Wrote this while listening to Zane's theme music. T-T Now I got nostalgia and a runny nose. Longest chapter yet so I hope you guys enjoy it!

Thank you to Skittybug, MelodyVeronique, FrozenSoapbubble, and Guest for leaving a review. I can't tell you how much I love getting these comments. They are all so sweet and I can't thank you enough for your positive feedback:)

FrozenSoapbubble: I know! I can't imagine how it would feel to watch your closest friend die right in front of you. Poor ninjas:( They definitely need a therapy cat.

Skittybug: Thank you as always for your comment! Writing about Kai and Yuki was honestly my favorite part of this whole story, so I'm ecstatic you liked it!

Guest: Haha! thank you so, so much! For me, there is no higher compliment you could give than to say you enjoyed reading this!

Yuki wished he could say it got better the next couple of weeks. It didn't. If, anything, it got worse.

Jay left first, mumbling some backhanded comment about taking some time off. He visited once or twice, but he could almost never be in the same room as Cole without starting a fight, much to the cat's confusion and fright. Cole was the next to go, not even bothering to say goodbye before sliding down the anchor chain with a backpack slung over his shoulder.

At first, Kai was careful about keeping his little midnight excursions a secret, not wanting to upset Lloyd and Nya any more than they already were. He cooked the meals, trained the two, and made sure the younger siblings got to bed at a decent time, all the while stealing away once they were asleep to the fighting like a moth to a flame.

Inevitably though, both Nya and Lloyd couldn't help but notice the black splotches embroidering the red ninja's eyes, and the bloody scabs on his face and knuckles they were positive they didn't inflict during training. Kai shrugged them off, telling them not to worry about him and get back to work. Nya crossed her arms defiantly in a sort of face-off with the stubborn fire master, ready to interrogate her brother till there was no secret left unturned, that is until Sensei broke them up with a pointed look at both siblings. She let the subject drop. For now.

It really started getting bad with Sensei, though. First was the family picture frame; everyone was in it, from Garmadon to Zane to Jay to Misako. One afternoon it was found out of its place, on a bookshelf, not hanging on the wall. It wasn't hidden, per se, just not the first thing you saw when you walked into the room anymore. Kai found it first, growling as he hastily hung it back on the wall before the others saw it. Then overnight, Zane's baking supplies had all either been stowed away in some out-of-sight cabinet or disappeared entirely. When Kai walked into the kitchen to make breakfast he stiffened at the near-spotless counter space, storming through the cupboards and putting everything back where it was. Last was the worst though, when the ticking time bomb finally blew. Kai walked into the bedroom one afternoon and froze when he saw Zane's bunk stripped of his white blanket and sheets, down to a blank mattress. Kai stared at it for a minute, knuckles white at his sides before turning on his heel and storming straight into the meditation room where Sensei Wu sat in a lotus position with a wick of incense burning. Yuki's heart picked up as followed close behind, sensing the imminent explosion

"What is wrong with you?" Kai hissed, sliding the door open so hard that part of it ripped off.

Master Wu opened his eyes and looked up at the seething ninja glaring daggers into him. "Wrong?"

"Don't play games with me. Why are you trying to act like Zane was never here?"

Wu's gold eyes examined Kai with unnerving precision before he simply closed his eyes again and folded his hands, though only Yuki saw his tightly clenched jaw. "If we always focus on yesterday, we will miss the opportunities of tomorrow."

"Bull." Kai spat. Yuki balked at Kai's disrespect, cowering in the doorway to make himself less noticeable. "You're trying to erase his presence from our team 'cause you can't deal with his death. And I'm sick of it."

"I can't deal with his death?" Sensei's tone was awful dangerous, eyes still closed. "I am not the one sneaking out at night and hurting myself to drown my guilt."

Kai recoiled like he had been slapped, his emotions slipping out of his control as his breathing picked up. From behind, someone picked Yuki up. The cat looked back and saw Lloyd quietly watching the quickly heating dispute with held breath. "That's, that's none of your business," Kai growled, tilting his head back defiantly. "I'm talking about you trying to forget one of your own students-"

"Kai!" Sensei Wu barked, up and standing in one fluid motion that made everyone else present take a nervous step back. Kai shut his mouth with a click. "Do not pretend to understand my motives for what I do. You are a stupid boy who is trying to sound like a man, when all you are doing is chasing your tail like a fool. Zane is dead, and I am trying to make moving on as easy as possible for my remaining students."

If Kai looked like he'd been slapped before now he looked like Sensei had just beaten him up with a stick and left him for dead. Even Lloyd shuffled further behind the doorframe. Wu inhaled through his nose, still rigid with irritation. "The cat goes."

Lloyd stiffened. Kai blinked, still pale from his teacher's venomous words. "What?"

Sensei Wu sighed and slid back into a sitting position, closing his eyes once more. "The Bounty is not a safe place for an animal. I want him in a new home by tomorrow."

"But-" Lloyd began to protest.

"I'm done arguing, nephew." Wu cut him off. "This conversation is over."

"Damn straight it is," Kai snarled, turning on his heel and storming out of the room. Lloyd caught his arm and looked at him pleadingly.

"Kai, don't. Please."

Kai looked at him hard for a long minute before shrugging his grip off and stalking down the hallway, slamming the door to the top deck behind him. The incense swirled around the old man from the current of air.

The green ninja looked helplessly from the room his uncle was in back to the hallway Kai had stormed out of, biting his lip. He let out a long, tired sigh of defeat and stole Yuki into the bedroom, locking the door behind him.

Away from that insense was better, the open window let in a nice September breeze filter in, taking away some of the grime of anger corroding at Yuki, despite his best efforts. He couldn't help it. He wasn't angry for himself, though the thought of being separated from the only people who had loved him made his chest burn. But what Sensei Wu had said to Kai, the look on his face when he said those things, that made him angry. Especially when he remembered how vulnerable Kai had acted the first night, how broken-hearted his sobs sounded. Kai would rather eat dirt than swallow his titanic-sized pride, much less let anyone see him defeated. Now Yuki didn't know what the fire master was going to do.

Lloyd collapsed onto his bed and stared up at the slats of the bunk above him. He closed his eyes, letting two wet drops slide down his temples as he absently stroked the bridge of Yuki's nose with one finger.

"What am I going to do?" He whispered to himself.

Curled up on the green ninja's chest, Yuki wondered the same thing. Though, unlike Lloyd, the answer revealed itself to him rather quickly.

For some time, Yuki just lay there, listening to Lloyd's heartbeat through the green gi. He just wanted a little more time before he had to go, and he wanted one more nice memory to remember until he came back. If he came back.

Eventually, Lloyd's breathing grew deeper and his hand stopped rubbing the cat's head as he fell asleep. Yuki knew it was time to go. He cautiously wriggled out from underneath his hand and quietly clambered up the bunk to reach the open window, the sun setting behind the city.

Balancing on a lip on the side of the flying ship, Yuki thanked his lucky stars that the Bounty was anchored low to the ground for once. He leaped onto the chain and shimmied down until he met the concrete with a light thump.

He looked around.

Now here he was, back on the streets, really on the street, just like he was before Zane had come along. But he wasn't the same cat as he was then, not by a long shot. Now, he had a purpose.

He was going to find Zane.


It had been three months.

He started where he had left off the night before, near the city center, sniffing the air for a lead. For three months he pushed back the fizzling cesspool that muttered Zane was really gone. He pushed it back down, drowned it, and wiped it away each time it came back, refusing to listen to it.

He picked a street he didn't recognize, a relatively open one that smelled a little cleaner, probably leading to a park or cemetery, or someplace with greenery. He followed it, keeping well out of the way of stomping feet and swinging briefcases.

He walked for hours down the street, traffic thinning with the later time. By now his little paws had grown calloused from all the concrete, so the only thing he really felt was hunger and exhaustion. He kept going though, knowing he wouldn't be getting much food tonight anyway. Maybe he could find a rat or something.

Just as he guessed, a park came up on his left, small and surrounded by a black fence with a bike path snaking through it. Some of the trees looked halfway inviting, and he really was feeling exhausted. He guessed it wouldn't hurt to curl up in a branch away from the bigger animals, just for a while. He cut to the side and squeezed through the fence.

Yuki wandered along the path, relishing how soft the dirt felt on his paws, watching the leaves sweep through the rippling grass.

All at once a bird screeched and swooped down on Yuki, ginormous wings blocking out the sky for a split second. Yuki screamed and scrambled back, tripping over himself and tumbling head over paws beneath an arching tree root.

Yuki shook so hard that the leaves under him rustled. His eyes darted every which way, searching for the monstrous bird. After several agonizingly still moments, he made sure the bird really was gone. He inhaled shakily and turned around, creeping through a patch of shrubs just to be safe.

He froze dead in his tracks.

Zane.

He was right there.

Yuki could see the back of him through the boughs of cherry blossoms. He couldn't smell him, which was strange, but he was right there.

Yuki didn't care, he ran over to him, dodging the old roots and benches, his tiredness and hunger vanishing like fog when the sun comes out.

He skidded to a stop just at Zane's boots, still facing his back, and cocked his head in confusion.

Zane stood tall and erect, head up and forward like he was willing to take on the whole world. A falcon flapped overhead and perched resolutely on his shoulder, gazing down at Yuki with familiar amber eyes. It chirped at him in greeting before beginning to clean its tawny feathers, the evening breeze fluttering them.

Something was off. Why was Zane so still? Yuki mewed at him and bumped his head against his leg, starting when he felt the cold shock of metal against his forehead. What?

He shook himself and carefully circled Zane until he could see his face. Blank metal eyes set in a familiar, but ultimately hollow face. The falcon screeched at him mournfully, as if he knew exactly what the cat was feeling. Yuki's heart sank all the way down to his paws at the sight of the statue, wondering what sort of cruel joke this was. Now that he was up close, he could see the tarnish and patches of rust eating away at the white ninja's face beneath stains of bird poop.

Yuki sat and looked at the metal figure looming over him, despair creeping up on him like a snake in tall grass, head stooped down low. He just wanted Zane back. He missed him so much. He missed all of them so much. He wanted to feel Zane's cold gentle hand card through his fur. He wanted to hear Lloyd's mischievous giggles, wanted to listen to Jay's happy rambles, wanted to feel invincible in Cole's protective arms. Heck, he even wanted to feel Kai's warm beating heart one more time.

A glint caught his eye as he rose to leave. At the foot of the statue was stamped an insignia, a smooth letter B with a tiny print underneath it. Yuki couldn't really read, but he could recognize that styled indentation anywhere. All he had to do was look up at the black skyscraper illuminated high above the park trees. The tallest building in the city, Yuki felt like it followed him wherever he went. At any time, no matter where he was, all he's have to do is look up, and there it was, top glowing blue like a beacon in the clouds. It was almost like a faithful friend, or a determined predator.

Borg Industries.

It couldn't be a coincidence, it just couldn't. An instinct took over him, an irresistible tugging in his gut. Something told him he had to go there. It was linked to Zane somehow. He just knew it.

Now set with a clear purpose after so long, the ache in his limbs drained away into the dirt as he bounded out of the park and back onto the littered sidewalk.

Raindrops plopped on the street, staining the cracked concrete in a collage of traffic light reds, yellows, and greens as Yuki wove through the thinning crowd of people. A big fat drop splattered on his nose and he had to stop to sneeze, but kept running. By the time he reached the base of the building, the rain had drenched every inch of his shivering frame, clinging to the tips of his whiskers and making them droop. He shook himself, gazing up at the menacingly tall tower, artificial light filtering out the glass windows all the way to the top. This was going to be a long night.

He steeled his nerve and scampered up the front steps.

Right off the bat, the sliding doors freaked him out; it took eight minutes to find his courage and slip through the ghost doors. After that, his heart sank at the sheer size of the inside. He had hoped it would be smaller on the inside but looks like that wasn't happening. Even at that late hour, people were roaming around, walking with a purpose, fancy shoes and high heels echoing on the polished tile. Yuki looked at each of them, doing a double-take when he spotted one lady with silver skin and glowing green eyes walking quickly through a crowd and ducking into the transparent elevator. Yuki cocked his head, she was funny, all stiff and quiet, kind of like Zane, only amped up to eleven.

Hm.

"Hey, what are you doing in here, little buddy?" Yuki whipped around and tensed when he saw a security guard coming closer. He crouched down and flattened his ears against the back of his head. The guard didn't look threatening, but he really didn't want to be thrown back out into the rain, not when he had a lead on Zane.

The guard bent down and reached a hand out towards him, which he respectfully declined to sniff, "You lost little guy?" He jumped and yelped in surprise as the guy swiftly wrapped a hand around his torso and picked him up. "Hey, hey, don't worry, I don't bite,"

He brought the squirming kitten up for a better look. He didn't mean any harm, Yuki knew, but he was gripping his ribcage awfully tight, not at all like his humans would. "You shouldn't be out here by yourself, buddy," the guard muttered, mostly to himself, "better call animal control."

Yuki stopped wriggling and stared at the guard in horror. No. If he went there, he'd never come back out. He heard Zane talk about it with Cole and Jay a while back. No, no, no. He was so close, he was not going to be stopped now.

Before he could think twice, Yuki hissed and dug his claws into the guard's first finger, sinking his teeth in for good measure. The guard cried out, in his blind pain opened his hand, and dropped Yuki to the ground with barely a thud.

Looking desperately around for an escape route, the cat spotted the still open glass door of the elevator with the shiny lady in it, just ending a conversation with another woman and pressing one of the floor buttons. Ignoring the alarming noises coming from behind him, he scrambled across the hard tile and skidded the last several meters into the elevator just as the door slid to a close.

The woman jumped at the cat rocketing past her feet and slamming into the opposite wall with a dull thunk.

Yuki shakily rose to his paws and shook the dizziness from his head, looking at the shiny lady sheepishly. The elevator dinged shut and began its slow ascent, giving a stunning view of the small crowd surrounding the distressed security guard. The woman glanced at the scene beneath her before cutting back to the cat, nervously pressing against the wall. "Please do not bite me," she said in a flat voice.

Yuki scratched himself and sneezed again. Oh, ok. She was a robot. That… made absolutely no sense, but ok. He watched her curiously as she fidgeted with the flat black pad she was carrying, occasionally glancing impatiently at the floor numbers slowly crawling higher. She must be going to the top-most floor.

After several long minutes, the elevator dinged again, sliding smoothly open. The robot lady looked one more time at the scrawny cat curled up in the corner looking back at her with his big eyes. "Well, it's... been a pleasure." She nodded curtly and hesitantly walked out the door, turning right.

Yuki blinked after her for a moment, that irresistible instinct nagging in the back of his mind. He jumped up and padded after her.

It was like a maze on the top floor, almost exactly like ground-level, only abandoned.

Yuki spotted the hem of the robot lady's purple dress flutter around the corner and he trotted after her. After a series of twists and turns, the lady stopped in front of one door at the end of the hall, swiped a keycard through the lock, and walked in.

Before Yuki could give a rational thought, he rushed up to the door and slipped through before it could close.

Inside was similar to the rest of the building, shiny metal, pipes, and wires ran all the way up to the high vaulted ceiling. Monitors and command stations littered the area, all blinking complicated-looking signals. The lady set her pad down on one of the desks and typed a series of commands into a holographic keyboard that popped up. Yuki ducked under a table and watched her work curiously.

The monitor in front of her chirped once and lit up the screen. The lady looked up at it and tilted her head slightly. "I managed to acquire the algorithm Cyrus completed, the upgraded processing software." She plugged a chord into the computer and typed in another command. Another hologram popped up with a loading symbol circling above it. "I'm uploading it as we speak."

"Thank you, Pixal. I believe I only need a little more time to complete the patches in my code, then we may begin initial download."

Yuki's heart stopped.

He abandoned his hiding place and rushed up to the monitor, tail twitching.

That was Zane's voice.

The lady yelped when she turned to the scurrying sounds behind her and snatched the black slate to bat it at Yuki. "You! You have not been granted clearance to this floor, out! Out!" Her flat voice scolded. Yuki arched his back defiantly and hissed.

"Pixal, what is the matter?" Zane's voice tensed with concern.

"A cat snuck past security and is tracking in mud everywhere." She managed to back him all the way up to the door and was about to corral Yuki cat back into the hallway.

"Pixal, wait!" the robot lady stopped and looked back puzzled at the monitor, arm still raised to swat the cat away.

Zane sounded hesitant, almost as if he wanted very badly for something to be true and was afraid of the alternative. "Is it a kitten?"

Pixal gave the computer a funny look. "…yes?"

Zane paused for a minute before continuing. "Does he have white fur with black paws and ears?"

Pixal eyed the cat warily. "Yes?"

"Blue eyes and a scar on his back?"

Pixal turned exasperated to the monitor and asked pointedly, "Zane, is there something you wish to tell me?"

For a second the computer didn't say anything. Then, in an almost timid voice, Zane asked, "Yuki?"

Yuki mewed joyfully in affirmation and bounced between Pixal's feet up to the monitor, pacing excitedly and staring two inches from the screen.

"Yuki!" Zane exclaimed again, sounding more animated than the cat had heard. "Can he stay?" For some reason, Zane sounded like a kid asking his mommy if he could keep Yuki. And for some reason, Pixal looked an awful lot like a mother mulling it over. She crossed her arms and tapped her heel as she scrutinized Yuki giving the best puppy eyes. Lloyd would have been proud.

Finally, Pixal deflated. "I suppose as long as he stays out of the way," she sighed defeated, "if that's what you want."

"Yes please."

Pixal smirked at the monitor, looking a little less like a robot as she swiped away the upload complete hologram and admitted access to be processed. She turned her full attention back to her work, determinedly ignoring the cat jumping up next to her and watching the shiny light over her shoulder, slightly mesmerized. "All we need now are some upgrades to your new model. Your software is nearly complete on your end, now I just need to work on the hardware on my end. I have come up with several upgrades you may like."

"You have my undivided attention," Zane hummed.

"Your new model can bypass any human weakness your partners may have. You can withstand far higher temperatures, more intense blunt force to vital systems, last longer without fuel or power, and you would not feel any discomfort at all. I can also eliminate any negative thought processes or emotions that would hinder a mission. Shall I begin the upgrade?"

"That certainly sounds like quite an upgrade," Zane began, somewhat hesitantly, "Higher resilience would certainly be useful. However I would like to pass on not feeling anything, if it's all the same to you."

Pixal looked at the monitor and frowned, "Are you sure you don't want these features, Zane?" She swiped at Yuki as he tracked a muddy paw across some of her notes. "I can give you so many more upgrades than this. You don't have to feel pain anymore, or feel tired, or sad, or any of the defects humans have."

The computer chuckled, "Pixal, those are not defects. And I am quite sure I want them. Tell me, what happened when I gave you half my heart?"

Pixal stiffened and touched where her heart was supposed to be, her green eyes blinking. "I am not certain. I felt… more human somehow, though I do not know how."

Yuki could just imagine Zane nodding his head in approval. "I want to be human, Pixal. Or at least, as human as I can possibly be. I do not want to be better than my brothers, only better than I was yesterday."

"But you do not understand," Pixal interrupted, voice tangled with hurt and frustration, "you do not know what it was like to watch you…" she trailed off, leaning heavily on the console and taking a breath before trying again, "I do not want you to feel to ever feel the emptiness I felt then."

The room was dead quiet for what seemed like an eternity, only the muted beeping of tech in the background interrupting the silence. Zane finally let out a sigh, "I am so sorry you had to endure that, Pixal. I wish there was some other way it could have… happened," Yuki didn't miss his voice faltering, "but my father once told me that while loss is indeed inevitable, love, friendship, and happiness are just as inevitable. If you close your heart to ever being hurt, you miss everything else along with it, do you understand?"

Pixal looked at the monitor with a faraway gaze as she slowly nodded, as if she didn't quite get what he was talking about, but pressed the enter key on the pad anyway, albeit reluctantly.

"Thank you. Now I just have to-" He cut off abruptly as the information flooded into the system.

"What is it, Zane?" Pixal asked.

"This code you just uploaded now, this belongs to Cyrus, correct?"

"Well, yes. He and some other workers were helping design it before I came online. It was originally meant for my processors." Her silver face frowned once again, "why are you asking?"

Zane didn't say anything, the screen hummed softly as he sorted through the avalanche of information. "This is my father's coding." He finally whispered.

"What?"

"I recognize it. My father did some repairs on me after Lloyd's final battle with the, with the Overlord. And he restored some of the code I lost. There are some strings of code in this algorithm that are identical to mine." His voice grew more heightened by the minute as he clicked the pieces in place.

Pixal cocked her head and bent over the desk, rapidly clicking on her keyboard. A security pass popped up on her screen.

Yuki's head pricked up when he saw the picture.

Dr. Julian's smiling face glowed back at him, along with clearance for all floors at Borg industries, as well as permission to work with Cyrus Borg himself on the very first Primary Interactive X-ternal Assistant Life-form, or Pixal.

"Zane…" Pixal started.

"My father helped build you…" Zane sounded almost light-headed if that were possible. "You weren't meant to be alone," he repeated the note Dr. Julian left him a lifetime ago.

Yuki could almost hear the smile in his voice, "that must have been what he meant. He knew we would be together one day. He knew we would be compatible." Excitement filled his voice. "I can't wait to see you again, Pixal."

Pixal giggled despite herself at his rare enthusiasm and shook her head, typing in one last command into the computer before taking her keycard and heading toward the door. "I will be in the factory if you need me. You should be fully operational by morning. Come on, Yuki." Yuki perked up at his name and jumped down, trailing after her purple dress out of the room. He heard Zane hum contently behind him, continuing his work.


The elevator ride was significantly shorter than the previous one, Pixal even let Yuki climb on her shoulder to see the view of the stories plummeting beneath him.

Ooh, maybe he'll just stare at the floor instead, maybe just close his eyes altogether. Yeah, that was better.

Despite the somewhat less than opportune circumstances of their first impressions, Pixal was starting to grow on Yuki. Granted, she had almost no scent to go on, other than some sort of tea and honey with a mix of motor oil. But Zane seemed to like her, which certainly counted for something.

Her green eyes glanced sideways at him as she stepped off the elevator and into a huge room packed to the ceiling with equipment, machines, and conveyor belts. Pixal strolled over to a metal workbench with something large and shiny laying on top of it, hooked up to a plethora of silver wires.

For the third time that day, Yuki felt his poor heart stop beating in his chest.

Zane lay face up on the table, eyes closed and wires traveling who knows where. His chest cavity opened through his silver gi with an assortment of foreign-looking parts littering the table beside him. Yuki leaped from Pixal's shoulder to Zane's side as she took a seat next to him and turned on a soldering gun.

After six months, six months, of having Zane simply… vanish without a trace, after having everyone act as if he were dead, or never having existed at all. After being alone for so long, feeling like the one person on earth who cared about a worthless stray like him had abandoned him. After all those nights on the streets, cold and starving, He was here. He was here. He was… metal, cold, and stiff as a corpse, but he was still undoubtedly and unequivocally Zane.

Yuki felt his eyes blur a little as he crawled up to Zane's head and nuzzled up to his cheek; the other side of his face was still a tangle of circuits and wires. He cuddled up as close as he could in the crook of his neck and let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding in, resting his chin and paw on where his heart should have been. With the soft hum of Pixal working on the hair-thin wires and cables, Yuki could almost imagine being in Jay's little nook working on his projects, listening to his babble and tinkering hands.

He dozed off, finally letting his exhaustion wash over him like a tidal wave.

He woke up once or twice, sort of, falling back asleep each time. The third time he really woke up and the digital clock on the wall glowed a green four thirty-seven. Yuki blinked sleepily, yawned, and stretched down to his toes. Pixal looked up from her work, Zane's chest cavity snapped shut, now finishing up on his faceplate, and patted the cat's head.

No sooner had she clicked the plate shut did the speakers in the ceiling crackle to life. "I'm all finished up here if you are, Pix."

"Just finished now." Pixal responded, plugging one more wire into the side of Zane's head and clearing away the mess on the table, "I am ready when you are."

She picked Yuki up, who complied rather reluctantly and stood back, typing in more commands to her pad.

A buzz sounded through the wires, and Yuki sensed the electricity trailing through the metal and into Zane. His fur unconsciously stood up on his neck as the minutes ticked by and the clock on the wall flickered the start of the new hour.

Zane's brilliant blue eyes flickered on. Yuki watched him blink up at the ceiling and slowly turn his head on the table. When the new nindroid's gaze landed on Pixel his shiny face broke into the happiest grin Yuki had ever seen. He slid off the table and pulled the wires out of his head, taking a shaky first step forward before coming up face to face with the robot lady.

Pixel, meanwhile, had stood as if nailed to the ground, having let her arms drop Yuki to the ground limply. Her eyes locked on the nindroid who had died for her all those months ago, who had given her half of his heart so she could live, who had made her feel as if she were worth more than a just a piece of metal created to assist humans.

Zane just tilted his head slightly and gently took both her hands in his. "I missed you too." He smiled.

Pixal wrapped him in such a tight hug her titanium arms creaked. After blinking in surprise Zane gladly reciprocated.

"If you ever do that again, I will personally rewrite your entire code and make you a coward," She threatened with a hiss.

Zane huffed a laugh that may or may not have been wet and rested his forehead on her shoulder, "I can assure you I mean to do no such thing."

Yuki mewed and rammed his head against Zane's leg, impatient and practically buzzing with unadulterated happiness. Zane glanced down at the cat swishing his tail far below and gasped a happy laugh, bending down and scooping him up in one graceful swoop. "You've grown, little one."

Zane's steel arms were hard, not really comfortable like they used to be, but Yuki hardly cared. Zane held him like he had the first time he rescued him, and he felt safe. It was safe. Yuki melted into the embrace and purred, bumping his head under Zane's chin.

"How are you going to tell the other ninja?" Pixal asked quietly, "Other and Lloyd I haven't seen any of them for months."

"Hm," Zane stroked Yuki's fur thoughtfully, "I concluded they may have grown apart after… everything. I want to go to them as soon as possible." He glanced over at the window, at the ink-black sky illuminated by sporadic skyscrapers in the distance. "If you still have the coordinates for the Bounty, I can be there by the time the sun is up."

Pixal checked her pad, "The Bounty is currently situated on the east side of Ninjago city, just south of the bay."

"Closer than I thought," Zane murmured to himself, still standing in front of the massive window. "I have time."

He glanced at the clock then back at Pixal. He grinned. "Let's dance."

Pixal blinked. "What?"

"Dancing," Zane rattled off, snatching her pad from her hands and swiping through it intently, "to move rhythmically to music, typically following a set sequence of steps."

Pixal rolled her eyes, crossing her arms unimpressed, "I am aware of what dancing is, Zane. But why?"

"I have been stuck in the digiverse for six months," Zane selected a song and set Yuki down on the workbench, who circled himself twice before settling down to watch, "I want to do something human."

He held out his hand to the still unimpressed-looking Pixal, giving her puppy eyes that would have made Lloyd beam with pride, rather putting Yuki to shame. The music started up. Pixal gave him a look, but reluctantly took his hand as he spun her into the little clearing by the window.

"I have no data on dancing, Zane," Pixal muttered as they shifted back and forth, the smaller robot planted stubbornly in place as she gripped Zane's hands.

Zane just smiled patiently, "neither do I," he admitted. "But I've seen Garmadon and Misako do it. They were good."

The music played on softly while Yuki watched the two dance in the silhouetted window, rain still thrumming gently down the glass. After a while, Pixal's cement feet loosened and she let Zane lead across the floor, not without an occasional stumble on both parties' part.

Soon the music began to fade and the two nindroids stood facing each other, hand in hand, foreheads touching. Yuki sighed, wrapping his tail around his body, savoring the way this moment felt unequivocally right and wishing it would last forever.

All at once the music cut and darkness collapsed on the three as the power shut off.

Yuki jumped and whipped his head around, hissing and fur bristling. The nindroids blinked in surprise and flipped their eyes into makeshift blue and green flashlights, looking around the murky workspace.

"Did the generators blow out?" Zane asked, a caution message popping up in his vision as he bent over to a monitor viewing the security feeds in the corner of the room. Dead as a doornail.

In the darkness, Pixel shook her head. "Cyrus designed those generators. They do not just blow out." She peered out the window thirty stories above the glowing streets. "It's only Borg's Tower. The rest of the block is still operational."

An echoing crash resounded from somewhere above them, echo pulsing like a heartbeat through the factory until it petered out into silence.

"The factory is closed for the night," Worry laced into Pixel's whisper. "No one should be in here right now."

Zane let out a small breath of air, eyes fixed on the high-up rafters as he silently padded over to Pixal and slipped his hand into hers. He looked at her and put a finger to his lips. Yuki shivered with that growing, all-too-familiar feeling that something was very wrong. He rose to creep closer to Zane. Come hell or high water, he was not getting separated from Zane ever again. Zane glanced at him and quickly held up a hand, shaking his head. The cat stopped, confused but obeyed, crouching low to the table.

Another crash, this time a pulley hook dropped down, chain falling into a coil at the two nindroid's feet. All three looked up to see someone perched overhead on a beam peering back down at them.

"You are trespassing on a restricted area," Zane called up calmly. "I have a direct line to the authorities. I suggest you come down before I report you."

After a tense minute, the person sighed, clambered down various machine equipment, and jumped to the ground with a defeated grunt. "Must be getting old," he muttered as he pulled out a cigarette.

Zane looked the stranger up and down, he tried to do a face recognition scan beneath the man's red straw hat and scarf. Nothing came up. The guy looked up from his lighter and gave a half-smile, pulling back his greasy hair out of his eyes. "So you're what this is all about." He strolled around the nindroid, crafty eyes shifting unnervingly back and forth like a shark, smoke trailing out his nose.

"I must ask you to leave the premises, or else we will be forced to remove you from this establishment." Pixal's voice returned to its usual flat, even drawl.

The man barked out a laugh and knocked the ashes off his cigarette. "'Fraid not, sweetheart. This deal is just way too good to pass up." He pulled a rod from a fold in his coat that crackled blue sparks at the end. Both nindroids took a step back. Zane darkened.

"You will leave. Now. This is your final warning," He glowered, stepping in front of Pixal.

The intruder scoffed and tossed away his burnt stub. "Night-night, big fella." The guy took a wide swing, blue light arching in a direct path to Zane's head. He blocked it as Pixal kicked her feet out to sweep the enemy's feet, who scrambled back with a surprised eye raise. Zane caught the second swing and twisted his wrist till the cane clattered to the ground with a pained gasp from its owner. The man just scowled at the ice master and swung his fist, probably acting on instinct, and met a tower of titanium to snap his knuckles.

He shrieked and cradled his hand, stumbling back with a shocked look on his face as he stumbled to the floor.

A split second was all it took for the intruder to snatch his rod and ram it into Zane's leg. Yuki shrieked as the white ninja's leg buckled, Zane crying out and falling to a knee.

Pixal's eyes flashed as she dove at the enemy and sent them both tumbling over each other. Pixal grabbed a metal pipe from a pile of scrap and flung it at the guy groaning on his back, rolling out of the way just in time.

"Look it's nothing-," He ducked at Pixel's second attempt to clobber him, "It's nothing personal, I've got a stupid rich client who's willing to pay through the nose for this guy, so if it's alright with you I'm just gonna-"

Zane gave a quick whistle to get the thief's attention, who whipped around to face the nindroid-

-who in turn nailed a punch to the thief's face so hard there was an audible crunch of the bone surrounding his right eye socket beneath Zane's titanium fist. the stranger's head snapped back at the force as he staggered back for a couple of beats before crumpling neatly to the floor.

Zane rushed up to Pixel and began to check her over for injuries. "Are you alright?" Concern etched on his face. Pixel waved his hand away dismissively, and looked down at Zane's charred pant leg, warped metal peeking out angrily.

"I am fine," he waved aside. "The police are on their way. Can you-"

Pixal's eyes flew open, "-Zane! Look out-!"

Too late.

Zane turned just in time to meet the crackling blue cane, seizing at the surge of electricity thrumming through his body, frying his circuits.

Finally, the enemy pulled the rod away and Zane's entire frame shuttered before collapsing.

"Well," the man in the red hat sat up on his elbow, still clutching his busted eye and panting, "That probably didn't feel great." He struggled to his feet, stepped over Zane's body, and lumbered toward Pixel as his cane sputtered blue sparks, "but I don't feel very bad about it either."

Dun dun dun! Ronin's here!

Yeah, can you tell I've never written romance? If you're curious, Zane and Pixal danced to my very favorite song: Dancing Cheek to Cheek, ft Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. If you've never heard it before, look it up, you won't regret it:)

Just a wee head cannon that Dr. Julian helped Cyrus Borg build Pixal to be a friend for Zane, since he knew the doctor didn't have long for this world. Is it inaccurate? Yes. Is it canon? Nope. Do I think it's adorable? Heck yeah.

As this is the longest chapter I've written so far I would so love to hear what you liked/didn't like. Don't feel any pressure, I just love receiving feedback:) Now go have a lovely day!