Time went by at a snail's pace as the boy and the android sat on Jay's bed, Cole's sleek black laptop in front of them. They had been searching webpage after webpage of inventors and engineers and anyone remotely close; viewing the work they had done. So many tabs had been opened in hope, only to be closed again with those hopes crushed. None of the robotic projects these people had made were anywhere near as advanced and intricate as Zane. None of them lived remotely near Ninjago City, anyway. With an annoyed sigh, Jay flopped backwards, glaring up at the ceiling. He groaned in frustration, dragging his hands down his face.

"I agree," Zane mumbled. "This endeavour is proving to be futile."

"It's... it's just gonna take a while. I mean, your dad might not even have a profile on the internet."

Zane's shoulders slumped, closing yet another tab. "Jay..."

"Yeah?"

"What if..." Zane took a deep breath. "What if we never find him?"

Jay was back to sitting up at lightning speed, ignoring his spinning head as he looked his new friend in the eye. "We're going to find him, Zane. I promise you."

It hadn't occurred to him at first, but Jay had now realised why helping to find Zane's 'father' was so important to him - aside from the fact that he was helping out a friend in need. Ever since Jay had found out that he was adopted, he had longed to know who his biological parents were, and he was never told. His father claimed they didn't know. It wasn't that his parents 'weren't enough' for him or anything like that, but he just wanted to know. Helping the android find its 'family' was kind of like him living vicariously through it.

"As comforting as that is, Jay, it does not answer my question."

"Then... you can stay with me. If you want. I mean, I don't know if you can come to school with me, but you could stay with my parents. They would freaking love you."

"Not like your friend?"

"Not at all."

The two were so engrossed in their conversation and their task that the footsteps and rolling noise coming down the hallway went unnoticed. Jay's heart stopped when he heard someone fumbling at the doorknob and he pushed Zane unceremoniously off the bed. After a split second of confusion, Zane rolled back under the piece of furniture; this was going to take some getting used to...

Jay slammed the laptop shut, not wanting to answer questions as to why he was looking up inventors. When the door opened, however, it was not one of his roommates, but Jacob Pevsner. Jay heaved a sigh of relief.

"Wrong dorm, Jacob," Jay called. Another student passing by snickered at the blind boy's mistake and Jay scowled in disgust. Then it dawned on him - if Jacob was here, that meant that the Music class must have been let out early... which meant lunch was soon. Jay felt sick to his stomach.

"Oh, not again," Jacob mumbled. "Hey, are you okay Jay? Fall of your bed or something?"

"Uh... yeah!" Jay lied. "I was laughing so hard cause I just saw a really funny video-" He stopped talking abruptly, cringing. He never knew if that was an okay thing to say to his totally blind classmate. "Want me to take you back to your own dorm?" He looked at the alarm clock on his bedside table. "There's still a few minutes 'til lunch, most rooms are probably empty, and I'd hate for you to get lost in the wrong one."

"That's true... only if you don't mind though, Jay," Jacob answered, smiling in the direction of Jay's voice. He wasn't too far off, Jay mused as he slid off the bed, making sure to drag some of the blankets down with him. He had to make sure the edge of the bed was covered so no one could see Zane.

"So, I'll just walk you down the hall," Jay said loudly, looking over to the bed as he approached the door. "And then I'll be right back." Zane's hand came out from under the blankets and gave him a thumbs up; it got the message. Clever robot.

"...Why are you talking like that?" Jacob asked, puzzled as Jay steered him back into the hallway.

"Uh - you know me! Always talking," he laughed nervously. "Chatterbox Jay!" Now in the hallway, he guided Jacob's free hand to his elbow and they set off to his dorm, further down the hallway. Zane watched their feet disappear from view, wondering if Jay noticed that he had forgotten to close the door behind them.

Another thing that Jay hadn't noticed was that Cole's laptop was now teetering off the side of the bed, due to him dragging the blankets to the side. It fell with a loud thud a few seconds later. Zane pondered returning it to its position on the bed, but let go of the thought immediately when an unfamiliar pair of shoes entered his line of sight, walking into the room.

"Ugh. Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" Cole shouted, picking his laptop up off the ground. He was totally fine with his friend using it, since he couldn't afford his own, but come on, it was common decency to look after other people's things! He sat down on his own bed, located beside Jay's. He opened the laptop, checking that it still worked. Fortunately, it did - to say his father would be very cross with him if it wasn't would be an understatement. Cole raised an eyebrow at Jay's browsing choices, but minimised the window and began working on his Music homework.

Zane shuffled as quietly as possible to the side of the bed furthest away from Cole. Don't be seen.

"Okay, Zz-!" Jay shouted, sprinting back into the room. He cut himself off when he saw Cole. "Z-zeesh," he said, trying to make something out of the start of Zane's name. "We should really speak to Lloyd's uncle about getting some Braille around this place!" he exclaimed, pretending to be annoyed.

"Yeah, or at least Jacob's parents should pay for him to get a helper android," Cole added. "The government helps pay for it if they can't afford it. Jacob could really use one." All this time, he didn't look up from the document he was typing. "Hey Jay? Can ya please look after my stuff when you use it? I mean seriously, who leaves a laptop on the floor?"

"Ah - sorry, Cole! It must've fallen off the bed when I went to help Jacob. It's... all good, right?"

"Yeah. Just... be more careful next time. And hey, what's with the research?"

"Oh - uh..." Cole was now looking at him expectantly. He'd have to take a risk and lie. Surely there was no way Cole would pick up on it, like Zane had earlier. "You remember that trip to Borg Industries I applied for? Well, I heard a rumour that some other inventors might be coming too, to show off their stuff. So, I uh, thought I'd look up some to see what it's all about." This wasn't a total lie; there was a trip to the headquarters of Borg Industries, Borg Tower, that he had applied to go to - and there was a chance that the attending students would get to meet Cyrus Borg himself!

"Jay Walker, doing research, huh?" Cole chuckled. "And here I thought I knew everything about you."

"I'm just full of surprises," Jay laughed. "And besides, I was bored."

"So, I take it you've finished your History assignment?" Jay's face paled, and Cole rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Dude! History is next period and Mrs G is NOT going to let you off the hook. Maybe you shoulda been doing that instead of goofing off about a trip you might not even get to go on!"

"I... I know." Jay wasn't sure what hurt more; Cole's reprimand and final statement, or the fact that he couldn't tell his best friend the truth. "Can you help me finish off the project, Cole? I really don't know how to talk about how the stupid myths of snake people - Serpentine? - influenced olden days people."

"Sure thing," Cole said, gesturing for Jay to sit beside him. He located Jay's folder on his desktop and opened up the History assignment. He gave it a quick scan and winced. "This... is gonna take some time. You owe me big time for this AND missing out on lunch, Jay."

The brunette laughed. "I'll get my mum to bring you some of her cake. Anything you choose."

"Heck yeah! ...And, Jay...?"

Cole looked up from the laptop at his friend, who was confused by the look of regret in his eyes.

"I'm sorry about what I said. You can be really freaking dumb sometimes," Cole said, gesturing to the document. "But you're absolutely brilliant with technology. Whoever decides on who gets to go would be an absolute idiot if they didn't choose you to go on the Borg Tower tour."

"Even if-?"

"Even if it were Cyrus Borg himself. Now, hurry, let's get to work..."

Anger.

They were shouts of anger and hatred, the most hostile attitudes he'd ever seen. Why they were suddenly directing their hostility to him, he couldn't figure out. He had merely asked if they knew of a man named Cyrus Borg, and if so, where he could be found. And then before he knew it, he was knocked to the ground, a group of people kicking his head and sides as he begged them to stop. He felt something go loose in his chest and then

everything

went

black.

The last he'd heard, Cyrus had moved to the city. So, it was off to Ninjago City he went. After about a month of travelling on foot, he finally found the place. It was huge and he was overwhelmed by the vast expanse of tall buildings shooting up into the sky. Also overwhelming was the quick hustle and bustle of the Ninjago City citizen out on the streets. He'd been wandering around all day by now; if he were human, his feet would be in terrible pain. He was starting to grow hopeless. He'd have to ask for help; he'd never seen a place like this before. His whole life, he'd never been to a city - maybe a village once or twice, but his whole life had been spent in...

A forest.

There was nothing he could do but stand there and watch as everything he'd ever known was hauled out of the house; taken up the winding stairs and loaded into trucks that were waiting out in the snow. He wasn't even allowed to keep his father's personal items, papers or blueprints. All he had were some old photographs, hastily stuffed into the pocket of his jeans before anyone had seen them.

"This was not in his will," Zane informed them. They did not listen. Strong men continued carrying everything up the stairs while two others watched the procession, making sure everything was in order. "Father did not want this-"

One of the two men scoffed, checking something off his clipboard. "'Father'. You're an android. Julien had no children; you're a possession. And he had no other family or friends. Everything is either going to the bank or to the Ninjago City Science Committee." He looked up from his clipboard at Zane. "Including - and especially - you."

"W-what?!" Zane recoiled. "No - Father left the house and everything to me, you can't take me-"

"Just sit there and shut up or we'll shut you off. You'll be going last. There's someone on the Committee interested in you; he doesn't want you damaged. If you're good," he said in a patronising voice. "We'll leave you powered on."

Zane was perplexed. This couldn't be happening. How could this be happening? How could these people disrespect his father's wishes? And how could they treat him this way? They were treating him like he was... lesser. A... a possession, as they'd called him earlier. His systems were going crazy; he was so nervous and upset that he couldn't think properly. This in turn was causing him to overheat, so he began to take some deep breaths, bringing in the cool air of the underground house. Now cooled down, he was able to function a bit better, though he was still on edge. He had to get out of here, he couldn't let them take him. But if there was someone 'interested' in him, where could he go? What could he do?

Cyrus.

Cyrus would help him. He was sure of it.

Zane waited until the man who had talked to him before was distracted, shouting at one of his men for dropping something, and made a run for it. He bolted as fast as he could up the stairs and out the door, the calls to grab him only egging him on, making him run faster. Thanks to his overall paleness, they would not have an easy time finding him amongst the heavy snow of Birchwood Forest.

His father had been ill for a long time now. His movements were slow, his breathing laboured. Zane no longer cooked for him out of the love of cooking, but out of necessity. Once steady, precise hands that had been used once upon a time to create so much, had become shaky and fragile. On bad days, Zane had to feed his father himself.

"It's funny how the tables have turned," his father chuckled weakly one night, wheezing.

Zane looked at him in confusion and distress. Perhaps he was losing his mind, too. "There is nothing funny about this, Father-"

His father smiled. "It's an expression, my boy." He sighed. "I used to look after you, and now, here you are, looking after me. I just wish you didn't have to see me like this. It breaks my heart-" He coughed heavily. "T-to think of you having to see me like this, h-having to go through this..."

His condition only worsened as time went by. He refused to let Zane take him to the hospital, however.

"Zane..." His words were becoming harder and harder to make out. The android rushed for the phone. He hated to go against his father's wishes, but he could no longer stand this. "...I'm so proud of y-you-" Another coughing fit.

Clasping his father's hand, Zane dialled the emergency number and cried for an ambulance. His father did not object. The woman on the other end of the line heard the distress in his voice, and asked him questions, trying to keep his mind occupied. She had no idea he was an android and could think of many things at once.

"Your father's going to be okay, I promise. What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Z-Zane," he replied through a sob, squeezing his father's hand.

"Well, don't you worry your little heart, Zane. Your father is going to get the best medical care in the country."

In the agonising moments after Zane had hung up the phone, his father's breathing steadily became quieter and quieter.

"No, no, no! Stay with me Father, please!" Zane cried, kneeling by the bedside. Artificial tears began rolling down his cheeks. "P-please don't you leave me t-too!" He felt like a small child, his head now nestled in his father's arms. Zane had no intention to leave that spot until the ambulance arrived.

Zane's father tightened the hug, but only just barely. His last words were barely a whisper. "I love you, son."

His grip had completely loosened and yet Zane still did not move. It was completely illogical, but he refused to accept the truth as he sat there, bawling. A loud whirring noise was heard above; they lived too far away from the city so a helicopter was sent instead of an actual ambulance. But it was too late. They were too late. He was gone. He was gone. He was gone. Zane tried to drum it into his head as reluctantly left his father's embrace to let them in. The paramedics brought down their equipment, and tried with no luck to restart his father's heart.

One of the paramedics sat with Zane at the foot of the long staircase, rubbing circles on his back as she tried to both calm him down and collect information at the same time.

"Who was that?" she asked. Zane sobbed even harder at the use of the past tense. He was gone. He was definitely gone.

Zane was all alone.

"M-my father, Dr. Hans Julien."