moral of the story | a ninjago highschool fanfiction

[22] look at all them c̶h̶i̶c̶k̶e̶n̶s̶ emotions

zane

"So you've been lying to me my whole life?" he said flatly, ignoring his father's earlier words.

"My boy, it's not like that—" 

"Don't you dare call me 'your boy'. I. Am. Not. Your. Boy." His hand found the knob of the door. "You lied to me. So you have no right to call me your boy when I am anything but that!"

"Zane!"

He slammed the door shut behind him with strength he didn't know he had.

Android.

I am Zane Julien.

I am Zane.

Zane.

Android.

He was running down the street when he noticed that each step left a thin layer of ice on the ground, in the shape of his shoe.

You're the next Elemental Master of Ice.

His heart, core, was beating wildly in his chest as he surpassed the greatest length he'd ever run. And he found it easy, pushing off from one foot to the next, keeping his breath steady, shooting off with rage fuelling him. Zane felt like he could run for miles, and he probably could. Because he was an android. A robot, scraps of metal and technology, he wasn't human. He was running with the wind like he was sliding on ice, and he knew that he'd never pushed himself this far before, and his capabilities of a robot meant he probably could run for miles on end.

The metal was still lodged in his leg, he noticed, after it whacked the leg of a park bench. He sat down and tentatively gripped one end of it. You are metal, he reminded himself sternly. It shouldn't hurt. No AI should feel pain, and you didn't feel pain when you fell on it. He pulled it out calmly, having reassured himself that he couldn't feel anything.

The metal pole left a jagged, gaping hole in what definitely wasn't flesh. He peered inside, spotting a maze of wires and boards and structures that built up his calf. His father wasn't lying. All hope died down of this being a gigantic, illogical prank. If Zane hated anything more than people lying to him and using his trust, it was a situation in which he couldn't make sense of anything.

This definitely was one of them.

First, he was an android, made out of metal.

Second, his father, and Evan, had been lying to him.

Third, he was something called an Elemental Master.

And fourth, he didn't know what to do.

He was helpless, and Zane did not like that. He definitely couldn't do anything about the first point, but the second and third... He could see Dr Julien's intentions, a lonely man with the prospect of his creations coming to life, it was a modern day Pinocchio, and Zane wasn't a wooden doll, but a boy of metal and wires. The more he thought about it, more pros and cons popped up to battle each other. He couldn't get hurt, or feel things, but did that mean his emotions were fake? He was physically fit beyond human capacity, but would that be his downfall? And now, even under his skin, he stuck out and was more than just the weird, studious boy at school.

He was a freak.

"Zane?"

He looked up to find Pixal standing in front of him, looking utterly heartbroken. Zane wanted to beat himself up. He'd forgotten that Pixal must be going through the same thing as he was.

"Pixal, I'm sorry—"

"You can't be sorry for what we are, Zane." Somehow, she already knew all his worries. She sat down next to him slowly, and her hand slipped into his. "We can't change any of this, what we are, or our past. We can only change our future."