Zane sighed as he sat and watched the snowy world go by the car window. The world seemed so calm, peaceful, and tranquil and yet, Zane was anything but calm. He hadn't seen his grandfather in five whole years, and they were on their way to visit him now. Zane and his father felt guilty for that. Zane's mother died when he was four and both his parents were only children, so his grandfather had no other relatives to visit him. As the older wolf grew older Dr. Julien had offered to let him move in with them in Ninjago, but the old man refused.

He had built the house in Alaska with his bare hands when he was Zane's age.

He spent his entire marriage in that house. He raised his daughter in that house. His wife had spent her final days in that house. He would be damned if he wouldn't die in that house. Words couldn't describe how ecstatic Zane was right now. Zane and his father be spending this full moon with his maternal grandfather, at his house in Alaska. Well, it wasn't a house. It was more of a log mansion with a forest right next to it. It was like the log cabin version of Zane and Dr. Julien's house back in Ninjago.

It was all Dr. Julien's idea to come to Alaska for the weekend.

He said Zane needed to get away from everything going on in the city, like Skylor, Morro, and Terri Kiken. Pixal didn't seem too pleased to be going there. She still seemed pretty annoyed at Zane, and he didn't even know why. All he did was try to help. He saw how worried she was about studying, so he and Dr. Julien spoke to Borg and convinced him to let Pixal come with them to Alaska for a break. He sneaked a peek at her sitting next to him.

She too was looking out the window, but probably not thinking how excited she was to be going there.

They pulled down a small country lane, and in no time we were met with tall iron gates. The mansion was the most stunning thing Zane had ever seen. The front gardens were neatly trimmed, with two huge fountains on either side.

"This will all be yours one day Zane!" Dr. Julien said from the driver's seat as the two teens took in the sights. This was a fact Zane had been told about a few times, but he never really thought about it much. Pixal hadn't known and was surprised.

"What?" She asked as she glanced at him.

"Avalo has left the house, its contents, and the grounds to Zane in his will." Dr. Julien explained as they pulled up to the huge oak doors. A figure walked out of the doors and Zane wasted no time in jumping out of the car and running to meet his grandfather. White, shoulder-length hair and a white beard revealed an old, world-weary face. Clear gray eyes set lightly within their sockets, watch delightedly over the lands they had been living on for so long.

A scar reached from under the right eyebrow, running across the nose, and ended on his forehead left a painful burden of reclaimed honor.

This was Avalo Blizz, an old and wise werewolf. Pixal could tell right away that something was misleading about him. Perhaps it was his sensitivity or perhaps it was simply his sympathy, she didn't know. Nonetheless, people from the nearby village tended to ask him to tell them his stories while helping him out in any way they could. He wore a dark blue and white winter outfit with matching black boots. Hanging from his neck was a type of pendant that reminded Pixal of a dream catcher.

They greeted each other with a warm hug.

Avalo was either shorter than the last time Zane saw him or Zane was taller.

"I missed you," Avalo said as they pulled away.

"I have missed you too."

"You've grown."

"You haven't." Zane joked and the old man playfully smacked him on the arm.

"You still have that cheeky sense of humor, you little bugger!" He said and they both laughed as Dr. Julien came to greet him with Pixal.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Blizz, my name's Pixal; your house is amazing." She greeted as they shook hands. Avalo already knew she was Zane's girlfriend, that she was human, and that she knew the werewolf secret. While he was a little worried, he trusted Zane and Dr. Julien to believe them when they said that Pixal wouldn't betray them. After the little family reunion, they were all shown their rooms and were given an hour before dinner to freshen up.

Zane's room was fit for a prince and he loved it.

It had a huge en suite with everything he could need in it. Zane decided to take a shower before dinner. He felt the beads of water falling down his back and he felt so relaxed. After about half an hour in the shower, he got out and wrapped up in a warm, fluffy towel, and started looking for a change of clothes. He walked in to smell a human and found Pixal sitting on his bed. He grabbed the closest set of clothes he could find and ran back into the en suite.

How dare she just walk into his room, without even knocking and sit there while he was wearing nothing but a towel.

Zane got changed and when he walked out, she was still sitting there and something snapped inside him.

"HOW DARE YOU COME IN HERE, AFTER YOU HOW YOU TREATED ME! WITHOUT EVEN KNOCKING! GET OUT!" He shouted and Pixal scowled before running out of the room. Zane knew that was harsh, but ever since she found out she was joining them in Alaska, she had been incredibly moody and had been ignoring Zane. He knew that he shouldn't have sprung this on her. But he thought she would appreciate a little break to the permanent winter wonderland of Alaska.

He was starting to regret having to spend all weekend with her...

Zane was the last to arrive at the dinner table. He apologized for being late and took the empty seat next to his father. With Pixal sitting opposite of him, he couldn't help but glance briefly at him, but before their gazes meet he looked away. They had a three-course meal, with enough food to feed the whole of Ninjago's pack. If Morro could see all this meat, he would be drooling all over the table. All through having dinner, Zane and Pixal stared at each other, challenging all of their anger into that one glare.

The two adults noticed this and made light conversation to relieve the tension in the room.

"So, Zane, your father told me that you're applying to medical school?" Avalo said and Zane broke the glare and turned to his grandfather.

"Yes, I just want to help, heal, and protect others who can't do that for themselves."

"You're mother would be very proud." Avalo smiled full of pride as his gaze turned to a picture hanging on the wall above Zane's head. Pixal recognized her as Zane's mother, Hayle Julien. She was a beautiful young woman of average height and slender build with a softly-shaped, kind face. She has an hourglass figure. Her skin was fair and flawless, her lips were pink, and her eyes were the same as Zane's icy blue. Hayle's hair was a beautiful blonde and medium-length with soft bangs.

She wore a dark vermillion bodice with light aquamarine long sleeves, black ballet flats, and a brown knee-length skirt.

Her hair was softly tied back into a low ponytail with a pale, light opal ribbon.

"Thank you, Grandfather." He beamed and the old werewolf returned it. He turned to Pixal and saw that she had the same, stone-hard expression plastered on her face. Zane just wanted this to end. "I'm sorry but I'm not hungry and I'm quite tired so I'm going to bed." He said and got up to leave and everyone just looked at him dumbfounded. Avalo was the first one to answer.

"Okay then, you get a good night's rest and we will see you in the morning." He said and Zane started to walk back to his bedroom, but an instinct told him to go down an old abandoned corridor. There was room after room with nothing in them, just old battered wallpaper. Then something caught his eye. A piece of furniture with a discolored cloth over it. He slowly walked over and he realized it was not a piece of furniture. It was a piano. He tugged the cloth from over it, and dust clouded the air, causing him to cough.

Zane swung up the lid and smoothed his fingers over the cold ivory keys.

He took a seat on the stool. It had been years since he had last played, but he still remembered how to play. It was like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it. Zane began to play. It was like the whole world didn't exist. There was only Zane and that was all that mattered. All of his cares and problems just disappeared. His thoughts were interrupted by someone's footsteps entering the room, and he turned around to see Pixal. His mind was telling him to ignore her, but a pull in his heart wanted to sort out this argument.

But why should he?

She was the one treating him like he was nothing, so it was up to her to sort this mess out, not Zane. So Zane got up from his stool and snapped the lid shut making a loud thud.

"Zane, don't stop, that was amazing." She started, but he ignored her. He pushed past her and walked down the corridor. She shouted his name and grabbed my arm harshly. His wolf erupted from deep inside him. His veins pulsed black and his eyes turned yellow.

"GET OFF!" He growled, causing her to let go and he calmed down. When he looked up at her, a tear escaped his eye and trickled down his cheek.

"What's wrong?" She asked in concern and she attempted to pull him into a hug, but he walked back.

"You should know, you're the one who caused it." He said and with that, he ran back to his room. He could hear her footsteps following and when he got to his room, he shut the door before she could enter.

"Zane, please open the door! I just want to talk." She pleaded. Zane had his back to the door and his crying hadn't ceased. "Please don't cry, I'm so sorry Zane." She sighed and he heard her footsteps grow fainter and fainter as she walked away. He walked over to the stereo he had in his room and put his music on. When one of the songs had finished there was a faint knock at the door.

"What?!" Zane shouted, assuming it was Pixal.

"Just because your upset with your friend doesn't mean you need to be upset at the whole world." Avalo chuckled. Zane opened the door for his grandfather and he walked in. "Honestly, the rubbish you youths listen to." He added as Zane turned down the music. They both sat on Zane's bed and Avalo handed him a mug of steaming hot chocolate he made. After Zane finished the hot chocolate, he tucked Zane under the covers and talked him to sleep, as he used to when Zane was younger.

Zane yawned and his eyes start to droop.

"It's alright little one, you sleep, and whatever is going on with Pixal, I'm sure you'll figure it out." Avalo smiled at him and left, allowing his grandson to sleep...

The teen fell into a deep sleep, only to be woken up by a loud clattering noise. He looked up to see a dark shadowy figure walking in the blackness of the hallway outside his bedroom. He sniffed the air and rolled his eyes when he realized it was Pixal creeping further down the hall. She was the only human in the house, but he didn't know what she was doing sneaking around in the middle of the night. The teen werewolf sighed heavily and got out of bed to look for her.

He was certain that his grandfather wouldn't be happy with Pixal snooping around his home, especially if he learned how she hid cameras around Zane's, Lloyd's, and Jay's homes.

Zane and his father agreed that it would be best if Avalo didn't know about that detail. Zane didn't want to risk his grandfather hating his girlfriend. With a tired yawn, he climbed out of his nice warm bed, grabbed a pair of bunny slippers and a white dressing gown, and began sneaking after the human. He followed her down the halls until he reached a glass sliding door that led out to the balcony. Through the glass, he could see Pixal outside in the cold.

The werewolf didn't see any reason to back down now.

He was going to find out what put Pixal in a bad mood or freeze trying. Zane carefully crawled out onto the balcony towards Pixal. The male werewolf still clutched his dressing-gown close to him as though some part of his were afraid that if he let go of it the cold would kill him. Pixal was leaning over the balcony, barely covered at all. From her current position, it was unclear to Zane looking if she was looking for something or was simply staring out into the frozen night.

"Pixal?" He asked cautiously and the young girl shifted slightly.

"What do you want?" She snapped and Zane flinched at Pixal's tone.

"I'm sorry, about dragging you out here, I mean."

"Thanks."

"Are... are you okay?"

"Honestly? No, I am not okay."

"Do you... do you wanna talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" She snapped as turned around and Zane could see her red-rimmed eyes. "Talk about the upcoming exams that I might fail if I don't study? Or, to focus on the small stuff first, we could talk about how you've all been lying through your teeth about being my friends these past few months." She glared and Zane flinched.

"That's not fair, dear."

"Don't call me that!" She snapped. "You don't get to call me that!" She growled, her eyes burning a hole through one of the richest teens in Ninjago City. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you lie to me?" She demanded and now it was Zane's turn to glare.

"Now who's not being fair? None of us were lying about being your friends, Pixal."

"Yeah right, you all act like I'm about to betray you and drag you all to a secret lab to experiment and dissect you!"

"Can you blame us?!" He snarled. "First you obsess over the 'Beast of Ninjago', then when you discover the truth you almost post our pictures all over the internet, and after all of that, you hide little cameras in our private homes! Of course, we are sometimes cautious!" He growled so loudly it startled a few birds perched in the trees nearby. "We have to be cautious! It's how werewolves have survived all these years!"

"Is that why you didn't want to come here?"

"Because I wanted to catch up with my studying! All this werewolf drama has taken its toll and I've fallen behind." She sighed as her fists clenched. "Is that so wrong of me?"

"What are you talking about." Zane huffed. "You are one of the smartest people in the house city and with your father's reputation you are bound to be accepted into any college." He tried to reassure her, but it had the opposite effect.

"Most of the colleges I was planning to apply for have heard about my former beast obsession and my old website, and let's just say that it wasn't a favorable impression." She laughed bitterly at her boyfriend. "I heard about a week ago that two colleges have rejected my application because of my past online activities; thankfully none of them was my dream college." She added sadly and Zane couldn't stop the guilt filling his core. But that didn't stop his anger at her recent behavior.

"Just because your mad doesn't mean that you could say something so hurtful about me and my friends."

"There! Right there!" She hissed and pointed a finger at her boyfriend. "That's what's been getting on my nerves!"

"What are you talking about?"

"How come I don't get to be in the same class as the others do? Even after that day, you have all kept me at arm's length! Why? What makes me an outsider?" She demanded and Zane rolled his eyes.

"Because myself and the others have been through a lot these past few years; we're more family than friends at this point."

"You guys helped me find out who I was! We've been friends for years and we're dating!" She hissed. "Then you just moved on and carried on as nothing had changed!"

"You make it sound like I was ignoring you."

"You may as well have been." She huffed. "I thought, after that day, I would finally know what it was like to be part of something bigger; I kept waiting for you to invite me back to talk about your werewolf heritage and secrets!"

"Pixal we've been through this! You know that isn't allowed and werewolves need to remain as hidden as possible."

"Why? Why do you all want to stay hidden? Wouldn't it be easier for you all to come out and live with humans?" She asked and Zane looked at her as if she had grown two heads.

"Have been asleep for the past year Pixal?!" He screeched. "For hundreds of years, humans hunted werewolves ferociously, killing us by the thousands!"

"That was the dark ages! People aren't the same as they were back then!"

"HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHAT HAPPENED WITH DR. TERRI KIKEN?!" He bellowed so loud Pixal was surprised it didn't awaken the dead from their final resting place. "Have you forgotten how she took our DNA, locked Kai, Nya, and Morro in a cage, and almost destroyed our lives?!"

"NO, I DIDN'T FORGET!" She shouted back, before stepping back and taking a deep breath the calm her nerves. "I understand that things are hard for werewolves, but that doesn't excuse the way you all have made me feel for years; first it was keeping your secret when you knew I wanted answers, then you all treat me like a stupid child after I found out." She argued.

"You know that's not what we intended."

"The most I've gotten out of this relationship and abandoning my research is a greeting on the street or somebody eating lunch with me at school other than you guys; besides most people at school not harassing me anymore, nothing's changed at all." She sighed heavily. Zane considered in the silence that followed.

"You could reach out to other people, you could be friends with just about anybody now."

"I don't know how." She sniffled as she wiped her eyes and looked out at the nightly forest. "The occasional wave on the street and fifteen minutes of conversation on schooldays are the only interactions I have with other people other than you guys; plus it's not like you werewolves make many friends outside of your kind and even then you try and stay away from each other." She explained with a sad sigh. Zane stared at nothing as he processed what Pixal had said.

It was true that he most often hung out with his fellow werewolves, but surely Pixal was wrong about everything else.

He had other human friends aside from Pixal and to a lesser extent Harumi. Like that Falco guy from his robotics class. But Zane hadn't had a serious conversation with him since the day he had unlocked his wolf almost two years. But there was Lucia from Chemistry. Who he hadn't said a word to in between Halloween and the student elections. Zane racked his brain, but he couldn't find a single person that he spent as much time with as he did his best friends.

"Do you... still hate me for what happened?" Pixal suddenly asked and it was Zane's turn to flinch at the cracking in her voice.

"W-What?"

"For almost exposing your secret and the cameras; do you still hate me?" She asked and Zane measured his next words carefully.

"I never hated you... not exactly, anyway."

"But you still hold all that against me, don't you?" She sighed sadly and Zane hated himself for it, but it would be a lie to say otherwise.

"A little bit." He admitted. "Pixal, I love you more than anything in my life, but you can't do things like that and then expect things to be alright immediately after it; I want to make this relationship work, but you have to understand that you will need to be patient and eventually your will win back our trust." He explained and after a moment of awkward silence, Pixal sighed and leaned into Zane's warmth. Neither of them said a word as they huddle together.

They didn't need to.

The two teenagers stood in silence a while longer, the only sounds in the air were the frosty wind and the odd sound of the woodland critters wandering around. The clock struck midnight and chimed. It was a new day, and a new day brought new possibilities. Zane could only hope they were good ones...