My name is Zane Julien. At first, it was just Zane, since I didn't know who I was back then. I remembered waking up in a strange new place with only a name to hold onto.

Zane.

I remember I would go from town to town, practicing meditation underwater and taking small jobs to pay for food. It wasn't a very luxurious life, but I was happy, or at least, I pretended to be.

Then, I met Sensei Wu.

It was quite surprising, to say the least, when I saw the old man drinking tea underwater beside me. I had to a double take twice, maybe even three times to be sure I wasn't dreaming. Sensei gave me a home, something for which I am eternally grateful. Then he gave me a family, with four brothers and a sister.

I remember when I met Jay and Cole.

Jay shared my love for machines, and tried to help me with my sense of humor, though he did not succeed. He was able to remain joking and optimistic in the darkest of times. He talked a mile a minute, and was very passionate about everything he did, something I'd come to admire him for.

Cole was a more down to earth kind of guy, but he cared for me like any brother would from the start. He bore the weight of a father who expected much of him, and a family that did the same. He always tried his best to think things out before battle, making him the obvious leader, and never left family behind.

Both of them were very dear to him, but Kai was no exception.

Kai was very headstrong and blunt; unafraid to speak about what was on his mind. He was easily frustrated and didn't think before fighting. Though once you got to know him, he was very protective and cared for his sister with intensity of a roaring flame. He also happened to have a way with words, sometimes sharing the leader position with Cole.

Lloyd came later.

He was a brat at first, but I took pity on him, seeing as we both shared a lack of parents. Lloyd was headstrong like Kai, calculative like myself, cunning like Cole, and with a temper like Jay. I wasn't surprised when Lloyd became the green ninja. Okay, that was a lie. Anyway, Lloyd soon became a sweet little child with a heart of gold, and I couldn't have been prouder when he beat the Overlord.

The six of them, including Nya, are my family.

I love all of them.

It was quite a shock when I found out I was a robot.

It was so unexpected and terrifying; I didn't even know what to say. So I didn't say anything at all. I showed them. Their reactions were to be expected, but it still hurt to have your brothers to recoil from you. In the end, they all didn't care, and I figured out who I was.

Zane Julien.

I had a father, and a full name. I had a family that loved me before I became a ninja. I was loved. It was such a relief. For years, I thought I was abandoned by my parents because they didn't want me, and it wore me down whenever I thought about it. Now I knew the truth, which turned out to be the key to unlocking my true potential.

Now I am dying.

Sure, a lot had happened before this point in my life, such as the Great Devourer incident, meeting my not-dead father, Lloyd defeating the Overlord, my father dying again, the Overlord coming back to life, and meeting P.I.X.A.L, but now seems a very important point in my life, since it is the end of it.

I always thought I would be the last to die.

It haunted my dreams, the fact that since I was a robot, I would never age. That I alone would watch as the family I held dear crumbled into tombstones around me. I guess I should be feeling lucky I'm being relived of that burden, but I feel guilty. I feel guilty for dying without my loved ones near, dying with regrets.

What I regret the most is letting my brothers watch me die.

I know they are watching, even as I focus my gaze on the Overlord, spitting Cole's words at him, as shocks of energy I cannot survive course through me. It pains me to do this to them, but it is for the best. I hope P.I.X.A.L will be alright. I know the others will take care of her, but I feel terrible about being her first heartbreak just after she realized her emotions existed. However, I do this not out of heroics or bravery or self-sacrifice.

I allow myself to die out of love.

Love for a brother who would, if given the situation, find me in pieces only to put me back together again, fascinated yet driven to tears by the experience. Love for a brother who gave me the nickname Tin Can, as thought the barriers of humanity and robotics didn't matter. Love for a brother whos fiery protectiveness would do anything to keep me safe. Love for a brother who taught me how to grow old, but never grow up. Love for a family that cared for me, flesh or metal. Love for a city who did the same, the people caring and kind and understanding. Love for an android who finally is like me, who loves me as well, who would rewrite her programming for me.

Never have I ever been filled with so much love.

So, as my heart fails, I think of the memories I hold within myself, and feel grateful. I am grateful because since my mechanical origins were found out, I felt as though I'd lost my humanity, but now I know what I am.

I am Zane Julien, son of Dr. Julien and Sensei Wu, the latter being a close to a father as the former.

I am Zane Julien, a human written in mechanics.

I am Zane Julien, a brother to five.

I am Zane Julien, and as I fall into a sea of blue, I welcome it.

I welcome death and humanity.

Death is warm.

One would think it would be cold and dark, but is the opposite, its light and warmth wrapping me in a blue glow.

Wait, blue?

I observe my surroundings, and realize I am in the digiverse once more, this time without a body to return to. I search the web for notifications on my disappearance, hoping my brothers know I am alive, but find the opposite, as the TV stations play my funeral all over Ninjago. I find it bittersweet, knowing how many love me, but in turn are hurt by my so called "death". Kai's speech was nice, however, though I do believe the statue was too much. I want to call out to them, but find myself limited to the Borg Tower. The only one I can reach is P.I.X.A.L, who was too hurt to attend my funeral and is watching from afar. So I do reach toward her, clips of me playing on the many monitors, beckoning her to come to the assembly line. She does, and I can feel the joy and hope radiating off her, but a hint of doubt as well. So I ask her a question the two of us share, a question only we would know.

"Are we compatible now?"

I say it almost jokingly, finding it surprisingly humorous to come back from the dead. Yet, when I see her smile, eyes lighting up as though a flame was hidden behind them, I feel complete. I did something I never wanted to do, but I got so much more out of it.

I got a life through computers out of facing death and humanity.

I believe this is what Jay would call irony