So I was talking to my pal Amber the other day as we were going to this haunted hay ride, and we were wondering why Zane's always staring angrily at nothing…yeah, the strange things my brain comes up with…

Summary: Why is Zane always staring angrily at nothing? Atticus wants to know. No pairings. Major crack.

Disclaimer: However much I want to, I do not own the Kaiser. Or the Blizzard Prince.

"Hey, Zane, why do you always look like you want to kill something?" asked Atticus, standing by the lighthouse with a fifteen-year-old Kaiser, thus named only that morning. Zane was staring angrily at nothing, a look that was all-too-familiar to Atticus as his best pal.

Hearing the question, Zane turned from the ocean to glare reproachfully at his friend and neighbor.

"I mean," Atticus continued, "you didn't really do that until you were about ten or eleven, 'cause I remember you were all happy when you were nine…"

Zane gave him the "shut up" look.

Atticus shut up.

"You want to know?" Zane asked, deathly quiet. Atticus was slightly freaked. "You really want to know why I do this?"

Atticus was very frightened, but he nodded.

"Stupid smucking dust speck!" Zane growled vehemently, his usually low, collected voice wildly escalating to what was almost a scream at the end.

"Um…dust…speck?" Atticus was quite terrified now; he had very rarely heard his friend scream, and when he did, it never ended well. Still, he was confused, and his was a curious soul. Damn his curiosity! It was going to get him murdered! By his best friend, no less!

"Yes, dust speck!" Zane began to rant. "Stupid goddamn smucking dust speck! It's been in my goddamn face since I was ten and it won't! go! away! I've tried blowing it away, whacking it with a fly swatter, smooshing it like a smucking mosquito, and screaming at it at the top of my smucking lungs! I've tried everything, and the stupid! glowing! speck! won't go away!"

"Umm…glowing?"

"Yes! Glowing! Which is why I don't smucking sleep!"

Atticus didn't see this glowing speck.

"I don't see this glowing speck," he said cautiously.

"How can you not see it? It's right in front of my face!" Zane protested. "And it's dark out here, too!"

"Dude, there's no glowing speck," said Atticus.

Zane began glaring angrily at nothing (or perhaps the mysterious glowing dust speck). He also began muttering under his breath, clearly furious at something. The speck, Atticus had no doubt.

Atticus began to contemplate the possibility that his friend had problems. For one thing, he was clearly seeing things that weren't there. Also, anyone who freaked out that bad over a nonexistant dust speck, even if it was glowing, had to have issues. And he was talking to himself, as an afterthought. Or perhaps to the nonexistant dust speck.

"Uh, Zane, have you been on some kind of new medication or something?" Atticus asked cautiously.

Zane glared at him rather angrily, distracted for about one second from the speck Atticus couldn't see. Atticus took the glare as a "No, now either shut the hell up or go die in a hole; I must now resume glaring at this speck."

Suddenly, there came a rather sudden change; Zane was now apparently having an in-depth converstaion with the speck. Atticus was rather confuzzled.

"Oh…" Zane said suddenly. "Sorry, didn't really mean it; I just really couldn't sleep, and I really don't think that's too good for me. Of course, I never slept much, but yeah…sorry. I didn't even really register that it was you, I don't think. Just…could you hold off in the middle of the night? Thanks. Later."

"Zane…?" Atticus asked, highly disturbed.

"Yeah, no more speck-problem. See you, Att; I think I might actually sleep tonight."

Atticus watched, extremely confused, as his friend walked down the pier and toward the Obelisk Blue boy's dorm.

Later in life, he was still baffled to find Zane staring angrily at nothing. The Kaiser insisted that he was having staring contests with the speck, which apparently had eyes.

So, what is the mysterious glowing speck? I'll leave that up to your imaginations. Review please!