When Zane opened his eyes again, he was overwhelmed by light. It was so bright; he had to blink several times before his eyes adjusted to the light. When the brightness faded, he saw he was sitting upright on a table, likely a dinner table, he soon saw. His new friends were standing around him, and he got a chance to really see what they looked like. He saw that the dark haired girl was the only female in the group. She, wearing gray, was leaning on the auburn haired boy's shoulder. Zane now saw that he had freckles splattered all over his smiling and rosy cheeks. He was dressed in a brilliant blue. On his right was a burly, black-haired boy, dressed in black and orange. Directly in front of him stood a blonde boy dressed head to toe in green. His intelligent green eyes almost matched his attire. He looked like he might be the youngest. On his left was a tan, smirking boy in firey red. His brown hair was chaotically spiked upwards, giving him a peculiar look. And, finally, closest to Zane was his sliver-colored copy, dressed in white and electric blue, like his eyes.

"Hello." Zane said, surprising himself with the clearness of that word. He looked down at himself. Joints had been replaced, broken rods had been repaired, and doubtless, other things had been repaired internally. "You fixed me. Thank you."

"Of course!" the girl said in a ringing voice. "Zane and Pixal did a really good job," she gushed.

"Who?"

"Okay, first things first:" the red one said confidently. "Introductions." He cleared his throat dramatically. "I'm Kai."

"I'm Jay!" The blue one announced, flinging his arms wide, nearly missing the dark-haired girl on his shoulder. She sighed and pushed his arm down so she could be seen.

"Nya," she said, defeatedly. "I look out for this one. He likes to land himself in trouble." She smirked and gave him a playful push.

"I'm Lloyd," the blonde one said. "I guess you could say I'm the leader around here." The group nodded.

The black one raised his large hand, "Cole," he announced in a gritty voice.

"You better watch out for him," Kai interrupted. "He'll ruin all your fun." Cole looked slightly offended.

"I will not."

"He is known to be a party pooper," Zane's copy smirked, glancing at Cole, who let out a raucous laugh.

"Zane! You're not supposed to take his side!" he chuckled.

Zane raised his hand. "Why are you calling him Zane?"

"That's his name!" Jay said with a freckled grin.

"But that's my name."

"Uh, no, you're Echo Zane!"

"Jay!" Nya hissed. "How is he supposed to know the name we gave him?"

"Why is he, Zane, and I, Echo Zane?"

"Because he was here first!" Jay said before Nya could clap a hand over his mouth.

Zane's face dropped and his eyes grew wide. He looked at the floor, trying to understand. His copy had… been first? Zane… was the copy?

"Let me try," Zane— that is, the real Zane— said. "Dr. Julien created me 54 years ago. Much later, in his old age, someone separated us and moved our father into the lighthouse. After a while… And then… So he…" he paused.

"…missed you and built me." Echo Zane finished flatly.

"No, Echo…" Nya started to say.

"No, it is really ok." Echo said. He looked up at the real Zane. "So we are brothers. You are Zane, and I am Echo Zane."

Zane sighed. "I suppose."

—

"This is the brig," Jay was telling Echo. It had been Lloyd's idea for Jay to give Echo a tour of the Destiny's Bounty, and they immediately sprang to it in an attempt to diffuse the awkward situation. Now Echo's clunky steps graced the floor of the brig. "It's where we drive the ship. But don't touch any of these buttons or Nya will have your head," Jay said playfully.

"Have my head?" Echo asked.

"It's an expression, Echo! It means she's so mad that she'd, she'd wish— oh nevermind." He moved on to the last location in their tour: the deck. But as Jay bounced down the stairs Echo heard him mutter, "It really is just like Zane all over again." Echo's heart ticked out of time again, and he stopped following Jay for a short second. Then he realized Jay did not know he had heard, and slowly toddled after him. Once he made it down the small flight of steps, Jay spread his arms, gesturing to the deck and said, "And this is the deck! Here's where we train, get fresh air, sunbathe, do yoga…" But Jay's babbling faded away as Echo looked out at the horizon. It was quite beautiful. He never saw such sights in the lighthouse. The sky seemed so close. Then he looked down and was surprised to find, they weren't on the water! The sea lay approximately 30 feet below them as they sped through only air. Jay came up beside Echo. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, this ship is so awesome, IT CAN FLY!" He grinned in the way that Echo was quickly realizing only Jay could. "Well, I gotta go up and help Lloyd with laundry, blegh. But you can stay here as long's you like!" and he bounced off. Echo watched him go. Jay was certainly a strange boy, Echo thought. He turned to look at the horizon again, and Jay's words started spinning through his mind. 'It really is just like Zane all over again.' Echo put his head in his hands. He heard Zane's words next. 'Dr. Julien created me 54 years ago.' Jay again: 'He was here first!' Then Zane,

"You don't look well Echo."

Echo snapped up, startled. Zane stood looking at him, and that concerned expression was back.

"No, I am operating quite effi—fi—ficiently." Echo said a little too quickly.

"Really, Echo?"

Echo looked down at the sea below them again. He tried to say something, but the words would not come out. Next to him, Zane kept waiting patiently, not saying a word. Eventually Echo was able to squeak something out.

"A copy? … Is that really… all that I am?" Echo whimpered. "I'm a replacement?"

"Oh no, … Echo." Zane put his hand gently on his brother's shoulder. "Of course not."

"We do not know that!" Echo spluttered, jerking away from Zane's hand. "We do not know why father built me," he said, eyes back on the sea. He searched his code for any reason, any purpose his father had given for building him. He could find nothing but the familiar, old: 'Protect those who cannot protect themselves' but unlike other times he had searched for his purpose, he now wondered if there was another hidden motive. Perhaps, 'Replace the boy that I spent so much time on and love so much more.' Now that he was free from the lighthouse, surely, he could find his father and ask him himself. Ask him why he had left without finishing him, ask him why he had been built in the first place, ask him if he really was just a replacement. Because things were looking dreadfully suspicious.

Zane blinked his blue eyes at the horizon and broke the silence. "And I'm afraid to say we may never know."

"What?" Echo turned to look at Zane. "We cannot go and ask him? Where is—" But he stopped suddenly when he saw Zane's sad eyes. He stuttered, trying to connect the dots. "He… You said.. so.. he's not…" Echo experienced a feeling he hadn't felt before, he felt his heart was in his throat and his face felt hot.

"He has passed away." Zane finished. Echo didn't know what to do or how to feel. He would never see his father. He felt like his systems would collapse in grief. He would never know… he would never know anything, it seemed. He felt empty, defeated. He teetered sideways, losing his balance for a minute. He righted himself, the floor still spinning. He looked at the horizon and clenched his fists awkwardly. Zane put his hands on his younger brother's hunched shoulders. "Death is inevitable—"

"Go away," Echo mumbled.

He was a copy. He was a replacement. He had to be. His father was dead and he didn't want the obviously far superior version of himself anywhere near him.

"Pardon?"

"Go AWAY!" Echo yelled, sprinting across the deck, up the stairs and blasting through the door that led to the cabins. He took large running steps through the wooden corridor, filling the hall with loud footsteps, finally bursting into the room Jay had shown him that contained the bunk beds. He sped to one in the farthest corner and scrambled up, throwing himself on the red sheet. It flashed across his mind that Kai may not like him on his bed, but soon all the emotions came flooding back. Emotions he could not understand, emotions he was not equipped to process, filled his sensors. He curled up into a ball, trying not to black out under feelings of grief, jealousy, anger, and uncertainty.

—-

Some time later, Echo heard footsteps and the sound of someone turning the door handle.

"Echo?" Kai came in, and spotted Echo sitting on his bunk. "Hey, I just wanted to see if you were alright." Echo was surprised at Kai's tone of voice. It was quite gentle and compassionate compared to his usual tone. Then he considered the question he had been asked. Echo actually felt much better after that first onset of emotions. He looked down at Kai.

"Truthfully, I feel better," he said.

"Oh, good." Kai said, reverting slightly back to his usual voice. "I just wanted to let you borrow something that used to help Zane when he was feeling emotional." He held up a small tablet-like device. "This is my phone. I've got it open to an app that will play music."

"Music?"

"Yeah, you know," and he tapped on the phone's screen. The room was instantly filled with sound. Beautiful sounds that wove themselves into melodies that soared and complemented each other in fantastic ways. He felt like he was seeing sound. It filled him with another emotion he could not describe, but not an unpleasant one.

"It's classical," Kai shrugged. "Not my favorite, but Cole seems to like it."

"I do not quite understand," Echo said. "But I like it." He reached down to accept the gift. Looking at the small tablet, he tapped a button with several arrows and a new song played. This one was lower and slower, but still sounded happy and pleasant. Pure, strong, and low tones dominated the piece, fitting together perfectly in four-part harmony.

"I think that's brass," Kai said.

"Brass." Echo echoed. (AN: hehehehehehehe)

"Well, I'll leave you to it!" Kai said awkwardly, swinging his arms as he made his way to the doorway. And Echo Zane was left alone with himself, his thoughts, and the wonderful music.