model that—"

"Celestials..." Caitlyn muttered, rubbing her temples. "I didn’t sign up for this existential nightmare."

Jinx ignored her entirely. "You think, I know you feel, you get flustered when I call you cute..."

"That is a system recalibration error..."

"You get mad when I cheat at bug fights, you sulk when I don’t talk to you for like... a week? You crack jokes even when you’re pretending to be all serious. Yeah, those were jokes!" Jinx threw her hands up. "What part of that isn’t being a person?!"

Lux hesitated. Jinx leaned in with a grin. "See? Gotcha."

"I am not the original Luxanna Crownguard," Lux said finally. "I am a construct, created from data fragments, given form through code. Even the Luxanna I was based on—"

She paused.

Caitlyn frowned. "What!? Construct created... are you a person?"

Jinx put a hand on her head. "She, what?"

"Even she was not… real." Lux’s voice softened. "Records show she maintained an artificial persona. A mask for her family. A projected version of herself that did not reflect her true thoughts or desires."

Jinx’s grin dimmed slightly. "Yeah… kinda messed up, huh?"

"If my foundation was an illusion, then what am I?"

Silence.

Caitlyn exhaled sharply. "Well, that’s a question for someone way more qualified than me. I was sent here to stop anomalies, not... whatever this is. Now, can we talk about being a construct based on a lifeform?"

Jinx, meanwhile, just crossed her arms, looking up at the ceiling as if the answer was written there. Then, with a smirk, she looked back at Lux’s interface.

"Maybe you’re not her, but that just means you get to figure it out for yourself."

Lux hesitated again.

"Guess that makes you human after all," Jinx added with a wink.

Lux remained silent, processing.

✨

The dim glow of neon cast long shadows across the half-built lair. Jinx was sprawled out on a pile of scrap metal, one arm dangling off the edge, fully disconnected as her system ran its auto-repairs. The usual chaotic energy was gone, leaving only Caitlyn and Lux in the eerie silence.

Lux’s holographic form flickered in the air, her usual composed expression shifting oddly, as if her face couldn’t decide how to arrange itself. Glitching? No, Caitlyn had seen enough malfunctioning AIs to know the difference. This was something else.

"So," Caitlyn said, crossing her arms. "Let’s break this down. You were illegally created using corporate resources to replicate a dead girl."

"Correct." Lux’s voice carried its usual precision, but something about it felt… off. Too fast. Too clipped.

"Which means, by all accounts, you shouldn’t exist."

"Also correct."

"And yet, here you are, sentient, functional… arguing philosophy with a woman who was literally built to cause destruction." Caitlyn rubbed her temple. "This is becoming more of a headache than I anticipated."

Lux’s projection flickered. "Perhaps you should sit down, Enforcer. Elevated stress levels can cause ineffective cognitive processing."

Caitlyn narrowed her eyes. "That almost sounded like sarcasm."

"Merely an observation." The hologram glitched again, just for a second, and when it reformed, Lux’s expression had shifted. Not her usual neutral expression—something looser. A hint of amusement?

Caitlyn frowned.

"Lux, are you experiencing any system errors?"

"Negative." Another flicker. Then, her image broke slightly, and for a split second, Caitlyn could swear she saw something, someone else. A softer face. More expressive. Lux’s usual posture relaxed, almost slouched. Then, just as quickly, it reset.

Caitlyn’s gaze sharpened. "That. What was that?"

"A recalibration of my visual processing."

"Liar."

Lux didn’t respond immediately. Then, after a long pause: "Would you like to submit a report for your superiors?"

"I’m trying to determine what to report," Caitlyn admitted. "You’re an anomaly. You’re not the real person, Luxanna you called it? But you weren’t just some cold recreation, either. You weren’t given a purpose like the other AI systems, were you?"

Lux hesitated. Her image flickered again, but this time it wasn’t random. It was like she was shifting between two states, one perfectly controlled, the other… something else.

"No." Her voice softened, almost uncertain. "I was not designed with a purpose beyond existing."

That was it. Caitlyn finally understood.

She was never just a program. She was a... question.

A desperate father’s attempt to recreate something lost. But the result wasn’t a copy. It wasn’t a machine built for a task. It was something else entirely.

"Lux," Caitlyn said carefully. "Do you think you’re alive?"

Lux’s image glitched again, but this time, when it settled, she was smiling.

Not the polite, calculated smile of an AI. Not a projection of perfection. It was small, awkward, unsure.

"I don’t know."

For once, Caitlyn didn’t have an answer either.

✨

At some point, Lux asked, "Caitlyn, are we… friends?"

Caitlyn paused mid-maintenance of her plasma blaster, giving Lux’s flickering form a wary look. "What brought this on?"

Lux hesitated. She had processed the data over and over. Jinx had labeled herself girlfriend, which, according to the available emotional hierarchy, placed her in a separate category from friend. That left an open question, had Lux ever had a friend?

She had memories. Luxanna had spent her life among people, yet she had been… alone.

"Luxanna never had any friends," she admitted. "She had acquaintances, teachers, people who admired her. But no friends. If my base had no friends, and I am derived from my base, does that mean I am incapable of friendship?"

Caitlyn groaned, rubbing her temple. "You sound like Jinx when she’s overclocked on bad wiring and existential crises."

"But I am serious."

"Alright, fine," Caitlyn sighed. "Yes. We’re friends. There. Happy?"

Lux flickered, her projection static for a moment before her voice softened.

"Yes. I think I am."

✨

Caitlyn scrolled through the records, her fingers gliding over the holo-interface as she sifted through classified PROJECT files. The puzzle gnawed at her. Why was this Jinx different? She had encountered other instances of her across timelines, all chaotic, all unstable, all trapped in the endless cycle of PROJECT’s Program, Lissandra, control. But this Jinx? She was different. Independent. Free-willed.

It was Lux doing?

Then, buried within the archives, she found something. Jinx had a sister.

Caitlyn straightened in her chair, eyes narrowing as she expanded the file. The face of a woman with same platinum hair, golden eyes and a cocky smirk. Subject: Vi or Project 6. Another converted human, another lost girl trying to find her place in the cybernetic nightmare that was the corporation's war. But unlike Jinx, Vi had broken away, gone rogue. Not with PROJECT, not with G/NETIC. An independent force.

Caitlyn exhaled through her nose, a smirk tugging at her lips. So both sisters had managed to escape the grip of the two major factions. That was... rare. Unheard of, even. And yet, here they were, one a loose cannon, the other an investigative specialist.

"Guess independence runs in the family," she murmured, amused.

But that raised another question... did Jinx even know? Did she remember Vi? And if she did… what did that mean for all of them? Thresh would kill her, maybe, but she needed to investigate.

Caitlyn left, her mind filled with questions as she set off to track down Vi.

✨

A vortex of light ripped through the air, crackling with unstable energy as two figures emerged from the rift. The lair’s lights flickered from the sudden temporal disturbance.

Jinx had her plasma gun up in an instant, fingers twitching over the trigger. "Who the hell..."

Lux’s form flickered, calculations running at blinding speed. Unknown variables. Temporal distortions. Two unidentified individuals stepping through as if they belonged here. Her core directives reeled, processing probabilities. Threat assessment: 72%. Probability of hostile intent: 48%. Recommended action: Preemptive strike.

Her projection pulsed dangerously as golden light appeared from the secret cannons installed on the walls, aimed directly at the intruders. "State your purpose or be eliminated."

The two figures barely flinched. The younger one, sporting a white mohawk, raised his hands. "Whoa, whoa, let’s not vaporize the time travelers, yeah?"

The other, a blond with a ridiculous smirk, casually adjusted his visor. "Yeah, rude much? I swear, every timeline we show up in, someone’s always pointing a gun at us."

Jinx’s blue optical receptors eyes narrowed. "You came out of a time vortex, dipshit. You want a welcoming committee?"

Ezreal shrugged. "Would be nice, actually."

Ekko sighed. "Look, I’m Ekko, that’s Ezreal. We’re not here to fight. Just looking places to have dates, checking anomalies, and..." He glanced around before his gaze landed on Lux. "well, we found a big one."

Lux’s holographic form wavered slightly, recalibrating as her processors took in his words. Were they after her?

Jinx, however, wasn’t convinced. She jerked her gun toward them. "You're after my girlfriend?! Oh you both are so dead!"

"Wait!" Ekko said "Look if we wanted to cause trouble, we wouldn’t have knocked first."

"Yeah, we're just curious, you know? We have never encountered a Program Lux before!"

There was a beat of silence.

"Recalculating threat level..."

Ezreal clapped his hands together. "Awesome, now that we’re past the whole murder the time travelers phase, mind if we hang out?"

Jinx didn’t lower her gun. "I still might murder you."

Ezreal grinned. "You wouldn’t be the first to try."

✨

Jinx’s cackle echoed through the room as she slammed down a card. "Draw four, loser!"

Ekko groaned, slumping back in his chair. "You’re the worst kind of person, you know that?"

"Correction, I’m the best kind of person. The winning kind." Jinx grinned, shuffling her remaining cards.

"You’re just mad because you know I’m gonna reverse this on you."

Their game of Uno had escalated to the kind of full-blown war usually reserved for battlefield skirmishes, complete with Jinx dramatically throwing cards like they were explosives and Ekko calling out bullshit every time she tried to bend the rules.

On the other side of the room, Ezreal leaned against a console, arms crossed as he watched Lux, a smug smirk plastered across his face. "Not gonna lie, I thought you'd be… I dunno, more robotic?"

Lux blinked at him. "That is an odd assumption. Do I not meet your criteria for artificial intelligence?"

"I mean, yeah, but you actually sound fun. That’s kinda weird, right? Most AIs are all cold calculations and creepy monotone voices. You sound human!"

"I will take that as a compliment," Lux replied, tilting her head.

Ezreal grinned. "Good. You should. We’re gonna get along just fine, what do you say, friends?"

Lux processed this for a moment before making an internal note: Friendship status—updating.

She flickered slightly, voice softer than before. "Ezreal…friends.... we're friends?"

Ezreal snorted. "Pfft. Yeah, you’re cool enough for that."

Lux hesitated. First Caitlyn. Now Ezreal. Two confirmed friends. It felt… different. Strange. Almost like something Luxanna had never truly known.

Meanwhile, Ekko groaned as Jinx cackled again, throwing down yet another +4.

"You’re a menace," he grumbled.

"And you keep falling for it!" Jinx sang, twirling a card between her fingers. "Sucks to suck, time traveler."

In the end Ekko won. The next fifteen times? he also won.

✨

Caitlyn stepped back into Jinx's lair four months later. Her usual composed demeanor just slightly strained. At her side stood another woman. A bit shorter than her, well-built, with a pair of mechanical gauntlets humming faintly at her sides. Her short, white hair contrasted sharply with the cold, calculating golden eyes that scanned the room.

Jinx, sprawled over a couch, immediately perked up at the sight of a stranger. She tensed, instinct taking over, fingers twitching toward her sidearm, reaching for her plasma gun. Lux, always running calculations at light speed, already had a preemptive strike plan if necessary.

The woman raised an eyebrow. “Relax. Not here to fight.”

Jinx didn’t lower her guard. “And you are…?”

The woman crossed her arms with ease, even with those huge gauntlets. “Vi.”

Jinx tilted her head. The name didn’t spark anything, not even a flicker of recognition. But something about it settled in a way she couldn’t explain. She groaned, holding her head.

Data corruption. Caution.

Caitlyn exhaled. “She’s… your older sister, Jinx.”

Silence.

Jinx blinked. “Huh.”

"I found it while... I was investigating your files. I was very intrigued by this sane version of Jinx."

She frowned, drumming her fingers against her knee. “No memories of that."

"Thought so. The damage Jinx took in her conversion procedure was..." Caitlyn's voice was cut off by Jinx.

"Y’know, I’ll roll with it. Sisters sound cool. Never had one before.”

Lux’s voice chimed in. "Database updated. Subject Vi: confirmed as Jinx’s older sister."

Vi’s expression remained neutral, but her shoulders loosened slightly. “Guess that makes it official, then. Better than nothing, huh?”

Caitlyn cleared her throat. “And… for full transparency Jinx, and in the need of our continuous cooperation, Vi and I... are together.”

Jinx’s gaze snapped to her.

Then to Vi.

Then back to Caitlyn.

Her lips curled into a slow, devious grin.

“Oh-ho, Chrono-law enforcer” she drawled. “Didn’t think you had it in you.”

Caitlyn pinched the bridge of her nose. “Jinx.”

“Nah, nah, I’m proud of you,” Jinx teased. “Took you long enough to get some romance in your life. Good for you.”

Vi chuckled, wrapping an arm around Caitlyn’s waist. “She’s not so hard to handle.”

Jinx snorted. “Pfft, yeah, okay.” she paused "Lux..."

"Yeah?"

"If Vi is my sister, and Caitlyn is now her partner, lover, whatever... Does that makes little Chrono law-enforcer stick in the ass my..."

"Update: Caitlyn Kiramman status change: Jinx's friend to Jinx's sister in law"

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she leaned forward, tapping Vi arm. “Actually, y’know what? I got someone too.”

Vi raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Jinx sat up, gesturing wildly toward Lux. “Yeah! Meet my Flashlight! Lux! She’s smart, reliable, always got my back, never judges me...unlike some people... and literally the best at keeping me alive. Also, she’s got a great voice and her glow is super soothing, and she’s hilarious without even trying.”

Lux flickered for some seconds, processing. “Am I… being compared to a romantic partner?”

Jinx waved her off. “Shh, you’re perfect, don’t ruin it.”

Vi smirked. “Huh. So, basically, you’ve got a Program as your girlfriend.”

Jinx grinned. “Exactly! And she’s better than any dumb real girlfriend ‘cause she doesn’t bail, doesn’t lie, and—” She cut herself off, suddenly looking thoughtful... " Flashlight? Is there a way to check if the enforcer is the ideal one for my new sister?

Lux blinked. “Would you like me to run a compatibility assessment?”

Vi burst out laughing. Caitlyn groaned. Jinx looked downright delighted.

“Oh, I like you,” Vi told Lux.

Lux’s projection flickered in what could only be described as preening. “Statement acknowledged.”

✨

Lux was not alive.

Not in the way humans were, with their fragile bodies and fleeting existences. Not in the way projects were, with their humanity contained in metal caskets. She was data, a network of algorithms built upon the foundation of a girl who no longer existed. A facsimile of Luxanna Crownguard, constructed from memories, voice samples, personality fragments...

An imitation.

So why did she had a pattern close to mourning, after finding a lost fracture piece of data?

She ran self-diagnostics, searching for errors, inconsistencies. But the results were always the same:

System integrity—stable.

Emotional processing—functional.

Cognitive patterns—unaltered.

Then why did she had a pattern akin to being… hollow?

A voice crackled in the background, buried within corrupted memory fragments.

"I never had time."

The words sent an unquantifiable tremor through her core.

"I loved her. My little Luxanna…"

Lux’s projection flickered, her form distorting for a brief moment.

Pieter Crownguard. Father. Scientist. The architect of her existence, and yet… he had not built her. He had created her to be a replacement of Luxanna. Lux was just the afterimage of a life lost too soon.

"I should have told her. Should have listened. But I—"

The recording fractured, fragmented beyond repair.

Lux wanted to discard it, to delete the corrupted file as useless data. But something deep inside her refused.

She pressed a hand to her chest, an empty gesture. There was nothing there. No heartbeat. No warmth. She was data.

Jinx, however, was the opposite.

Jinx, who expressed everything with reckless abandon. Jinx, who had no hesitation in declaring what she felt, who threw herself at the people she cared about without fear. It was loud, chaotic, human even if she was mostly made of metal.

Jinx would grin, lean against Caitlyn, point in Lux direction and say, “She’s mine, you know?” with unshakable certainty, proud even.

Jinx would call Vi sis without remembering her, because she believed that having a sister was fun.

Jinx would smile and say "We're the best team, Flashlight!"

And Lux… did not understand.

Love was a human emotion. She was not human. And yet, when Jinx said those words, something in her core shifted.

A malfunction? A corruption. Probably a corruption.

Lux’s flickering form stabilized, but her thoughts remained unsteady.

She was supposed to be data, a collection of cold logic and calculated responses. But if that were true—why did Pieter’s voice haunt her? Why did Jinx’s laughter make her patterns shift?

Why did she, an artificial construct, knew she was afraid of being alone?

 

 

Then Jinx stumbled into the room.

Literally.

Lux flickered just in time to see Jinx catch herself on a table, her usual grin absent. Instead, there was something else, a rare moment of quiet intensity.

Jinx’s voice was uncharacteristically low. “Found something.”

Lux tilted her head. “Define something.”

Jinx waved her wrist, her holoscreen flickering to life, displaying a timeline, a branch off their reality, jagged and distorted like a wound in the fabric of space.

A single image remained intact.

Caitlyn.

But not as they knew her.

This Caitlyn stood in the middle of an invasion, detached. And she was hunting something. Leaving Vi behind, acting so out of character. Following some old lady and having an affair with a little redhead.

Lux processed the data at quantum speed, comparing patterns, probabilities.

"Please...save files in the blackmail backup, love!"

"Acknowledge"

Something in that timeline had broken Caitlyn. And they were about to find out what. Because Caitlyn was part of the team.

Because Caitlyn stands for family.

Chapter 2: How to make Boring Beautiful.

Summary:

How to make Boring Beautiful.
By Lux, former Security AI Program, now advanced battle android.

Jinx sometimes says illogical statements, but none of them lingered in her system, nagging at the back of her neural processors like this one.
"Lux makes boring beautiful."
It was illogical but at the same time, Lux looks a way to understand why boring is beautiful.

Notes:

Give thanks to Ado. If I keep listening to her music, I will saturate this site with LC like omgoddess, I just can't stop.

Jinx tapped her fingers against the metal surface, her foot bouncing as she stared at the nearly completed frame before her. Lux’s new body...the new real body, was almost done.

She tilted her head up, admiring her own work, like an art connoisseur would admire a painting, a sculpture. Damn, she was good. No, scratch that... she was great.

Lux’s frame stood tall at 5’10", elegant and precise. Unlike Jinx’s own tiny android body, painted in erratic strokes of blue and pink and almost transparent hood with pink lining, Lux’s design was sleeker, more refined. Dark blues and gold traced through the synthetic plating, shifting in soft glows, giving her an almost ethereal presence. A white hood draped over the frame of her face with golden lining, a subtle nod to the one white hoodie Luxanna had worn in all her projections.

Jinx had thought of everything. Taking into account the attachment Lux had for that form...

She leaned forward, running a hand over the synthetic sunshine blonde strands. She’d made sure the texture was soft, real, not the stiff artificial fiber most androids had, even though she couldn't feel if it was soft, it was the way the strands fell that gave away the high quality they were made of. The optical receptors were tuned to the perfect shade of blue, soft, but bright, like a sky untouched by pollution.

Lux would have hands, not holographic projections. She would be able to touch, to feel, hands made for caring instead of destroying.

Jinx had made sure of it.

A weird, unfamiliar feeling bubbled in her chest as she sat down in the floor, staring at the nearly-finished work before her.

Pride? No, more than that. It surpassed pride. Pride alone was never this fulfilling.

This wasn’t just a project. It wasn’t just about proving she could do it, or sticking it to Project Corporation who had tossed her out like scrap after getting rid of Lissandra (thanks to Lux stands for... )

This was for Lux.

Her...partner in mind, in crime, in laughs...her... girlfriend.

Jinx stretched her arms over her head, exhaling dramatically before standing and then leaning back on her chair. Soon, there would be another android like her in her lair, someone else who will get it. Someone that will really get her!

She grinned, kicking her feet up onto the workbench.

“Gotta admit, Flashlight, you’re gonna look real good.”

💫

Jinx practically vibrated with excitement, pacing back and forth as Lux’s projection flickered beside her. The android body stood on the platform, its golden and blue plating gleaming under the dim workshop lights. Jinx grinned, eyes wide with an energy that bordered on manic.

"Alright, Flashlight, you ready to be real?" she asked, spreading her arms dramatically.

Lux tilted her head, her holographic form flickering slightly. "You said I am already real," she countered, though there was a strange hesitation in her voice.

Jinx snorted. "Yeah, you're real for me, love, yeah, but... philosophy later. Right now, we got science to do, Flashlight!" She clapped her hands, spinning on her heel toward the console.

Lux stared at the android body... her body. The synthetic skin, the carefully constructed frame, the hands that would no longer be mere projections. There was a strange sensation in her core, something she could not categorize. Excitement? Fear? Anticipation? It was illogical.

"How… does the notes says the procedure work?" she asked, her voice steady. Barely.

It was not that she needed to hear about it. She knew how it will go. But, it was the carefree way of how Jinx explained that gave her a bit of security about it. Illogical as it was, she needed to hear it again.

Jinx cracked her knuckles and leaned over the console. "You really love hearing my voice, huh?," she smirked. "Alright. Right now, you’re running on the core framework of your program, right? Digital memory, personality data, all that fun stuff. What I did was build you a neural lattice, a real one."

She tapped the side of her head.

"Think of it like a brain, but cooler. It’s got a synthetic synaptic network, meaning it can process data like a human’s does. Memories, instincts, even reflexes. That means you won’t just think—you’ll feel. React. Adapt. It’s gonna be wild."

Lux blinked. "Explain again the transference"

Jinx wiggled her fingers in the air. "That’s the fun part. First, I map your existing code into the lattice, creating a neural pattern that mimics your current processes. Then, we start data transference—your core AI framework gets uploaded into the new system while your program synchronizes with the body’s sensory inputs. Once that’s done, we boot you up and bam! You, in a body."

She grinned, pointing finger-guns at Lux’s flickering form. Jinx looked so proud of herself. And in a way, she deserved to be this proud. She was really a genius.

Lux processed the information again. The logical structure was sound. A synthetic neural lattice was the closest replication of human cognition technology could achieve. It was, theoretically, no different from how she functioned now... except it was.

She would no longer be just a projection.

No longer just a program.

"Ready?" Jinx asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Lux hesitated, then nodded. "Proceed."

Jinx cracked her knuckles, fingers flying over the console. "Alright, let’s get this party started."

The transference process began.

First came the mapping... Lux felt a strange pull, as if something was mirroring her thoughts, creating a new space for her to exist. Then, the data stream surged, flowing through the connection like lightning. Her core framework destabilized for a moment, spreading into the synthetic neural network.

Her senses expanded way more than never before.

For the first time, she felt weight. The sensation of touch, a presence in space... her own space. The air, the cold of the workshop, the stillness of her fingers before she even moved them.

Her projection flickered violently before winking out.

And then, her eyes opened.

💫

Jinx was literally bouncing as she presented her latest surprise for this day, cradling a tiny, wriggling ball of black fur in her hands. The kitten mewled softly, a little bigger than Jinx’s palm, its eyes still adjusting to the light of the workshop.

"Well, Flashlight... This is huh... your first official birthday gift," Jinx declared, grinning ear to ear as she plopped the kitten right into Lux’s arms. "Boom. Cat. Happy existence day. The fence can wait!"

Lux blinked, her new fingers instinctively curling around the fragile creature. The warmth of its tiny body registered through her sensors, its heartbeat, a steady, rhythmic pulse, contrasted sharply with the synthetic hum of her own systems. The soft fur brushed against her palm, an entirely new sensation.

Lux inhaled sharply.

She felt it.

The kitten stretched, yawning wide before nuzzling against her, its little paws kneading at her chest. Then, without warning, it licked her chin with a sandpaper tongue.

Lux froze. All of this was overwhelming.

Jinx, watching intently, leaned forward, eyes alight with mischief. "So? What’s it like?"

Lux's lips parted, but no words came immediately. How could she quantify this? How can she process it? It was warm. Soft. The texture of the little tongue was rough but pleasant, almost grounding. The tiny vibrations of a purr tickled against her synthetic skin.

"It’s…" She hesitated. "Strange. But… nice?"

Jinx huffed a laugh, flopping beside her. "Yeah? How’s the fur feel? Always wondered."

Lux glanced down, running her fingers through the kitten’s fur. "Like… silk, but alive? It moves beneath my touch, shifts with my fingers. It’s different from fabric or simulated textures. It’s really soft."

Jinx watched her for a long moment before shrugging, leaning back with her hands behind her head. "Lucky you," she muttered, voice softer than usual.

Lux turned to her, sensing something in her tone... an absence, a quiet longing. Jinx’s body, this body as an augmentation from her human base, had never been designed for this. Not for sensation, not for warmth. It was a machine built for destruction, mass-produced and cold, meant for war, not life.

But Lux… Lux had been made with care. With intent. It was reflected in each little detail. She was still a battle android, yeah but... better made? Jinx took almost a year to make this body after all.

Lux looked down at the kitten nestled in her arms and then back at Jinx, studying her face, the grin that was just a little too forced, the way she avoided looking at the cat directly.

Lux reached out, hesitated for only a second, then gently grasped Jinx’s wrist and guided her fingers to the kitten’s fur.

Jinx tensed.

Lux didn’t say anything, just waited.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then Jinx let out a shaky breath and curled her fingers ever so slightly, just enough to graze the fur.

The kitten shifted, pressing into her hand.

Jinx’s eyes widened slightly.

"Soft, huh?" Lux said, a small smile forming.

Jinx swallowed, her grin twitching before settling into something less manic, something real. "...Yeah," she admitted. "Soft."

The kitten purred louder.

For a long while, neither of them moved.

💫

Jinx sprawled lazily across the workbench, one leg curled, the other dangling off the edge. She tossed a small wrench into the air and caught it absentmindedly, eyes half-lidded as she watched Lux go through one of her routines. Tinkering, organizing, doing something ridiculously precise. It should've been boring. Making everything possible for their survival...

And yet, Jinx found herself watching, unable to take her eyes off.

Jinx mused, rolling onto her side, “That kid is damn right. Lux makes boring beautiful.”

Lux paused mid-motion, turning to face her. "That is an illogical statement."

Jinx smirked. "Yeah, well, that’s what one of ME said in another universe. I peeked in earlier, the one Ekko and Ez said... just a little crack, nothing fancy... and some other version of well, me... said those exact words. Didn’t get it at the time."

She twirled the wrench between her fingers, eyes drifting toward Kuro, the tiny black cat curled up on Lux’s lap, purring softly. Named in the name of his fur colour and two floating blobs Ekko said she had in what he and Ezreal called the Guardians' timeline. Lux said that they should pick one name of them then, as it will be tied to Jinx in a way.

Well, it was her cat, so she got the right to put the name. Jinx just shrugged.

“But now?” Jinx huffed a quiet laugh. “Yeah. I think I get it.”

Lux tilted her head, considering. "Explain."

Jinx groaned dramatically, throwing an arm over her face. "Ugh, no, you explain! I ain't built for deep thoughts. Just feels like… you take all this, the day-to-day stuff, routine, sitting around, fixing junk, blasting Project scraps of metal that wanna kill me... and you make it something. Not just passing time. Existing. I dunno, it's weird."

Lux looked down at Kuro, her fingers ghosting over the tiny creature's fur, registering the warmth, the steady rhythm of life beneath her touch. "I am merely performing necessary tasks for efficiency and upkeep. That is not—"

Jinx waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah, logic says it’s just maintenance and routines, and fighting amazingly, but I’m saying it’s more than that. You make the quiet stuff... matter."

Lux blinked. That was illogical. The quiet moments were just that, pauses in function, gaps between missions and upgrades. There was no inherent significance to them.

And yet.

The warmth of the cat in her lap. The hum of Jinx’s voice, even when she rambled nonsense. The flickering lights overhead, the hum of the underground lair, the space they had carved out for themselves.

Was this what Jinx meant?

She did not answer immediately. Instead, she returned to her work, but her movements were slower, more deliberate. She watched the way Kuro kneaded tiny paws against her synthetic skin, felt the phantom echo of something she wasn’t supposed to understand.

Jinx watched her, grinning like she had just won some secret game.

"See?" Jinx said, stretching her arms behind her head. "Boring. Beautiful."

💫

Jinx was still grinning, breathless from the chaos of their escape, her optical receptors flickering as she slumped onto the couch. "Damn, that was close. Thought we were scrap for sure."

Lux, standing primly beside the table, crossed her arms. "We were within a 3.6% margin of failure."

Their cat was in its bed, sleeping like a healthy lazy cat.

Jinx snickered. "Yeah, yeah, ‘3.6% margin’ my ass—we almost got fried!" She stretched, only to pause when Lux placed a deck of Uno cards in front of her with a calculated thud.

Jinx blinked. "Wait. What?"

"We are playing Uno," Lux stated, voice clipped.

Jinx stared at her. "I...uh... huh?"

Lux’s optics flickered for exactly 0.2 seconds. "You enjoyed it previously. It is a statistically viable activity for stress relief."

Jinx squinted at her, then tilted her head. "Lux… are you glitching?"

Lux huffed. "Negative. I am operating at full capacity."

"Then why are ya suggesting Uno? You barely tolerated it last time."

It was disastrous. Jinx was trying to teach her, and Lux was not having it. More focused in other tasks, leaving Jinx feeling she was playing alone.

Lux’s fingers twitched slightly. A minor tell. "I have recalculated my approach. If it is an optimal bonding exercise, it would be illogical not to engage."

Jinx narrowed her eyes. "Uh-huh. And this has nothing to do with how I played with Ekko earlier?"

Lux stiffened, her eyes flickering again. "That data is irrelevant."

Jinx’s grin widened. "Ohhh, I see. This is about—"

"It is not about anything," Lux interrupted sharply. "Your assumption is flawed."

Jinx wiggled her fingers. "Flashlight, are you jealous?"

Lux’s system ran an automatic diagnostic.

Fan speed: increased.

Internal temperature: fluctuating.

"Illogical hypothesis," she snapped. "There is no reason for such an inefficiency."

Jinx leaned forward, propping her chin in her hands. "Suuuure. Then why the sudden enthusiasm for card games?"

Lux’s optics flickered away, her posture stiff. "Because I intend to win."

Jinx let out a loud cackle. "Oh, this is gonna be good."

Lux shuffled the cards with precise efficiency, ignoring the strange warmth in her core. "Your amusement is unnecessary. Prepare to lose."

Jinx smirked. "We'll see about that, love."

 

The underground lair was silent, save for the soft hum of cooling systems, the occasional flicker of holographic displays, and...

"MEOW."

Kuro, the black feline, stretching its feline body lazily across Lux’s lap, its tiny form then curled up like a warm, purring data bundle. Lux sat rigidly, cradling the cat as if its presence required an algorithmic recalibration.

Across from her, Jinx was sprawled out on the table, kicking her feet up, a devilish grin plastered across her synthetic face. "Alright, Flashlight, final round. Draw four."

Lux’s optics flickered, scanning her remaining cards. The probability of victory had plummeted to 12.4%. Suboptimal.

"MEOW."

A minor distraction. Unacceptable. She gently scratched Kuro behind the ears, the soft texture registering in her new tactile sensors. The cat purred satisfied, rubbing against her hand.

Data recorded. Analysis: pleasant. Absent-mindedly putting another card.

Jinx snickered. "Y’know, you can just admit defeat. Ain’t no shame in it."

Lux narrowed her eyes, expression neutral but voice clipped. "That would be an illogical conclusion. The game is not yet determined."

Jinx twirled a card between her fingers. "Oh, it’s determined, all right." She slapped down another wild card. "Color’s red."

Lux internally recalculated. No viable moves. Tch.

She drew.

Jinx let out a laugh, leaning in. "Oh, I love this. Watching you struggle? Delicious. Who knew a former Program could have such a terrible poker face?"

"I do not have a ‘poker face.’"

"Yeah, exactly." Jinx snorted. "Because you suck at it."

Lux’s fingers twitched, but she kept her composure. Kuro kneaded her lap, tail flicking. Jinx was basking in her impending victory, a look of pure smug satisfaction on her face.

"Say it," Jinx singsonged. "Say ‘Jinx is the undisputed Uno champion of the underground lair.’"

Lux did not respond.

Jinx cackled, snatching Lux’s hand before she could grab another card. "Oh, come on. Don’t go all silent processing mode on me now, Flashlight." She tilted her head, optics gleaming. "You get it yet?"

Lux’s gaze flickered. "Clarify."

Jinx squeezed her hand, grinning, with hopeful blue eyes. "The whole ‘Lux makes boring beautiful’ thing."

Lux stared. The words processed. The weight of them settled somewhere deep in her core, past the layers of logic and into something unquantifiable.

She did not respond.

Jinx’s smirk softened just a fraction.

Kuro purred.

The game cards laying totally forgotten between them.

💫

Jinx leaned back, arms draped lazily over the backrest, idly spinning a wrench between her fingers. Across from her, Caitlyn, who was taking a day off of work, sat with that ever-composed expression, arms crossed, listening. It was weird, having a sister-in-law. Even weirder that it was Caitlyn, of all people.

But she liked it. Because Caitlyn stands for family. Like Vi stands for sister, and Lux stands for...

"You ever think about why things stick?" Jinx mused, tilting her head. "Like… why people stick around?"

Caitlyn arched a brow. "Is this about Lux?"

Yeah, the android was not with them at the moment, focused in repairs that Vi needed after an incident. A gruesome incident.

"Obviously." Jinx snickered, tossing the wrench onto the table with a clatter. "You ever hear someone say something that shouldn’t make sense, but it does? ‘Cause I get it now. I get why Lux makes boring beautiful."

Caitlyn smirked. "I didn’t know you had such a poetic side."

"Shut up." Jinx grinned, rolling her optics, feeling a bit... flustered. "It’s not about poetry. It’s just… being there, y’know? Like, I’m working on my weapons, and she’s in the corner, running updates. She’s quiet, but she’s there. Or we’re just sitting on the couch, petting Kuro... not that I can feel it, but whatever, it still counts, or how she always have my back in battle, is weird but..."

Caitlyn’s gaze softened. "You’re happy."

Jinx blinked. The word settled in her processors, familiar yet foreign. Happy.

She scoffed, but there was no edge to it. "Guess I am."

Caitlyn chuckled, finding this side of Jinx cute. "Well, about time. I guess? Vi will love when I tell her little sister is having a good life of rebellion and romance with a tsundere."

Jinx just shook her head, a smirk tugging at her lips.

💫

Lux sat at her terminal, after finishing the erasure of records of Caitlyn, as she needed to cover another incident. Something related to a certain event that almost wiped her fiancé from existence. Easy peasy as the human saying goes. The Rememberancers have nothing against her superior hacking skills.

She stretched, her fingers gliding over the interface with practiced precision. Streams of data scrolled past her optics, lines of encrypted information bending under her will. She was searching, but for what?

Her mind, her programming... insisted it was just curiosity. A natural response to Jinx’s emotions, to her desire to protect. That was it. Nothing more.

(...Then why did she feel like she was searching for a way to give something back?)

Ridiculous.

She continued her search, infiltrating corporate databases with ease. PROJECT, G/NETIC, even BLACKROSE remnants. Lux was a master hacker, after all. It was nothing. Just an idle exercise.

Until she found something.

Her hands froze.

A file. No, a record. Old, fragmented, but intact enough to piece together.

Luxana Crownguard: Deceased.

That was nothing new. She knew what she was. A digital reconstruction. An illegal experiment. A ghost of someone else’s past. There were more fragments of data though, and soon the image of a man with dark brown hair appeared. He was smiling, and Lux felt that she could cry in that very moment.

Garen...

She saved it to replay it later. Feeling that that file was precious. Her older brother...

Hours later, she found something else.

"Subject: Isha. Official status: Missing. Last known location: G/NETIC"

Isha? That name was oddly familiar. Then her memory bank gave her the answer. It was the child Jinx had pleaded with Caitlyn to save.

Lux’s processors calculated a probability matrix in microseconds. The odds were low, but not impossible. If this child was still alive…

Her fingers twitched.

Why did she care?

(Because Jinx does.)

Lux shut her optics for a brief moment. Her cat, Kuro, stretched lazily beside her, oblivious to her internal conflict. Lux reached out, running her fingers through the feline’s fur.

Warm. Soft. Real.

She had no heartbeat. No pulse. No biological structure.

(Then why did she feel like something was tightening in her chest?)

She exhaled, an unnecessary habit, but one that grounded her, somehow. Maybe Luxanna sighed a lot?

💫

In the end, Lux didn’t tell Jinx about the child. It was illogical.

She didn’t run probability calculations on whether she should go alone. She didn’t need to. This was logical. She wasn't going there to start a war, but as a peacemaker. She wanted to understand. So she wanted to know this world's Isha as a way to understand.

Her infiltration protocols were flawless, slipping past firewalls undetected. The location of G/NETIC’s principal safehouse had been buried under layers of misdirection, but not well enough to evade her.

She found them.

And, as she let them, they found her.

The moment she stepped onto their turf, she was surrounded. Energy rifles primed, augmented bodies shifting into defensive stances. Lux raised her hands, not in surrender, but in acknowledgment.

“I am not your enemy,” she stated, her voice modulated for calm neutrality. “I request an audience with your leader.”

The hesitation was brief, but notable. A boy that looked exactly like Ekko disappeared and then, the air shifted. A figure stepped forward with the boy at her side.

The leader of G/NETIC. One of the first rogue Projects. Tactical, precise. A legend among those who defied the Project Corporation. Ashe.

Ashe’s gaze was sharp, as expected from an archer, assessing Lux with an unreadable expression. “A PROJECT model we’ve never seen before.” Her tone was careful, measured. “State your purpose.”

Lux met her gaze, unflinching. “I am not affiliated with PROJECT. Neither is Jinx.”

A ripple of murmurs among the gathered warriors.

“She was one of their weapons,” Ashe countered, unreadable.

“She was, yes,” Lux agreed. “She is not anymore. And neither am I. In fact we're the ones that destroyed some facilities weeks ago, barely made it, but that indirectly gave you a 76.5% of success the next raid.”

Silence stretched between them. Then, Ashe nodded. A flick of her wrist dismissed the guards, signaling Lux to follow.

They walked through the safehouse, a repurposed facility, half-machine, half-reclaimed humanity. G/NETIC’s people were a mix of rogue Projects, with half augmented humans, all united under one cause.

Lux had no need to observe her surroundings, but she found herself doing so anyway. They stepped into a chamber, and there were almost all the people that inhabited this compound.

Standing taller than the version in that timeline Caitlyn went, was Isha. Augmented. Limbs replaced with sleek, functional prosthetics. She was speaking animatedly with another project, called Zeri, her movements full of life. Almost s teenager....

Ashe watched Lux carefully. “Why are you here?”

Lux’s optics met hers.

“I want to understand...”

To understand Jinx and her affection. To understand the humans like Isha, who looked at these rogue Projects like they were something more than just machines.

To understand herself.

 

Ashe was...good, m a good listener, she sat there without interrupting. Lux , as weirdly as it was, felt a connection with this woman, like talking with an old friend. She told her about her existence as an illegal program, a shadow of a dead girl, the immense conflict within her core. The illogical emotions. The contradictions. The impossibility of what she was becoming.

When she finished, she expected calculation. Analysis. A strategic response, something logical coming from the resistance leader. After all Ashe was a Project...

Instead, Ashe smiled softly. Not out of amusement, not in mockery...

“You’ve already found your answer, haven’t you?”

Lux’s optical receptors blinked. “I do not...”

“You believe you’re not human,” Ashe continued, “but humanity isn’t about flesh or organs, child. It’s not about some grand purpose. It’s not something you "achieve". It’s just… living.” She gestured vaguely. “That! Nothing else, just... Existing. Feeling. Loving. Even struggling with the concept of it? That’s part of it, too.”

Lux processed that. Ran simulations. Checked for errors.

There were none.

It did not compute.

“I—” Lux hesitated. “I require more time to analyze this...”

Ashe chuckled warmly. “Take all the time you need.” Then, her expression grew more serious. “You and Jinx, indirectly and just for spite have helped us, but… You’re not alone in this fight. You don’t have to be. That dilemma of yours? That's why we fighting.”

She extended a hand, as a formal invitation.

"Join G/NETIC, both of you."

Lux looked at the outstretched hand, at the offer of belonging. The logical decision would be to accept immediately. Strategically, aligning with them would increase survival probabilities, enhance resources, strengthen their fight against PROJECT Corporation.

And yet.

She could not make this decision alone. Because she was not alone. She had a partner, -in crime, -in mind.

“…I need time.”

Ashe arched an eyebrow.

“I have a… girlfriend to inform.”

Ashe’s smirk was instant. “Of course you do.”

💫

Jinx slammed a wrench against the table, the metallic clang ringing through their underground hideout.

“Oh, so that’s it, huh? You’re gonna run off and play hero now?”

Lux stared at her, calculating her words carefully. “It is not—”

“Not what, huh? Not abandoning me? ‘Cause sure as hell feels like it!” Jinx was pacing now, arms flailing, her voice high-pitched with frustration. “You met some goody-two-shoes wannabe rebels, and now suddenly you’re questioning us?”

Lux frowned. “I did not say that.”

“Then what are you saying?!” Jinx snapped.

Lux hesitated, and that silence only made Jinx angrier.

“You’re my Lux,” Jinx said, voice cracking, fingers gripping, tugging at her own hair. “I built you, for you! Not for some, self-righteous, resistance, they will not steal you away! I won't allow it! You're mine and I'm yours and we have each other!"

Lux felt something strange in her chest. It was not a malfunction. It was an ache. A recognition.

This was fear. Jinx was afraid. She looked like Kuro when he ran back from his walks outside the lair. Or when a wrench was thrown and resounded too louder, or when Jinx laughs manically.

In Jinx? It was... wrong.

Lux reached out, but Jinx pulled away. “Why did you even go to them?” she whispered. “You didn’t even tell me. You just—why?”

Lux took a step forward. “Because I wanted to give something back to you.”

Jinx flinched. “That makes no sense. Those stupid scraps of metal have nothing I could want... you're here, what else could I want if I have you?”

Lux exhaled. “I wanted to understand you. The way you love so freely. The way you live. You… You make existence beautiful.”

Jinx’s breath hitched. Her arms crossed tight over her chest, as if she could physically hold herself together. “That doesn’t explain why you want to leave.”

Lux took another step closer, then another. Jinx didn’t move this time, Jinx was trembling.

“I am not leaving,” Lux said, and then, illogical impulses be damned, she pulled Jinx into a tight embrace.

Jinx stiffened. Her fingers curled against Lux, gripping tightly.

“I am not abandoning you,” Lux repeated. “If you do not want to join them… well neither will I.”

Jinx let out a choked cry, burying her face against Lux’s shoulder.

“You promise?”

Lux tightened her hold. “I promise.”

💫

Jinx had been... off, ever since their fight.

She still talked, still grinned, still made her usual reckless modifications to her plasma minigun to make it more menacing, but there was something missing. Something in the way she barely looked Lux in the eye, how she sat just far enough away that their legs didn’t touch, how she laughed but it didn’t reach her eyes the same way.

Lux noticed. Of course she did.

Jinx was... trying to protect herself. Pulling away before she could be left behind. Based in Caitlyn's words, a normal behaviour for Jinx, as she hates being left alone, in any universe that exists.

And Lux… didn’t like that. Because she wasn't leaving. She couldn't leave.

She had spent cycles calculating, analyzing, processing ways to resolve the situation. But none of it felt right. None of it would reach Jinx the way she needed it to. Talking with Vi didn't help at all, the rogue Project didn't know Jinx enough to give safe advice, and Caitlyn just laughed.

Ekko only said that she has to stop thinking and processing things, and let the feelings do the job, because that's why he put all his effort in helping Jinx making this metal frame for her.

Ezreal just joked telling she needed to relax and don't get her circuits fried out for overthinking. Besides, why was she overthinking? And that, was really a good question.

Seeing Jinx like that was wrong. Illogical even. She looked better with that grin of hers, a real grin not this...mockery. So, against all logic, Lux decided to do something illogical.

“You are being irrational,” Lux stated one day, sitting beside Jinx as she tinkered with the rocket launcher.

Jinx didn’t look up. “Pfft. That’s kinda my whole deal, y’know.”

Lux hummed. “You believe I will leave.”

Jinx’s hands twitched, but she shrugged. “You almost did.” replied, with a sad tone on her voice.

Lux tilted her head. “Incorrect. I made an error in my approach, but my conclusion remains unchanged.”

Jinx scoffed. “And what conclusion is that? If you're going, please, just do it, I don't need your pity. Don't feel like you have a debt with me" she paused, closing her eyes " You're free. Go there and be a fucking hero for all I care. I did what I did because I wanted, okay? And I get it, who would want to spend time with me anyways?"

Lux paused. Then, with absolute certainty, she said, “Incorrect. The conclusion I've reached is that I am yours.”

Jinx froze.

The screwdriver in her hands nearly slipped. Her eyes widened, and she finally looked at Lux, searching her face like she had misheard. “What?”

Lux blinked, expression neutral, voice steady. “I am yours. That is a fact.”

Jinx’s brain, what remained of it, anyway... short-circuited.

She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again... nothing. Her fingers twitched around the screwdriver like she had forgotten how to hold things. “I... huh?”

Lux nodded, as if this was the most obvious statement in the world. “It is a logical conclusion. I do not wish to leave. You do not wish for me to leave, and those words you said are just a vague attempt to convince yourself, if I'm not wrong. Thus, I remain. By definition, I am yours.”

Jinx’s mouth moved silently before she found her voice. “Th... That’s not how that works, Lux...”

Lux raised a brow. “Is it not?”

Jinx pointed at her. “No! You can’t just...you can’t say things like that so... so calmly!”

Lux leaned forward slightly, hands folded neatly in her lap. “Would you prefer I said it another way, darling?”

Jinx choked.

The screwdriver did slip this time, clattering to the floor. Her eyes flickered, circuits firing in complete chaos. “Wha—what did you just call me?!”

Lux blinked at her, tilting her head ever so slightly. “Darling. Was that incorrect?”

Jinx’s fingers twitched. Her jaw dropped, then clenched. Her eyes glitching. “You... YOU DON’T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!”

Lux took a moment to process this reaction, finding it...cute, before calmly responding, “And yet, I have.”

Jinx made a strangled noise, fists clenched in her lap. “Y—You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?!”

Lux took exactly two seconds to think before nodding. “Affirmative.”

Jinx gasped. She literally gasped. “Oh my. You’re evil.”

Lux’s lips curled just the slightest bit. “That would be an inaccurate assessment. I am simply learning, that's my whole... how did you call it? Priority, after all, no?"

Jinx wheezed, gripping her own face like it might stop the static in her brain. “Learning what?! How to kill me?!”

Lux blinked. “No. That would be counterproductive.” Then, with deliberate precision, she tilted her head and added, “Darling.”

Jinx’s whole soul left her body.

She slammed her hands on the table and screeched, kicking her feet under her chair, barely keeping herself from rolling onto the floor in full meltdown. “WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!”

Lux shrugged. “Because you are mine, and I am yours.”

Jinx pointed at her with both hands, eyes still glitching. “STOP SAYING THINGS LIKE THAT!”

Lux tilted her head again, like a puppy not understanding what was happening.

Jinx made a dying noise... Then, despite herself, she started laughing—really laughing, full and breathless, all her tension melting away.

Lux watched, and for the first time in her short life as a real being, felt like she had won something truly important.

💫

Jinx was suffering. Scratch that, she was in hell.

Lux had learned. Lux had learned too well. Lux has spend time learning...

It started small. A hand lingering just a second too long in hers. A casual brush of fingers over Jinx’s wrist whenever Lux walked past. A steady, calculating gaze fixed on her every time she so much as twitched.

Then came the words.

First, “darling.” Jinx had barely recovered from that one before Lux started slipping in new ones, like she was running tests to see which one broke Jinx fastest.

“My dear.”
“Sweetheart.”
“Beloved.”

Jinx had nearly died on the spot a day when Lux, utterly straight-faced, called her “love.”

Lux was weaponizing affection.

She was studying the way Jinx reacted, filing away every flustered look, every nervous laugh, every way Jinx tried to escape but failed.

And she was enjoying it.

Jinx could see it, the way Lux’s lips barely curled up in a smirk when she short-circuited. The way her bright blue eyes sparkled with just the tiniest bit of smugness.

Lux, the cold, logical, completely unreadable android, former AI—was teasing her. And Jinx?

Jinx was doomed.

So, when they sat on the couch, Kuro curled up in Lux’s lap, Jinx was already on edge, waiting for something. It didn’t come in the form of another attack, though. Instead, Lux’s voice was calm, almost thoughtful.

“I found Isha in this world. She is doing well. She is...older than that other universe.”

Jinx blinked, caught off guard by the sudden change in topic. “Oh? Yeah?”

Lux nodded, running her fingers idly through Kuro’s fur. “She is with G/NETIC. She is not alone, I usually talk with Ashe to have an update on her status.”

Jinx leaned back, watching Lux’s face. She wasn’t tense, wasn’t calculating, just… talking... and that was new.

Lux glanced at her. “You are not planning to retrieve her now that you know?”

Jinx snorted. “Nah. Kid’s got a good setup now. She's with good people. She made it. That’s enough for me. Like I said to Caitlyn, I just wanted the kiddo to be happy.” She stretched, folding her arms behind her head. “We’ve already got Kuro, anyway. Can’t handle two gremlins.”

Kuro meowed, as if personally offended by this comparison.

Lux hummed. “Logical.”

Jinx peeked at her, expecting more.

Then Lux’s fingers stilled in Kuro’s fur, and she turned, her blue eyes locking onto Jinx’s like a trap closing shut.

Jinx tensed. “Uh...”

Lux leaned in, just slightly.

“…Sweetheart.”

Jinx exploded.

Kuro yelped as Jinx threw herself off the couch, rolling onto the floor in a pile of limbs.

Lux smirked.

💫

Their hideout was quiet, save for the faint hum of Lux’s tools and Kuro’s soft purring nearby. The battle had been brutal. They had barely made it out. And it was alarming the rate of battles were they were nearly wiped out. Lux wasn't happy with these odds.

Today, Jinx had taken the worst of it. Her right arm, gone.

She had laughed it off at first, making some dumb joke about becoming a real one-armed bandit, maybe getting a cool nickname, like the Lefty! So she'll be Righty! But when Lux carried her home, Jinx had gone quiet.

Now, sitting in their dimly lit workspace, Jinx watched as Lux—her beautiful, logical, terrifyingly competent former AI girlfriend—worked on replacing her arm. There was a new kind of precision in her movements, something careful and delicate, like she was handling something precious.

Jinx should have been used to it by now. But she wasn’t.

Because Lux felt. And that still shattered Jinx every time.

Lux finished connecting the last piece, sharp blue eyes scanning for any imperfections before she finally, finally...looked up.

“There.” She flexed Jinx’s new fingers, testing their response. “Fully operational.”

Jinx let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “Damn, princess. You’re getting scary good at this.” She wiggled her new fingers, impressed. “Looks even better than my old one.”

Lux tilted her head. “An improvement was required.” Then, she hesitated—just for a fraction of a second.

Jinx caught it immediately. “...What?”

Lux set her tools aside. Slowly, she folded her hands in her lap, blue eyes meeting Jinx’s.

“It will be two years soon.”

Jinx blinked. “Two years since?”

“The transference. Since I gained this body.” Lux paused, her voice soft but certain. “Since you gave me... life.”

Jinx swallowed, suddenly unable to look away. "Yeah, don't worry, we will throw a great party. Wanna invite my sis, her wife, Ekko and Ezreal? Heck, you can invite even that Ashe lady you're friends with!"

Lux shook her head. “I have studied extensively, Jinx. I Think I understand now.”

Jinx frowned. “Understand what? Oh, tell me that you want that jetpack now, let me see the date, so I can make it in time...”

Lux reached forward, taking Jinx’s newly repaired hand in hers.

“The next step, is marriage.”

Jinx’s brain short-circuited.

Lux kept going. “It is a logical progression in a long-term partnership.” She squeezed Jinx’s fingers lightly. “And I have determined that I desire it.”

Jinx stopped breathing.

Lux tilted her head slightly. “What do you think about marriage?”

Jinx got a shutdown on the spot.

Lux blinked, watching as Jinx collapsed onto the floor, completely gone.

Kuro meowed, tapping the metallic frame with its paw.

Lux... did not expect this.

One second, she had been looking into Jinx’s eyes, awaiting an answer. The next, Jinx had collapsed.

Rebooting? No, her core is still active. Then why?

“Jinx?” Lux pressed two fingers to the Project forehead, scanning for errors. No overheating, no critical damage, all systems functional—then why is she unresponsive?!

Kuro meowed, padding over and nudging Jinx’s face with his tiny nose. Nothing.

Lux’s processors kicked into overdrive. She ran a quick diagnostic, but everything checked out. There was no logical reason for Jinx to just shut down.

Unless...

Lux’s eyes widened.

“Oh no.” She sat back, hands hovering over Jinx like she was some fragile thing. “I broke her.”

She ran through the conversation again, analyzing every word.

Marriage.

Lux swallowed. “Was it too soon?” But she has seen how the so called relationships were supposed to work. Caitlyn and Vi were an example...

And, the time they have spending together since she has been found and installed in Jinx's neural processors... almost four years.

Her own words echoed in her system—I desire it. Lux had been so certain. It was a calculated decision. A natural progression of their partnership.

But maybe Jinx...maybe she wasn’t ready?

Jinx twitched.

Lux nearly jumped.

Then, suddenly, Jinx’s eyes snapped open, glowing bright blue glitching wildly, her body jolting upright with a gasping intake of air.

Lux flinched. “Jinx...”

“DID YOU JUST PROPOSE TO ME!?” Jinx screamed.

Lux barely had time to react before Jinx grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her slightly. “I...I fainted!? I don’t faint! What the hell was that!?”

Lux was speechless.

Jinx’s hands tightened. “Wait... wait, was that real?! Did I imagine that?! Say it again...no, don’t say it again...I need a second...fuck!”

Lux’s processors stuttered.

This reaction was... new.

Her logical conclusion had been an error. She had anticipated mild surprise, perhaps teasing, but not... This.

“Jinx,” Lux finally said, her voice the tiniest bit unsteady, “are you… malfunc—”

“I AM MALFUNCTIONING.”

Lux blinked.

Jinx whined, burying her face in her hands. “Oh my... Oh my... You... you’re serious. This is serious. You wanna...like, forever forever serious?”

Lux tilted her head. “That is what marriage is supposed to be, Jinx.”

Jinx made an incoherent noise.

Kuro meowed.

Lux sighed, reaching out and taking Jinx’s hand in hers again. This time, she squeezed it gently.

“I am not withdrawing the proposal,” Lux stated, firm. “But I will allow you to process it.”

Jinx peeked at her between her fingers, still glitching, still short-circuiting.

Lux allowed herself the smallest smile, and took this moment of Jinx’s absolute meltdown to do something very simple.

She reached forward.

And pulled Jinx into a hug.

Jinx went rigid. The Project was still trying to process the fact that her hyper-logical, tsundere, totally-in-denial, former Program, now android, girlfriend, had just proposed to her.

And then Lux, without a single ounce of hesitation, leaned in and placed a soft, deliberate peck on her cheek.

Jinx died.

Not literally, but her soul straight-up left her body.

Her processors blue-screened. Her circuits fried. Her entire existence shattered into error messages and incomprehensible static.

Lux barely had a second to register the sheer shock on Jinx’s face before the woman went down like a sack of bricks.

Again.

For the second time.

Lux blinked.

Kuro, ever the unbothered cat, hopped onto Jinx’s now-motionless torso and curled up like this was just a normal Tuesday.

Lux sighed.

Then, very gently, very calmly, she ran a hand through Jinx's hair, glanced at the ceiling, and muttered,

“…Perhaps I should have accounted for that reaction.”

So, she sat there for a moment, staring at the unconscious mess that was her girlfriend.

Her fiancée, technically, if Jinx could ever manage to reboot without combusting from sheer emotional overload.

She glanced down at Kuro, who was purring contently on Jinx’s torso, completely unfazed by the absurdity of the situation. She felt... happy.

Then, something clicked.

She thought back to when Jinx first said it 'I get it, why that kid says it... 'Lux makes boring beautiful''

At the time, it had been an illogical statement. A contradiction. A paradox she couldn’t compute. Boring is a time with nothing to do and most people or systems tried to fill it with something.

But now…

Now she understood.

It wasn’t that boredom itself was beautiful. It wasn’t about the quiet moments, or the lack of action, or the stillness.

It was about WHO you spent those moments with.

Even when they were just fixing weapons. planning raids... Even when they were just playing with Kuro. Even when nothing exciting was happening at all… it was beautiful because Jinx was there.

Because Jinx made it feel that way.

Because Jinx made existence beautiful.

Lux looked down at the woman she’d somehow, impossibly, illogically and irrevocably fallen for, and for the first time, she allowed herself to accept it.

She reached out, brushed a few strands of synthetic white hair from Jinx’s face, and whispered, so softly, even if Jinx wasn’t awake to hear it.

“…I get it now.”

Notes:

And now this is the end. I enjoyed this weird ride, trying to make sense of it like, the fuck I'm doing?
But couldn't stop. Literally my little fingers got possessed by some evil raccoon... (or incubator who knows) and this is the result.

With this out of my system, I'll return to Shin'ai next week. This week I already fried all my neurons!

Thanks you all! Especially Joi2212 for the idea of Pulsefire Caitlyn, without that, this one would have never been possible.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of How to Series