"I'm proud of you, Zane. One day, I promise, we will find your family."

"But…I've already found them."

"I feel there's more to you than meets the eye. There's something special about you, Zane."

"You're…a robot?"

"All this time, and I never knew."

"You're still the same Zane, just more…gears."

"Yeah, and how cool is it that I can honestly say, my brother is a nindroid!"

"You were built to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

"There is nothing that will hold me back! I know who I am!"

"I'm just…Zane."

"You're so much more than just Zane."

"Support me, friends, for one last time."

"Let go of him, Zane! What is he doing?"

"He's protecting us."

"I am a nindroid, and ninja never quit! Go, ninja! Go!"

"Wherever you are, Zane, you'll always be one of us."

"Nya?" There was a knock at the door. "I made some food."

Her head perked up when she heard the voice. Could it really be…? She got up and opened the door to see…yeah. It was him. The last person she expected.

"Jay?"

He smiled and held his hand up to wave at her. "Good morning!"

Nya shook her head. "Is this a dream?"

"Um…" Jay looked around himself. "I don't think so. If it is, we're having the same dream!"

She blinked. It was still so unreal, seeing him so cheery like this. "Are you okay?" she asked, putting her hand up to his forehead.

His eyes followed her hand. "I'm pretty sure I'm fine. I mean I was able to get out of bed on my own for the first time in…a really long time. And look! I'm more awake and ready than ever, I am so pumped up!"

"Am I sick?"

"Hmm," Jay said, reaching forward and resting his hand on her forehead. "Nope. For once, everything is fine!"

It didn't seem like he would ever stop smiling. On one hand, Nya was still convinced something was more wrong than usual, but on the other hand, the old Jay was back. The guy who was a child at heart who still loved comics and cotton candy and made terrible puns whenever the opportunity presented itself to him. Shaking her head again, Nya smiled back and decided to just go with it. "Okay then," she said, still a bit hesitant. "What did you make?"

"Omelettes! Well…okay I didn't exactly make them. We're all going to make them together! But I made up the idea, so I think that counts for something. Come on!" Without waiting for a response, he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her room, still in her pajamas.

"Cole, open up! It's time for breakfast!"

Cole slid out of bed, rubbing his eyes and yawning. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that the voice outside his door sounded a lot like…

"Jay?"

"Morning!" Jay smiled so wide that it looked almost unnatural after all these months without even a hint of happiness. And it was genuine. His eyes were sparkling again.

"You okay? Is something wrong?"

"Why is everyone saying that? Everyone meaning both you and Nya. I haven't found Kai yet. Or Pixal. I'm fine, Cole, don't worry! Everything is fine now! Come on, I made breakfast!"

"…You? Breakfast? What?"

"You're still half-asleep, aren't you?"

Cole couldn't help but yawn. "Yeah," he admitted.

"I made breakfast," Jay said again, slower this time. "Sort of. We're going to make breakfast together, all of us! Doesn't that sound fun?"

"Since when are you so excited about everything?"

Jay shrugged, the smile never disappearing. "I don't really know. Maybe it's just a good night of sleep and some actual food. I don't know. Come on!"

"It's like…seven in the morning," Cole said with another yawn. "Or something. It feels like seven in the morning."

"That doesn't matter!" Jay said, taking Cole's hand. "Breakfast! You love making food! You're not good at it, but you love it. Now come on we're doing this together! As a family!"

"Family?"

There was a knock at the door. "Kaaaaaiiiiiiiii! Are you awake?"

"What do you want, Jay?"

"Come downstairs, we're making breakfast!"

"I don't wanna get up yet. Wake me up when breakfast is ready."

"Are you even awake? Are you sleep-talking? Come on, Kai! Get up! Open the door at least! Please?"

Kai opened his eyes slowly. "Five more minutes," he mumbled, pulling the blankets back over his head. "I'm tired. I only went to bed like an hour ago. I haven't slept."

"Well that explains a lot," Jay said from outside the door. "Well, you broke down my door once. Maybe I'll just have to break yours down."

"No wait!" Kai shot up. "Don't do that! I'm up, I'm up." He sat on the edge of his bed, suddenly awake and processing what had just happened in the past few seconds. Jay…outside his own door. Was he dreaming? Kai slowly got up and opened the door. Light flooded into his dark room and he stood there blinking for a few seconds.

Not only was Jay standing outside, smiling and bouncing up and down on his toes, but he had Nya and Cole behind him, both looking like they were still half-asleep.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Jay said cheerfully.

"Jay? Are you okay?"

Jay sighed. "You too? Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Is that out of the way now? I'm okay, I've never felt better! Well actually there have been lots of times when I've felt better. I'm really hungry, and kinda tired. Maybe that's just because you guys won't stop yawning and stuff. But I'm feeling great otherwise!"

It was a real smile. He wasn't pretending, then again he had always been good at making a fake smile look real. But…there was no way this could be fake. "What's going on?"

"We're making breakfast! All four of us, as a family! Come on!"

Kai couldn't help smiling a little. "What are we making?" he asked, running his fingers through his messy hair.

"Omelettes!"

Yeah, this was real. This was the old Jay, the kid who never grew up, and who everyone had thought was gone for good.

"Sounds delicious," Kai said. He stepped outside to join them and closed the door behind him. Really he wasn't all that hungry, but this was the first time they had all been together since the funeral.

You're back.

Not by choice. By necessity.

Oh?

If I didn't have to sleep, I wouldn't. I hate you. I hate hearing you in my head. I hate the urge to respond to everything you say, you know that?

You did survive for a while without sleep.

Yeah, but I never felt good about it. I always felt like shit when I was awake. When I finally did sleep, I slept for days and when I woke up from it I felt even worse. And I was hungry and brain-dead. It wasn't living. It was surviving. And I never want to do it again. Even if it means I have to listen to you every night when I go to bed.

…

Wow. Let me just relish this moment. I actually made you speechless.

You only gave me a couple seconds.

You know, you don't even sound like Zane anymore. Your voice sounds exactly like mine. It makes things less painful. In one aspect at least. On the other hand, I now understand why everyone tells me to shut up all the time. My voice is ugly.

Hey, I resent that.

Yeah?

I'm you as much as you are.

See. This is another reason why people tell me to shut up. I don't make any sense.

That made perfect sense and you know it.

Oh, shut up. Oh great now I'm telling myself to shut up! How sad is that?

Stop laughing.

I can't! It's hilarious!

It's not that funny.

I need to do this more often! I think I'm finally learning to enjoy your unavoidable presence!

…Shut up.

You shut up. You can't tell me what to do. You're my subconscious. All of your ideas have to go through my …conscious…ness. This voice. This voice than I'm controlling. I control you.

…

Yeah. I control you now. Take that! I don't have to listen to you! Maybe I can even turn you off! I control you!

…

…

..

Oh gosh did that actually work?

.

It worked. It worked. It worked! I did it!

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

Nya giggled. "The tongue thing."

Jay paused, stopping what he was doing. Then he became aware of the fact that he was sticking his tongue out…again. "Oh no!"

Laughing, Nya placed a little bowl on his desk. "Here. Cole made some soup. Trust me, it's not poisonous or anything. I had some and I haven't felt sick yet, so I'm pretty sure it's okay."

"Thanks," Jay said. He picked up the bowl and took a careful sip from it. "Hm. That's actually pretty good."

"I brought up some water too." She set a few water bottles on the desk next to the bowl.

"Oh come on. I won't be up here that long."

"Don't kid yourself, Jay," Nya said, putting a hand on her hip. "You're getting better psychologically, but you're not all the way there yet. I get that you need your alone time and all, but you've been up here since breakfast."

Jay had just picked up his screwdriver again when he froze and looked up at her. "What time is it?"

Nya checked the clock that hung next to Jay's door. "Seven. At night." She giggled again. "Don't worry, you haven't been up all night."

He sighed deeply and got back to work. "Sorry. I must have lost track of time. I'm on a roll here."

"What are you working on?"

"You'll see."

She was quiet for a while, and Jay could tell she was trying to figure out what he was building. "Well, don't stay up too late, okay? You need to get your sleep."

"Don't worry, I've got an alarm set to tell me when to go to bed."

Nya laughed. "Whatever works, I guess. I'm glad you're feeling better though." She brushed her hair to the side and kissed him on the forehead. "We're going to watch a movie downstairs in case you need anything or if you just need a break before bed."

"Okay. I'll probably be up here. Still working."

"Don't work too hard."

"Nya, I'm fine. I've got my alarm, remember? This project is really important, okay? I promise it'll be worth it. And once I'm done everything will be normal again. I hope."

He tried to make it convincing. But really, he was telling the truth. She had no reason not to believe him. He smiled. "I promise."

She sighed. But she bought it. Nya nodded with a little smile in return and turned out the door into the hallway outside, leaving the door open.

The sounds of an action movie soon drifted up from downstairs. People talked, guns fired, bad guys screamed, good guys plotted, punches were thrown, there was probably a love story of some sort in there, there was also probably a rescue mission of some sort, there was definitely a final battle in there, there was the climax, then guns stopped firing and punches stopped being thrown. There was just dialogue and music for a few minutes, then a short pause, then the credits music played for a few seconds before stopping suddenly. People were talking in the real world downstairs, much quieter than the TV, there was some clinking around in the kitchen and more talking. Then the voices came closer, accompanied by the sounds of feet on the stairs.

There was a knock on the door. "Good night, Jay," said Nya's voice. "I'm going to bed."

"Me too," Kai's voice said from behind her. "Night."

Without turning to look, Jay waved at them. "Night. See you guys in the morning, probably."

They walked off to their rooms just down the hall.

A few minutes later, there was another knock.

"The door is open, you know that right? It is literally open. You are looking into my room right now. Like it's not even just unlocked, the door is wide open because Nya keeps leaving it open. You don't have to knock."

"Sorry," Cole said quietly. "Just thought you might want to know there was someone here before I started talking."

Jay sighed. "What do you want?"

Cole took a few steps into the room. "I want to apologize."

"For what?"

"For how I treated you…I forget how long ago it was, but I said some things and I didn't mean any of it. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For everything."

Jay stopped working. He set his tools down on his desk and hung his head, not turning around or getting up or anything. "You meant every word of it, Cole. Look, I don't care if you meant it or not anymore. Everything is finally going back to normal. I just want to forget it. It never happened, okay?"

There was silence. It felt like it lasted forever. "Nothing has changed for you, has it? No one said anything or did anything to change you. All you did was get some food and a good night's sleep and suddenly you could put that cheerful mask on again. You just wanted people to stop bugging you. Be honest, Jay. That's all this is about."

"I just wanted to be alone, okay?" No, Jay. If you cry, he'll know. He'll come in and he'll try to help. He'll never leave you alone. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't get emotional. Don't cry. "I just wanted to work, and for people to stop looking at me like I had all these problems. I wanted things to go back to normal. This is the only way." His voice was betraying him. It cracked so many times as he spoke. All he could do was bury his face in his hands and try to keep his sobs silent.

He didn't hear Cole's footsteps as they crossed the floor. All he knew was to keep himself quiet and to try to stop himself from crying, but that the tears didn't stop. At least that was all he knew until he felt gentle fingertips touching his back. He took a sharp breath in when he felt it, then he felt Cole's hands on his shoulders.

"I know that's what you want, and I know the last thing you want is for me to tell you that it's not what you need. But someone needs to tell you. Someone needs to be here for you."

"That's why I'm always working like this," Jay said with a little sniffle. "When I'm done, I'll have my best friend back."

Cole was silent. It seemed like he was just now understanding why Jay had locked himself away for so long, what he'd been doing while he was alone.

The alarm on Jay's phone went off suddenly. Ten o'clock.

"Time for bed," Jay mumbled, getting up and accidentally bumping into Cole on his way to his bed. "Sorry…"

"Don't be. It was my fault." They stood there for a while before Cole reached toward Jay again, wrapping him in an embrace and not letting go.

Jay closed his eyes, feeling tears beginning to form again. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. But no matter how many times he repeated those words to himself, he couldn't hold back.

Somehow Cole knew. Maybe it was the tears soaking into his shirt, maybe it was Jay shaking in his arms. But he knew. He reached one hand up to stroke Jay's hair. A few seconds later, Jay felt himself slowly relaxing, his breathing becoming less ragged, his hands and jaw becoming less clenched. His tears stopped.

"Feeling better?"

Jay nodded. "A little."

"Good," Cole said. "You should probably get to bed."

"Y-yeah. Sleep is important."

Cole finally let go, but not before giving Jay a quick kiss on the forehead. "Good night. Don't work yourself too hard, and don't lock the door ever again. Okay?"

"Okay. I promise. Good night."

Cole left the door open, but Jay didn't mind. He shrugged it off and laid on his bed, too tired to bother with pajamas or with the covers.

"So you're the new guy, right? What's your name?"

"Zane. Yours?"

"I'm Jay. And that guy over there is Cole. He kind of keeps to himself I've noticed. I don't think he had very many friends back home. Then again, neither did I. Did you have any friends where you came from?"

"No."

"…You don't talk much, do you?"

"Not really."

"I've been told I talk too much. Don't be afraid to like slap me in the face or something to shut me up. Cole tends to do that."

"That sounds mean."

"Heh. Yeah I guess it kind of is. But I don't really mind. He mostly just interrupts me and tells me to shut up, don't worry. You look worried."

"I'm not worried, just confused."

"Yeah…you'll get used to that feeling, Zane. It took me a while to get my bearings around here. But don't worry. We're a team now, all three of us. We're like brothers. Family!"

"Family."

"Hey, Zane! What kind of shoes do ninjas wear?"

"…Tabi boots?"

"No, silly. Sneakers!"

"I do not understand."

"Come on, Zane. It's a joke. You're supposed to laugh. It's funny. You can laugh, right? Come to think of it, I've never heard you laugh before."

"I still do not understand what makes it funny."

"Because…ninjas sneak. So they wear…sneakers. It's not funny when I have to explain it."

"It wasn't funny to begin with, Jay!"

"Shut up Cole! Whatever. Not even a smile though, Zane? Do you even have a sense of humor?"

"Apparently not."

"Okay…let's try another one then. What do you call a big pile of cats?"

"…"

"A meowntain!"

"…"

"Really? Do you even know how to laugh? You know… haha. Laugh. Come on."

"…I do not understand."

"Of course you don't. We'll have to work on your sense of humor, Zane."

"And white ninja is Zane, master of ice, and Seer with the sixth sense."

"I sense this one takes things a little too seriously."

"You too have the gift?"

"He's just making a joke, Zane. Remember what we talked about, your sense of humor?"

"Yes, it was a joke. Ha, ha."

"You're…a robot?"

"All this time, and I never knew."

"Guess this explains why you're always acting so weird, right?"

"The reason I never had a sense of humor was because my funny switch wasn't on."

"It just makes you more special! You're still the same Zane, just more…gears."

"No matter what you're made of, you're still our brother."

"Really?"

"In fact, I bet it makes you an even better ninja."

"Yeah, and how cool is it that I can honestly say my brother is a nindroid?"

"A nindroid?"

"Now come on. Pythor is still out there looking for the first fang blade. And we need you."

"You'll have to go on without me. I just don't feel right."

"Zane…"

Jay reached out, waking up when he suddenly became aware that he was reaching into the darkness of his own room in Borg Tower, not toward the Zane in his memory, his dream.

"No…don't go away. I don't want to wake up."

As hard as he tried, he just couldn't fall asleep again. He laid still and closed his eyes, he tossed and he turned and he did everything he could, but all it did was make him feel more awake.

Feeling stranded in his awakeness, Jay sat up and stretched. He realized that he'd slept in his clothes, and he felt uncomfortable in them. Instead of changing into new clothes, he finally changed into pajamas. Kind of pointless now that he was awake, but they were far more comfortable.

There was a knock on his open door. "Breakfast!" said Nya's voice before her footsteps disappeared downstairs.

"Be right there."

"I'm so close! Trust me, I'll finish today!" Jay said excitedly.

"Cool story," Cole said. "Eat up."

Jay sighed and took his second spoonful of cereal all morning. "I'm too excited to eat! Or maybe I'm too nervous. What if it doesn't work? What if I did something wrong?"

"I doubt it," Nya told him, taking another sip of her hot chocolate. "You built every piece of machinery in the bridge on our old ship. You built rocket boosters to make it fly. You built that sparring bot!"

"Yeah, but the sparring bot broke after a certain pesky little kid messed with it."

"You still built it, and it was functional before Lloyd screwed it up, right?"

"I was testing it."

"Jay, don't worry," Kai said, sitting next to Nya at the table. "You can do it. Everyone believes in you."

Jay couldn't help smiling a little bit. "You don't even know what I'm working on though."

"Doesn't matter. We believe in you."

"Thanks, guys," Jay said after a little pause. He finished his cereal as quickly as he could, put his bowl by the sink, and went back up to his room. He had a feeling he would finish today.

"Okay…and I think that's the last piece. Yes!" Jay pushed his chair away from his desk and let it do a quick spin around. The most genuine smile on his face in months, he made his way back to the desk and stood over his creation. "I can't believe this is really happening." The snow had been coming in less and less copious amounts, and now it had almost stopped completely. He couldn't see any snow on the ground, though he knew it was still probably freezing out there. But spring was almost here. And he was finally finished.

He had butterflies in his stomach. As he reached forward to press the switch, all of the nervous thoughts he'd had about this whole project flooded back to him. Every thought came down to the same few words: what if it didn't work? "I guess we'll find out now," Jay whispered to himself.

"Please work please work please work please work." He reached over, between a few wires, and found the switch. "Three," he whispered. "Two….one." There was a click, and at once the buzz of electricity flowed through the wires, gears started whirring, and the blue circle glowed and began to pulse. Jay jumped back, almost as if he really hadn't expected anything to work properly. "Z-zane? Are you awake?"

No response.

"Zane?"

Still nothing. The robot laying on the table hadn't even opened his eyes. It was like he was asleep.

Jay began muttering to himself, trying to figure out what was wrong. "He doesn't need to charge or anything, his heart is working just fine. He's got power, he's got all of his memories and everything…right?" He searched through the wires and switches under the open panel in Zane's chest. "Yup there's the SD card." It was plugged in, so that meant the robot should have contained everything about Zane that Jay managed to pull from the computer. Everything was in its right place. The humor switch was even turned on. Jay sat back down in his chair and buried his face in his hands. "What did I do wrong? There has to be something I can fix here."

"Am I broken?"

"Yes, you—" Jay's head perked up. "Zane?" The robot's eyes had opened, and his head was turned to face Jay, though the rest of his body laid perfectly still. Seeing those eyes again sent a chill through Jay's body. "You're awake!" He jumped to his feet and helped his friend sit up. "You're alive again!"

"I am?" There was something in his face…it seemed like he couldn't quite register what was happening. Worse, Jay got the feeling that Zane didn't recognize him.

"Yeah. Zane, you remember me right?"

His eyes were empty.

"Zane?"

"No. I do not remember you. Should I?"

Jay took a step back. No. There's got to be something I'm missing. There's something I forgot to do. There's something I need to fix. "Oh! Your memory switch, I forgot to turn it on! I'm such an idiot." He reached forward and flipped the tiny switch, the one he'd made small on purpose so no one would accidentally turn it back off. "There you go." He closed the panel and took a step back. "What about now?"

Zane shook his head. "I'm sorry. I still don't remember."

The words hit Jay like a physical blow. He felt dizzy. No, no, no. I fixed it, he should remember. Everything is there he should remember. He should remember, he should remember. "Come on, Zane. I'm your best friend. I'm Jay. I showed you how to get through the training course back at the monastery in one try. We talked all the time about how you have no sense of humor. I taught you how to play videos games and you even beat some of my high scores. When we first found out you were a robot, I made up the word nindroid for you. You made a giant slide out of ice to help us escape a giant snake and you had to keep catching me so I wouldn't fall off because I couldn't balance and I ended up penguin sliding the whole way down. I was upset because Cole ate my pudding and Kai gave me his but it wasn't cold and you froze it for me! Why don't you remember?!" His hands were on Zane's shoulders, but that empty look was still there. "Why?" The tears had come back, just when he thought things were going to be okay again, that they might never return.

But he knew now that nothing would ever be the same again. Zane really was gone. The robot sitting in front of him was just an empty shell. A shadow that looked and sounded like Zane. But he wasn't Zane. Just like the voice in Jay's head had sounded exactly like Zane at first, but in the end it was only his own. He had locked himself away for so long, only to be reminded of how lonely he really was.

He didn't remember letting go of the empty robot, he didn't remember leaving his room or running down the stairs and he didn't remember exactly how he ended up at the table in the kitchen with a mug of hot chocolate in his hand. He didn't even like hot chocolate. He hated hot chocolate.

"Jay?" Nya's voice. He looked down, avoiding her and pretending she wasn't there. "You want to be alone again, don't you?" He nodded. "It didn't work?"

He set the mug on the table and laid his head in his arms. The tears came back again, and his breathing became shaky. There was no way to avoid crying.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. He heard her sit next to him, and she gently laid her hand on his shoulder. "I know you probably just want me to leave, but I'm worried about you. I don't want you hiding away anymore. You need someone to be with you. I won't talk, I'll just be here, okay?"

He nodded.

"Nya?"

"Shh, he's asleep."

"Sorry," Cole's voice dropped to a whisper. "What happened?"

"His…his project thing didn't work."

Silence. Jay's eyes blinked open painfully.

"He told you what it is?"

"Yeah. Well, not really. I kind of…went through the stuff on his desk a while back and I found the blueprints. He got mad at me for knowing." Cole sighed. "I feel horrible for him."

"What was it? What was he building?"

"I'm not sure if I should say. There was a reason why he kept it hidden. I guess if he wants you to know, he'll let you know in his own time."

I don't want any of them to know. Not now, not ever. I failed. I don't want them to remember my failure.

"I guess so."

He must have fallen asleep again. The room was dark. Night time already? All that crying must have really taken it out of him. Then again, it was still just barely winter, and the sun was still setting so early. The darkness outside didn't necessarily mean it was late. Nya still had her hand on his shoulder, so Jay didn't move. He could hear movement across the table from him and assumed that Cole was still there too.

"Why didn't anyone tell me there was a gather—sorry. Is he asleep?"

"Probably."

"No," Jay said quietly. "I'm awake."

"Kai."

"It's not his fault," Jay said, slowly sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "I woke up before he came in, don't worry. What time is it?"

Nya's hand slipped off his shoulder. "I think it's about eight," she said, looking at Cole for reinforcement. He nodded in return.

"Guess that explains why I'm so hungry."

"I'll get you something," Kai said. "I'm already up. So tell me, Jay. Why were you asleep on the table just now? Too good for your bed?"

"No," Jay said, clearing his throat to get his voice back. "I…my…my project. It didn't work." He had no choice but to tell them that he had failed. But as long as they didn't know what he had screwed up, they would forget soon. They wouldn't know how important it was. "I don't know what I did wrong, but I messed up somehow and I can't figure out how to fix it."

"Oh," Kai said quietly. "I'm really sorry about that. It sounded really important to you."

No. Not the stupid tears again. "It's fine. Mistakes happen."

"Jay."

He turned to look at Nya. "Hm?"

"What exactly were you building up there?"

He shook his head and looked away, feeling a tear rolling down his face. "Nothing important."

"Yes, it is important. Otherwise you would have told us something like, oh it's just a radioactive toaster or something. Come on, what was it?"

"Radioactive toaster?" Jay repeated, wiping the tear away. "Why would I make something like that? It's completely pointless."

"Jay. What was it?"

He laid his head in his hands again, facing the window. Light snow was falling outside. Jay took a deep breath in. "Zane," he whispered. "I was rebuilding Zane."

Silence.

More silence.

Everyone was still. Not even Kai moved.

"I just wanted my best friend back. Is that so wrong?"

"That's why you were making a bigger deal than usual about messing up."

"Yeah. And I did. I did something wrong, and he's not…he's not Zane. He looks like him, he sounds like him. But he's not Zane. Just…empty. He's empty. He doesn't remember anything. He didn't recognize me. I put all of his memories in, and his personality and everything. I turned his humor switch on, I turned his memory switch on. His heart…his heart was beating. He was awake, but he wasn't Zane. I messed up and we're never going to get him back." Nya's hand was on his shoulder again, and he wanted nothing more than to pull away from her, to run back upstairs and lock himself away again, to lay under his bed and cry until he ran out of tears, to never sleep again for fear of more nightmares and the return of the voices in his head, to live on energy drinks again to keep himself awake and to avoid food because just the thought of food made him sick to his stomach. "I miss Zane…"

"Zane?"

Was he asleep again? There was something about Nya's voice that sounded so familiar. Like they had been through this all before.

"Yeah," he said, sitting up and looking at her. "Zane. You know, white ninja, the smart strange one?"

"No," she said, not looking at him but at the doorway. She tugged on his arm, trying to get him to follow her gaze. "Zane!"

Why did this feel so horribly familiar?

Jay gave in and looked toward the doorway to see his empty robot standing there. And he remembered why this felt so nostalgic.

"Zane!"

"Zane!" The other three jumped up and ran across the room to embrace him. But Jay didn't move.

"Zane, we're so sorry for everything we said. We're a team, and that means we're all responsible."

No. This time wasn't the same. At least he knew who they were back then. Now he had no memories left. He had nothing. He wasn't Zane.

"You don't need to apologize to me."

But there was something in his eyes. They weren't empty anymore. He was comprehending everything. Did he…did he remember?

"What about all those awful things we said? Isn't that why you left?"

"Jay said you lost your memories. He said you wouldn't remember us."

"Of course not. I saw the falcon again, and I followed him."

"I didn't at first. I think it was because they were loading. I remember now. I remember everything. I remember my father, and I remember all of you."

"Do you remember me?" Jay stood up. Was this real? His own memories were there, the scene was laid out before him. All of their voices were different because they hadn't all finished puberty yet. Their dragons were only a few feet away. The endless desert was all he could see in any direction. And yet…he was surrounded by metal walls. There were no dragons, there was no Sensei Wu, there was no desert. And they were all a few inches taller in reality than in memory. Except Zane. He was…exactly the same.

"That's our Zane."

"I remember you."

Without meaning to, Jay had taken a few steps toward the doorway. Suddenly aware of what he was doing, he sped up. He walked faster and faster and ran the final few steps so that he hit Zane and nearly hurt himself because in his confusion between memory and reality he had forgotten that Zane was a robot. Tears soaked into Zane's white shirt when Jay laid his head on his friend's shoulder. But he wasn't sure if they were tears of depression any longer.

"We're happy to have you back."

"I missed you so much, Zane. You have no idea."

And in that moment, memory became reality.

"Why? Is it my turn to make dinner?"