Chapter 1
Numbered Ashes
A/N: Thank you so much Binary Codex for requesting this story. :)
Nothing but silence, nothing but void, nothing but total blackness fills my world where I remain, without hope, without knowledge, without love. I cannot move; I cannot speak. I cannot hear; I weep. Am I dead? Is this what it means? Empty loneliness? No one to love, nothing to see; is this what has become of my soul since the Overlord passed, along with me? My ashes…it cannot be. Light appears in my vision, soft, blue, covered in white zeros, resembling somewhere I have been to before. Is this really death? Is this a memory? Is this the digiverse?
A sob catches my ears, a wail from a woman in pain. I feel energy enter into me; blue, electrical that brings my form back. My body materializes into the way I was before the Overlord was destroyed a second time, and I touch my face. It's intact. My senses are returning to me and I see a woman's form huddled in front of a window, with her back to me. She's weeping, peering outside, seemingly far above the ground. It's…Pixal.
I call to her, but her name falls dead on my lips. She cannot hear me and I cannot speak to her. I glance below me, but only face a grey floor and a computer desk…in the Borg tower. Am I…the main computer in the tower? Have my ashes brought me here?
I want answers, yet I know Pixal will not be able to see me or communicate with me…at least for now. Memories. The word echoes in my head with an ominous feel to it and I quickly search through my bank, coming upon my first one with her.
I play it, and it has sound, bringing my hopes up. "You are Zane, a droid like me," Pixal says to me, "What does 'Zane' stand for?"
The beautiful droid turns around with moist, green eyes, gazing at the screen in amazement, and relief.
"I stand for peace, freedom, and courage in the face of all who threaten Ninjago," I respond. I replay the video as she calls my name.
"Zane?" she stares at me with hope.
I feel more energy flooding my system and I have activated something. I move my left arm and the factory line. I can control it. Pixal rushes out of the room and runs to the factory doors, where I open them with a simple thought. She gets on the conveyor belt, crying, clasping her hands together and putting them to her chest.
I attempt to speak again and my voice comes, more monotone than prior to my death. "Are we…compatible now?"
"Yes, Zane. We are. We always have been compatible," she touches one of the factory bots, or my hand as a matter of fact, "and we always will be."
I smile, though doesn't know it, and I cry silent tears in the digiverse, where she cannot see me. I huddle on the blue ground, gazing around at the numbers, feeling her love pour love forth into my rejected soul. Finally, I ask her something that has been nagging at the back of my mind. "How is my family?"
No P.O.V.
Dareth shuffles into the cold, silent classroom with his head covered by a hood. He sets the books and other necessary things, now being the permanent teacher in Zane's class, and turns his back to the students. Still silence. Waiting. No one stirs a muscle as he erases the old equations on the chalkboard until Sally breaks the unbearable silence. "Where is Mr. Zane?"
Dareth flinches, dropping the eraser with a start, and leaves it there. He turns to face the children with red, puffy eyes, moistening at the beloved Titanium Ninja's name. "He won't be coming back. I'm your permanent teacher now."
"Why?" she asks.
Brad pulls out his cell phone, pressing a few buttons before shouting out, "Turn on the television!" Another boy turns on the new, flat screen TV above the chalkboard.
A lady reporter appears, in the same state as Dareth, crying as she announces the heartbreaking news of Zane's death. "And here his statue lies in the center of Ninjago city, honoring his love for us. The courage he had to face the Overlord, alone, and how he sacrificed himself, will be told for generation. We love you and will always remember you."
Jean turns the television off and ambles with his head down, back into his chair. "Is it true Mr. Dareth?" Brad asks with widened eyes at the verge of tears.
"Um…he…yes," Dareth responds, sobbing again.
"Can't someone fix him?" Sally suggests.
"You don't understand, little one. He's blown up. There's nothing left to repair."
Most of the children start crying, while a few remain silent, yet sorrowful. "No, Mr. Zane can't be dead!" Sally screams, shoving her chair back and bolting out the room, wailing.
"What's going on?" Kai comes out of classroom only to meet a crying brunette, pushing him out of the way, rushing down the winding hall.
Zane .
"How long have I been," I hesitate, not wanting to use the word dead and stir up unwanted memories, "passed?"
Pixal wipes her tears away and responds, "Ten days. You don't know how hard it has been without you Zane. I could hardly bear not to pull out the energy source you gave me. It's all my fault."
"No!" I shout, rather fiercely, surprising us both and I continue calmly, "It is not your fault. I gave it to you so you could live. Without you, I would have taken my own away. It was my decision to do it, not yours. I knew there were risks involved when I did that, but I love you."
"I'm sorry Zane," she apologizes. "I love you too."
She hugs me tightly and I return the embrace by wrapping her gently in two factory arms, enjoying it for a while. The love, the warmth; I haven't felt it in so long that I don't know when. We release each other eventually and I wipe my own tears away. Wait! I stand up and glance around my blue and white world of the digiverse. Something is wrong. I sense it.