"Are you sure you're ready to go back sweetie?" Edna asked, as reassuring and kind as ever.

Jay nodded, giving her a soft smile.

"Yeah. They will probably be worrying their asses off back at the Bounty, and... well, yeah. The Bounty."

Maybe this wasn't the best time to talk about  the brand new living situation. A lot had been discussed across the night, leaving it here for now was good enough.

After a couple more hours, and number of mugs of tea, Jay had properly calmed down, and was now getting ready to head back to the villa. He couldn't stay at the junkyard forever, some things were better getting over and done with.

"... call us anytime you need something. We're always here for you Jay, always."

He pulled his mum into his arms, squeezing her tight, and Ed came over, embracing them both at once.

"... we both love you more than anything else in this entire world. You will never be alone, remember that."

Jay nodded, getting a little bit emotional and choked up. It was nice to be able to really let his feelings out, talk to people without worry of judgement or cruelty or misunderstanding. Many things may be difficult in his life, but his parents had always been there, and would always be there.

He knew that.

"... thank you... I... I don't know if I can properly say how much that means to me..."

"You don't need to say anything. We understand."

He was all set up to go. His glider was fully checked and ready to be operational, happily wrapped up in his clothes, and much calmer than he was before.

Perhaps this was the calm before a storm... or maybe it was time to start being a little more optimistic.

"I'll call soon, take care both of you."

"You too Jay, be kinder to yourself, alright?"

"Alright... bye Ma, Pa..."

He climbed to the top of one of the many junk piles, the one that looked the highest, and waited for a vigorous gust of wind to catch the wings of his glider. He let his legs relax, and slip off the solid perch, soaring into the air.

There was no way he'd be able to gain enough height to land at the top of the mountain next to the villa, but a hike up the edge wasn't anything he couldn't do. Covering the distance was the most important part.

Ed and Edna watched their son go, flying off and disappearing into the distance, the very first rays of sunlight starting to stretch above the horizon.

"... oh Ed... I'm so worried about that boy..."

"I know you are sweetheart, I am too... but... he'll be ok. He's stronger than he thinks he is."

Edna smiled, sighing and turning back to the caravan.

"Goodness me, I've just realised how hungry I am. What do you want for breakfast?"

———

It was still early morning when Jay finally got back to the mansion, stopping outside the front door for a minute to catch his breath. The journey up the steep cliff of the mountain wasn't much of a challenge, it was just long and repetitive and painful. His binder was squeezing tighter than ever.

Maybe it was time to start taking a bit more of a break from it. The issues with his lungs that Zane discovered now made more sense than ever, clearly the aftermath of being suffocated as a baby.

He felt like a right assh*le for how he'd been treating his friends over it. They really did just care about him.

A few hours of mental discomfort wouldn't kill him. Wearing this thing constantly, might actually do so.

After his breathing was steady again, the only issue left was building up the courage to go inside. What would he be met with?

Upset? Anger? Questioning? Had they even noticed that he'd left?

They must have, right?

Whatever it was, he wasn't looking forward to it. Sensei Wu would be even more furious that he'd made the dangerous journey into the caves once again, with nobody to help him if he got stuck there and no indication of where he was. Dying in a sacred place like that would not sit well, and definitely wouldn't place Jay in one of his good books.

It was really early though, sometime after 5am, so hopefully everybody would be asleep and he'd have ample time to think up a good explanation for his brief disappearance.

He grabbed the doorknob and turned, relieved to see that it had been left unlocked, and swung it open, closing it behind him as quietly as possible.

Jay sighed with relief. It was wonderfully warm in contrast with the freezing morning air, and only then did he realise how brutally cold he was. He couldn't feel the tips of his fingers, and his ears were aching.

He dropped his bag in the corner of the entrance hall and propped his glider next to it, rubbing his hands together to generate as much heat as he could, then froze in his steps.

As he'd made his way into the living room, he looked up, and despite the dim lighting, immediately locked eyes with an extremely worried looking Zane.

"... Jay...?"

There was a tense silence for a few moments, then Zane hurriedly put the mug in his hand on the coffee table and rushed over to him, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Oh my goodness, it is you! Thank the heavens you are safe, I haven't been able to have a single calm thought all night! I was terrified that something awful had happened to you!"

Jay hesitated, then hugged him back, relaxing into a familiar embrace.

"We're you kidnapped? Did somebody try to hurt you?"

"N-No, I left of my own accord..."

"... ahh. That is a relief."

"I... I'm sorry Zane... I didn't... I..."

"No, no, it is alright, you do not need to talk right now if it is difficult for you. You are freezing, sit down on one of the sofas and I will bring you a blanket and a cup of tea. What would you like?"

He was taken aback. Of all the possible reactions to him suddenly coming home, this was not the one he expected.

Had Cole not told him about their fight?

"... uhm... do we have any rooibos?"

"Yes, we do. How many sugars? I know that you usually have two or three, but I thought I would make sure." Zane replied, clearly still a little bit frantic, but wearing a soothing smile.

"... two, please. With milk."

"Excellent. Please sit down, have you just walked up the mountain? You'll need some rest if you have."

"... how could you tell?"

Zane visibly fought back a little smirk.

"There are leaves in your hair."

"There are?!"

Jay's hands shot up, and to his horror, there were. He brushed them out, slightly embarrassed, but Zane did nought but chuckle slightly, then indicate to the sofa once more and then left for the kitchen.

With nothing else to do, Jay did as he was told, and sat down, clenching and unclenching his hands.

Why was Zane being nothing but... kind? Surely he deserved something of a telling off. As much as he needed to leave when he did, as much as he was overwhelmed and afraid and frustrated, part of him knew that leaving without telling anybody was definitely going to worry them.

He sat patiently with his thoughts until Zane returned, passing him a hot mug of tea and draping a blanket around his shoulders, then picking up his own and sitting opposite him.

Jay nervously bit his lip, and thought that he might as well get it over with.

"... Zane... why aren't you angry with me."

The nindroid gave him a sympathetic look.

"That would be no way to treat you. I doubt that you would leave on such short notice for the fun of it. There must have been something deeply troubling you."

Jay nodded, humming in agreement, and taking a sip. It was strange. Tea was such a simple beverage, practically the same every time you drank it, but... tea made by friends always tasted better to him.

Perhaps it was the thought behind it.

"I won't wake anybody else up, they all desperately need their rest, but I'm sure they will all be very relieved to see you safely home. Everyone has been frantically trying to work out where you went all day and all night, even Kai. I had to slip sleeping tablets into their drinks to get them to go to bed."

Jay almost choked on his own tongue.

"... w-what?!"

Zane chuckled again, smiling a degree wider.

"I am joking. Of course I did not, but I would be lying if I said I did not consider it. I made them all go to their beds and stay there until they fell asleep."

Jay decided to give him a lesson on what was and wasn't appropriate to joke about sometime - when things were a bit less tense and serious - then got back to the problems at hand.

"... then... where's Cole? Isn't he sleeping down here with you and Lloyd? Well... Lloyd's not here now, but..."

"... Cole was so exhausted that he passed out in a strange spot, right at the dining table. I did not have the heart to wake him up and move him, so I laid a blanket over him and hoped that he would not be woken up by anything. He exhausted himself rather quickly, of all of us, Cole has been the most frantic about your disappearance."

Jay felt nasty twinges of guilt in his stomach.

"Did he... uhm... did he... tell you, about... what happened?" he asked.

"... yes. He did not give details of what was said, but I know that you argued, and I also know that Cole regrets every word of what he told you."

The guilt got worse, less like twinges and more like stabbing.

"... o... oh..."

"... do not tell him I told you this... but... Cole seems to have convinced himself that you ran away last night because of him, and the things he said to you. He was going mad with worry, and cried on my shoulder for quite a while, though I do not know the exact timeframe. He is... so... so worried about you Jay. I imagine he will be ecstatic to learn you have returned when he wakes up." Zane explained, a more sorrowful tone appearing in his voice.

He looked so calm and collected, but Jay could hear the telltale whirring coming from his head. It was just about quiet enough.

Jay himself had no idea of what to say. Hearing that Cole didn't mean what he'd said was nice to know, hearing that he'd been beating himself up so brutally over it wasn't so much.

It was a terrible feeling, to know that the past day and night had filled all his friends with such utter panic, all because of him.

Zane readjusted himself, and spoke once again.

"... Jay, I am aware that you might not wish to talk about what has been going on for you, however, if you would, I would very much like to know, and appreciate if you told me."

"... I... it's ok, I'm happy to tell you, just... maybe, don't tell anybody else, for now."

Zane nodded in agreement.

"That is fine."

Jay took a deep breath, composing himself as best he could, then with as few stammers and pauses as possible, began to explain everything he had experienced and discovered on his sudden journey alone.

———

"... and then I used my glider to get back here. That... I think that's everything. Yeah."

Jay looked up from his half drank cup, and to his friend, who was politely making eye contact, however, looked so painstakingly concerned that he couldn't help but feel bad.

Zane was never the most expressive of people. Most of the time, he was either cheerfully blank, polite and calm or happy. Seeing him visibly nervous hardly ever happened, and consequentially filled Jay with dread as well.

"... I... I see. This is, certainly news. I am very apologetic for your situation as a child, that must have been horrific to learn."

"... yeah... it explains my lungs though... at least that isn't a mystery anymore."

"... yes. You could say that."

He pursed his lips and looked away, the whirring in his head getting louder.

"... I know that you told me all of this in confidence, though, I believe that telling Sensei Wu about your experience in the caves would be a wise decision. He will be able to give you much better advice than I." he said, looking back at Jay in time to see his dissatisfied expression.

"... Sensei's done nothing but hide things from us for ages. He must have known about my birth mum and who she was, but he never said a thing to me. I don't trust him."

"... Jay, what are you suggesting?"

"Oh, no, not like that, I just... I don't trust him to be a good mentor. I don't think he does what's best for us, and if he had good advice for me, he'd probably just keep it a secret and tell me to meditate in some sacred place somewhere, or drink a special type of tea."

Zane was troubled by what he'd said.

"... I trust Sensei wholeheartedly... however, I do know what you mean. It is... frustrating that he has kept so much from us. I won't tell him anything... but I urge you to do yourself. He may make strange decisions, but he is still our Sensei, and has our best interests at heart."

Jay didn't know if he believed that anymore.

"... I do not know, Jay. I cannot fathom any reason for a blank reflection other than a presumptive lack of a future, which is a terrifying prospect."

"... yeah... talk about it."

"... I wish you had told me where you were going. I would have happily come along."

"What for? You already know your future is going to be secure."

"Jay."

He looked up and saw a much more serious face than before.

"There are... only two foreseeable reasons for what you saw in those caves."

"... yeah, one is that I turn into a ghost, and one is that I die. I-It's scary, but I know-"

"-No, Jay. That's not it."

"... what?"

"... yes, one of them is indeed that you are going to die. The ghosts have all been completely obliterated from this world, and we will not be stepping inside the Temple on Haunted Hill ever again, becoming a ghost has a probability so negligible it might as well be zero. What I am about to say may sound morbid, and cruel, and something a friend would never dream of... but the first option may be the more desirable of the two."

What... did he mean? What could he possibly be insinuating?

Something worse than him... dying? What fate could he possibly befall that would be worse than death? A few comic series came to mind, different ways that villains were stuck in infinite death loops by the heroes as an eternal punishment for their crimes, but this wasn't a comic book. Infinite death loops didn't exist in the real world.

Zane... Jay couldn't believe it. It was ever so slight, and you could have missed if if you weren't looking, but it was unmistakeable.

Zane was shaking.

"... Jay... have you considered that perhaps... no matter what person went down there and looked into the mirrors, they would see the exact same reflection of nothing?"

"... I... I don't..."

"... what if it is not your fate that has changed, Jay. I hate to think that this is the case... and I hope that I can run some more tests and find a more appealing reason that doesn't involve either of these options... but... maybe it is the collective fate of mankind. A single person's fate changing just isn't... well... it is possible. Fate is fate after all. Little things change here and there, butterfly effects can happen, it is simply that... while option one is the more likely of the two... I cannot help but consider the second. It is possible as well."

Jay almost knew what he was going to say, but that didn't prevent the horrible sinking feeling in his chest when the words finally escaped his lips. It felt as through for a second, the ground had opened up below him and swallowed him whole.

"... what if it is not your fate... but the collective fate of mankind, that has changed?"