One month. One month I had been living on the Destiny's Bounty. And for an entire month, I had assumed that my identity was known only by Zane and myself.

It was the last day of October, and there was a chill in the air. Yet in the woods by the stream, a shirtless human sparred with me furiously, dodging my fists— or at least, what could count as fists on the suit.

"Are you not cold?" I asked, throwing Cole another punch. It was against the rules of Training Week to use any weapons, not even mentioning the danger using blades would entail. (Technically, the ninja weren't supposed to use any armor, either. But then again, I technically wasn't a ninja.)

"Are you kidding? I'm sweating bullets," he laughed, barely dodging a swift kick at his side. "I love training when it's cold outside."

"I'm glad to hear that," I said in an almost perky manner, then immediately regretted the statement. I was supposed to be the deadpan, serious one. But his cheerful disposition was infectious.

"Hey, do you know if Jay's fixed the refrigerator yet?" he asked, ignoring my out-of-character comment. "I've been on a cake withdrawal for, like, a month, and I don't know how much longer I can last." He swung at my side, forcing me to back into a tree.

"I actually did some work on it this morning," I responded. There was something strangely calming about carrying on a conversation while we attempted to pummel each other. I briefly wondered if this was why the ninja frequently made bad puns during battle. I'd previously thought that they were nothing but distraction, but if talking made them feel more at ease and prevented excessive adrenaline, perhaps their fighting skills were not hindered by the act after all.

*WHACK!*

"OW!"

It was my helmet which had received the blow, but it was Cole who yelped in pain. He shook his hand violently, trying to shake off the sting.

"Are you all right?!" I asked, immediately lowering my stance. As strong as the earth ninja was, I wondered if perhaps pitting him against a suit of armor while he himself was completely vulnerable had been an unwise decision.

"I'm fine," he said, rubbing his knuckles. He looked up at me and his eyes suddenly grew larger in shock. "Oh— oh geez."

"Wait, what happened?" I asked. I'd felt the force of the punch, but I'd dimmed my pain sensors before the training session in case one of us landed a hit, so I wasn't sure exactly how much damage had been dealt.

"I, uh…" he stared at my helmet where he'd hit it. "I kinda dented your suit." He looked down at his hands, as if he'd been unaware of his own strength.

I reached my "hand" up and felt the dent. It was much deeper than I'd expected— I'd have to repair it later. Thought it might be hard to repair considering I couldn't take the helmet off to see it… guess I'd need to request help from Zane.

"I'm sorry," Cole stammered, "I really didn't think—"

"No, it's fine. The metal didn't hit my head. I'll fix the helmet tonight," I responded. My voice was as cool as ever, but internally I was starting to panic. If there was a head inside the helmet, it would definitely have received a nasty bruise— and the wearer of the suit would definitely have cried out in pain at least as loudly as the one who threw the punch. I could only hope that Cole somehow glossed over that.

But the black ninja was oddly silent. He hesitated, opened his mouth, rubbed his hand gingerly, and hesitated again.

"You, um… look, you don't have to pretend around me."

What? Although I currently had no heart, I felt the phantom sensation of it start beating fast against my chest.

"Pretend what?" I asked. I wasn't doing a very good job of keeping my voice even. What did he mean, pretend?

There was a long pause. Cole spoke slowly and deliberately, as if he'd planned out his next words very carefully in advance.

"Look, I know… how it feels… to be forgotten."

That was definitely not what I'd been expecting. However, I kept silent. He cleared his throat.

"I know how it feels when nobody can see you. I… I know how it feels to be abandoned by the people who are supposed to support you. And… I can imagine how feeling that way for long enough would make you desperate for attention."

Ouch. His words struck a chord. I tried to think of how to respond, but he continued to talk.

"On the Day of the Departed," he said, looking down, "You know which one I'm talking about— I learned what it felt like to be totally and completely alone. To try to say stuff to the people who are right in front of you, but not to be heard. To watch as they actually forget that you exist— and it was the most painful feeling in the world. That day, I made myself a promise to try and include everyone. I never wanted anyone to feel left out, like I had. And after a few weeks of trying to keep that promise…" He smiled weakly. "Well, I guess I became more aware of the other ghost in our group."

I heard a slight rattling noise and realized that it was the sound of clinking metal— I was trembling. Switching bodies, especially to ones that weren't meant to function as bodies, had odd side effects.

"S-so when did you figure it out?" I asked. My voice glitched out a little, as it did when I was low on battery.

"You mean the Samurai X thing? I had my suspicions from the minute I learned you were missing. I wasn't sure until you started living with us, though." He paused. "You did tell Zane, right? He's been worried sick about you, although he seems better lately…"

"Y-yeah, I did. A few weeks ago." I was still processing the new information. All of the times I'd felt alone, someone had empathized with me, and I didn't even know. It was hard to take in.

"I'm, um… I'm sorry if I'm getting too personal, or if you didn't want anyone to know… I'll keep your secret, and I won't bring this up again if you don't want me to, but I've been wanting to tell you this for a while now." He raised his head slightly and his black eyes locked onto my visor. "You aren't forgotten, and you aren't alone. There are people who care about you, even if it doesn't feel like it." He paused again, then turned away.

"I'll shut up now," he mumbled.

I paused, unsure of exactly how to react, and then managed to laugh—

"For someone who doesn't talk a lot, you sure have a way with words." My voice was weak, and I was trying to stop it from glitching again. I looked down and my tone grew serious again.

"I… Cole… thank you." For as much as I missed my old body, I was glad for the Samurai X suit's lack of a crying mechanism.

Then— by some impulse— one of us initiated a hug. I don't even remember who it was, but I distinctly remember the feelings rushing through me when it happened. Zane was my partner, and although I never stated it I'd started to feel like Cyrus was my father; but I had always been envious of the brotherhood that the ninja shared with each other. I'd never expected to gain that level of friendship with the others for myself, but that day I felt the embrace of a brother.

After a moment, Cole pulled back. "You should probably fix that helmet before the others see it."

I nodded. "I'll have Zane work on it with me tonight. I'll just leave a note saying that we're repairing something down at the Samurai X cave." That was usually my go-to excuse for meeting with him alone. "And this time," I added, somewhat jokingly, "I won't even be lying."

A smug grin spread across the black ninja's face. "Right. Fixing one helmet. I'm sure that's how you guys will spend the entire time together. Alone. In the Samurai X cave," he said teasingly. I punched him in the arm.

"Can I take that as a sign that you're still good to spar for a while? I'm supposed to get at least five hours of training in today," Cole noted.

"The real question is, are you still good to spar for a while?" I asked, and kicked the back of his shins without warning.

"Hey, no fair!" he yelped, but he grinned as he attempted to counter my attack.

As we dueled on into the evening, the leaves of the trees dropped one by one, the passage of time speeding rapidly onward.

(Author's Notes: Hello, all! First off, this isn't the last chapter, so don't stress. I just wanted to mention that I made an AMV for this dumb brotp that's pretty much never interacted in canon... if you wanna see it for some reason :'D It's definitely not essential to the fic, it's not even canon to it, so you don't have to watch it if you don't want to! This is just for those that would be interested. ^^ /BtpyZVA2sGc)