Hello, Everyone! This one-shot, unfortunately, does not feature C.J. in it but is instead focused on Zane and Echo. I hope you all enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago.

The middle of the night was usually a time for sleep. When the body would rest and regenerate. It would help to cure sickness, make it so that the brain can function better, aid in the body's ability to do what it is supposed to do, and much more. The ninja, especially, needed their sleep. Training and missions took a lot out of them, and they needed those eight or more hours of rest and regeneration. Even Zane, a nindroid, needed his sleep. It was a time for his anxious thoughts to rest, so they could reset in the morning. So it wouldn't be as stressful. Pixal didn't fully understand this, but she enjoyed that time of silence she had. It allowed for her to wake up the next day ready to complete brand new challenges and build new things.

Tonight, though, Zane couldn't sleep, despite him knowing how important it was. He couldn't define why, but he felt that he was needed. That he should be doing something, but he couldn't tell what. What would he need to do? Everyone else was asleep. There was no mission. Pixal did not need help on a project. Neither did Nya or Jay. Wu had not informed him of any task that needed to be done. He had no breakfast recipes that needed to be started this early to be ready by morning. There was no bet or dare he had accepted from Kai. No one had asked him any favors. It bothered the nindroid that he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Suddenly, he heard a noise. It sounded like a groan. His groan. No, not his groan. Echo's groan. The battle against Unagami had taken place only one day ago. Echo had returned on that same day, and he was supposed to be sleeping in the room across from Zane's, but it sounded like, much like his brother, he was having trouble with that.

Now at peace, knowing what he needed to do, the ninja of ice quietly went to his brother's room, and just as he suspected, the younger nindroid was not in his bed. Instead, he appeared to be training. He was repeatedly punching a small punching bag hanging from the ceiling, but not very hard.

"Echo?" Zane asked.

The younger nindroid jumped slightly at the mention of his name. Without looking to Zane, he sighed as he rested his head on the punching bag.

"Apologies," the master of ice said. "I did not mean to startle you."

"It is quite alright," Echo replied.

A moment of silence as Zane waited for his brother to sit down on his bed, ready for whatever it was his older brother needed to talk to him about.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"I was wondering why you were not asleep," Zane replied.

"I am an android. I mean, nindroid. I do not need sleep," was Echo's response.

"Really?"

"Of course. Do you?"

"Not physically. But I've always found sleeping during the night to be very calming."

"So why are you not asleep now?"

"I do not know," Zane admitted. "I felt I needed to do something, but I do not know what." Now, that wasn't fully a lie. Sure, he knew that he needed to help his brother, but with what, he had no idea.

"Perhaps I can help," Echo suggested. He seemed very eager at the idea of aiding Zane in whatever it is he needed. "Is there any cleaning you need to get done?"

After a long moment of thought, Zane remembered one chore that he had not completed in a very long time that desperately needed to get done. If he decided to do it now instead of in the morning as he had originally planned, he may be able to help Echo with whatever it was that was bothering him.

"Oh, yes. I was supposed to do the dishes before I started with breakfast in the morning," Zane explained.

"Can you not wait until morning to do that?" Echo asked.

"Yes," Zane replied, "but I enjoy getting my work done ahead of time."

"Well, then. If it's bothering you, may I help?"

"Of course."

The two had made their way to the kitchen and quickly realized that there were much more dishes that needed to be cleaned than usual. Most likely as a result of Zane being absent from the monastery for most of the last few days in an effort to find Milton Dyer. Maybe this was a good idea to do the dishes so late at night.

"Perhaps we should put in some funds for a dishwasher," Zane stated as he started scrubbing an incredibly dirty plate to no avail.

"What is a dishwasher?" Echo asked.

"It is a machine that washes the dishes for you. It saves a lot of time."

"Father made something very similar to that when we lived in the lighthouse. He made a bunch of small robot arms that scrubbed, washed, and rinsed our dishes for us. Along with Tai-D, who used to clean up the rest of our things. It saved us any time we needed for inventing."

"What sort of things did you invent?"

"Tai-D was our first creation. Then, there were a few other smaller robots. Eventually, we started working on a plan to take out the Leviathan so we could escape the lighthouse and get back to you. We built many small robots and programmed them to fight, but they were all destroyed."

"I am sorry."

Silence passed over the brothers as Echo remembered his lost creations.

Finally, in an effort to lighten the mood, Zane asked, "What else did you and father do together?"

Echo's face darkened at the question, and the ice master knew he had made a mistake.

Just as Zane was about to say that Echo did not have to answer the question if he didn't want to, Echo replied saying, "Father and I stopped spending time together after our failed escape."

He paused a moment, and the white ninja was about to ask him a different question so as to change the subject, but Echo continued, giving an explanation for his previous sentence by saying, "I overheard him speaking with Tai-D one night. He told him that things were better with you. Of course, I knew that was true as when he lived with you, he wasn't imprisoned at the same time, but he elaborated further saying that I was not built as well as you were, so I could never compare. This fact is also true. He had access to more parts when he built you. I was scrounged up from scrap metal. But it still hurt. I became angry with Father and stopped speaking to him, and he didn't seem to care. One day, I decided to seclude myself to the basement, but the rusty door down there refused to open, and I became trapped. Father never found me. I was down there for years by myself until Tai-D found me one day and helped me out. By that time, Father had already left the lighthouse. Harumi found me about a year later and offered me a position as one of her generals. As you could see...I accepted."

The ice master placed a hand on his younger brother's drooped shoulder, but Echo shook it off.

Zane sighed before saying, "I understand you feel guilty."

"How could you possibly understand?" Echo asked. "You're the original model. You're the perfect one. The one that can do no wrong."

"While I am flattered you would think that of me, that is far from the truth."

"Really?" the way he asked that question made it seem that he did not believe Zane in the slightest.

"Of course."

The ninja of ice paused for a moment, wondering whether or not he should tell his brother about what had been plaguing his thoughts that day. But when he saw the look on Echo's face, he realized that the younger of the two truly thought he was alone in what he had gone through. He needed to know that wasn't the case.

"I committed many acts that I am not proud of," Zane began to explain. "I was known as a tyrant called the Ice Emperor."

This gained Echo's attention.

"I ruled the Never-Realm. One of the parallel realms to Ninjago with the help of a man named Vex. I froze many people. All of which were innocent. Some did not survive," Zane recounted.

"Why? What happened?" Echo asked.

"My memory banks had been erased by Vex, and he manipulated me into thinking that I was the rightful ruler of the Never-Realm. That, along with the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu's corruption caused me to do things, which I will never cease to regret."

Silence fell over the two once again. And then, a sniffle from the younger nindroid. By the time Zane looked over to his little brother, though, his tears were already gone.

Then, he asked, "Do you ever feel guilt for those things?"

"Of course," Zane replied. "I find it hard to sleep at night because of it at times. But Pixal insists that I should not be blamed due to the manipulation I endured that got me to do those horrible things."

"Do you believe she is correct?"

"I didn't use to."

"What changed your mind?"

"A few things. One was the realization that I would not be able to live my life if I continued thinking of the past only. I would not be able to correct my mistake if I thought of myself only as that horrible dictator."

Echo thought about this for a moment before saying, "Go on."

Zane stifled a small chuckle, but this went unnoticed by his brother.

He then said, "None of my brothers judged me for the acts I had committed. They held no contempt against me, and they never felt it necessary to stay away from me."

"Why not?"

"Because they knew I was not truly that person. They knew that I felt guilty for the things I had done, and that I knew those things are wrong. They are also aware that I would never do anything like that again. In fact, Lloyd is the one who saved me."

"He had already forgiven you, even when you were still doing it?" Echo asked.

"Their faith in me has made me believe that I can be better," Zane explained.

"That is good, Brother," Echo nodded slightly.

"And then there's you."

"Me? What have I done to help?"

"I realized that you were in a very similar situation. You were Mr. E. A member of the Sons of Garmadon. You helped to bring Garmadon back from the Departed Realm and in turn, hurt a lot of people. You were manipulated, just as I was."

"I do not believe those are the same."

"How is it any different?"

"You did not choose to be the Ice Emperor, I chose to be Mr. E."

"I chose to follow Vex because I had nowhere else to go. Just as you chose to be Mr. E because you did not want to live in the lighthouse any longer, is that correct?"

Echo stammered. "Well, you were under the influence of a magic scroll that corrupted you."

"Did Harumi not reprogram you in any way?"

"She did."

"And did she not erase some of your memories as Vex did with me?"

"I believe she did."

"Then I am sorry, Brother, but I fail to see any differences in our wrongdoings."

"Why are you telling me these things?" Echo questioned.

"Do you blame me for what I did as the Ice Emperor?" Zane questioned back.

"Of course not," Echo replied.

"Then why do you blame yourself?"

"Because it was me."

Zane sighed. He understood his brother's pain all too well, and he wished so badly that he could help him. But first, Echo needed to know that he was there to help.

"I understand. I feel this way all the time, but you must remember that we are here for you when you need us," the ice master explained.

"Thank you, Brother," Echo replied. "Perhaps we can be there for each other."

"I would like that very much," Zane said. "Just as soon as we finish with these dishes."

"Of course," was Echo's response.

Together, the two brother's worked to complete their chore, having peace in knowing that they finally had someone they could talk to.

I hope you all enjoyed that one-shot. The next one should be out sometime this weekend or next week, hopefully. If you have a request for a one-shot, leave a review.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead