Chapter Text
The walk through the forest was grave, silent. The only noises were the cracking of branches as they were stepped on, or the slight breeze of wind in the trees. Other than that, nothing. Nya despised it. It left more room in her head to think.
How in the ever-loving fuck could she have been so stupid!
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The water ninja's mind was clouded with anger as she made her way through the woods with haste. Kai trailed behind her, trying everything to make her stop, but all of his words went through one ear and out the other. She didn’t care, she didn’t want to hear it.
Eventually Kai sped up and positioned himself in front of her. «Nya! Please, would you just listen!» He then proceeded to put a hand on her shoulder, which she effectively slapped away.
«When I said to leave me alone it included everyone.» Nya hissed as she pushed past her brother.
Kai turned towards her, but stopped following. «Why can’t you properly talk to me! Why are you like this? »
Nya stopped dead in her tracks. When she whipped around it was with such force that her ponytail smacked her across the face in an almost comical way. «LIKE WHAT? I DARE YOU TO CONTINUE.»
The fire ninja gestured towards her. «Why do you always insist on solving everything yourself?»
«I do not!»
«Oh, don’t you?» Kai said through gritted teeth. «I know you better than anyone, hell, I might even know you better than yourself! You put way too much on your plate, and react with outbursts when someone offers to help!»
Nya walked closer and stuck a finger in his chest. «Ohh, I see what you’re doing. We are not having this talk again! Not now!» She gave him a final glare before turning and walking once again. Why did this brother of hers never understand when to give her the space she neede-
«I can’t lose you too.»
…what?
Nya slowed down her walking, pure confusion seeping through her. Without looking at him, she responded. «And what’s that supposed to mean?» She tried to keep the hard voice, but slightly failed.
«You’re slipping away!» Kai’s voice took on a hint of desperation.
«That’s stupid. I’m right here.»
«Are you?»
Nya crossed her arms and finally met his eyes. «Of course I am! What are you even trying to say?»
«What I’m saying is that you’ve pulled away. From me, from Lloyd, from everyone! You work yourself to death, trying to figure out everything, convinced you will. You don’t eat. You don’t sleep. And don’t even try telling me otherwise, I’ve kept an eye on you. Granolabars and energy drinks are not nutritious enough for your body! Neither are those half an hour naps you pull all the time! You are slowly losing who you are every single day because of your determination. As I look into your eyes now, all I see is an intense workaholic. I get that you want to find Jay, I really do, but I want my sister. I need her! This is a hard time for us all, and I cannot push through without the one person I would sacrifice the entire universe for. Please Nya, even after everything that has happened recently, stay. For me.» Kai had tears in his eyes now, threatening to spill over with the tiniest blink of his eyelids. Then they did, rolling down his tan skin and dripping onto his gi, small drops darkening the red fabric.
Nya couldn’t speak. Her mouth quickly switched between open and closed, trying to find words. But as she saw the red ninja cry, her older brother who never cried, she could only find herself crying as well.
Had she really been that distant? Sure, she might’ve worked a little more intensely lately. It didn’t feel like she had reached such drastic level, but… Hearing Kais words she wondered if she had. As Nya thought more about it she realized she had. She really had.
«Oh god…» The water ninja brought her hands to her face. «Oh god Kai I’m so sorry!» Her voice cracked at the sorry, and her knees wobbled. She started to sob, gingerly sinking to the ground until she was on her knees. She cried harder and harder until two warm arms wrapped around her. She clenched the red gi, burying her face on Kais shoulder.
«It’s okay,» Kai whispered. «Just remember, we’re here. I’m here.»
It was at this moment the rest of the ninja, minus one, arrived. As they saw the siblings wrapped in an embrace, Lloyd felt his heart tug. He had been so worried about Nya, and was glad Kai finally managed to talk to her.
Kai lifted his head, gesturing for Lloyd to join. The green ninja hesitated, but soon leaned down and got into the hug. In the end, Sora, Wyldfire, and Cole joined as well.
After a few minutes, Nya started moving, gently pushing the others a bit away so she could have room to wipe her tears. «You big saps,» She said with a breathless chuckle. When she looked over them, the water ninja realized one was missing. There was no titanium in sight. And then it hit her her.
«Oh FSM. Please don’t tell me I actually did that.»
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And that was how she ended up here, treading through the terrain as she tried writing the best apology speech ever in her mind. How does one even start apologizing after saying what she said!?
Nya wanted to crawl into a hole and die as she remembered what she had previously said to Zane. Those awful words, oh- If only she was the master of time instead of water! Nya had been holed up with work, but she wasn’t blind to everything happening around her. She knew Zane had his own problems. More specifically, she knew what he didn’t have. Who he didn’t have.
God, why hadn’t she been a better friend!? Why did she have to fuck everything up?
Cole must have seen the distress on her face, because she suddenly felt a heavy hand on her shoulder, pulling her out from the depths of her mind. «Hey, you good?»
«No,» Nya muttered. «What do I even say to him?»
Cole sighed. «I don’t think there’s much to be said except the truth. Besides, it’s Zane. He will forgive you, he always does.»
«That’s not a good thing Cole.»
The master of earth furrowed his brows, then the words fully sunk into him. If Zane accepted the apology and forgave her immediately, it would be of politeness. Because at the end of the day, that was who the nindroid was. Perhaps, Cole’s swallowed, Zane would even refuse the apology, apologizing to Nya himself. «You’re right,» Cole said defeated. «But there’s nothing else to do.»
Neither of them spoke the rest of the walk.
Lloyd was worried. As they got closer to where they had left Zane, it only increased tenfold. The team had already been through too much fucked up shit, way too much. Lloyd hoped with his entire body this situation would turn out okay, that Zane would forgive them.
Because, of course, it wasn’t just Nya who owed the nindroid an apology. Zane had been left alone by the others afterwards, and being alone after an argument was awful. Why hadn’t one of them stayed? Why hadn’t Lloyd stayed?
The master of energy took a deep breath as he saw the outskirts of the open space they had last seen the ice ninja. But the breath caught in his throat when he felt the temperature being much colder here, and as he got to see more and more of the field.
Snow?
Lloyd stopped walking altogether, before he suddenly started running. The others got confused, but followed shortly after.
When they could all finally see the whole field, Cole sucked in a sharp breath. «By the first master...»
The entire place, which had just an hour ago been flooded with green grass and vibrant colors, was now a frozen wasteland of white and blue. The waterfall was like thousands of frozen daggers reaching for the ground, the flowers like a poor mimic of their past glory. Everything had been coated with a layer of Zanes snow and ice.
But Zane himself was nowhere to be seen.
«What? Where did he go?» Kai said in confusion, but the worry was present.
The team began making their way through the 4 inches of snow, yelling out the nindroid’s name and looking around for him. But Cole remained in his spot, gaze turned downwards, staring at a purple flower that had been touched by the elemental power. He gently crouched down until his knees made contact with the ground and reached for it. Once he got a closer look at it, he saw that the flower was perfectly fine, every detail still intact, just completely encased. And Cole swallowed, because this entire scene was familiar.
«No, no I- I can’t! I’m going to hurt you! »
Cole stepped closer, hands raised as a symbol of peace. «No you won’t. And I won’t hurt you either. Please Zane, you’re not there anymore, you’re back here in Ninjago! It’s okay!»
The nindroid just huddled closer into the corner. His entire bedroom was now a near replica of that goddamn palace he had spent so many years in. The bed was more like a block of ice, all his books had a layer of frost on them, and the temperature was well below what it was outside of these walls.
Zane stuttered; «Y-you’re not real, you can’t be…»
«I am real. The dream you just had however, is not.»
«If this is real, stay away. I’m dangerous. I k-killed so many! I’ll kill you too, it’s all I’m good for, so please stay away! »
Back then it hadn’t been long after the Never-Realm, scarcely a few weeks. It was years ago now, but Cole recognized the surroundings immediately, memories as clear as day.
This was remnants of a panic attack. Zane’s panic attack.
Fuck.
Sora treaded through the snow, eyes darting around. While the others tried calling out for Zane, she was an observer. Always had been. One thing she had noticed, was that while she and her friends made deep footprints in the snow, no other footprints were visible. Odd.
Still, this didn’t mean there was no clues available. As Sora leaned down she could see that certain parts of the snow were uneven, not nearly a perfect ‘blanket’ like the rest of the snow. Interesting. As she trailed these uneven paths, she got to a big spot where the snow wasn’t just imperfect, but sort of dented, like something big had been lying there. Almost like a shape of a person.
«Oh god,» she muttered. The tech master looked back at all the paths of uneven snow, realizing that the texture was lots and lots of small lines, much like branches from a spruce tree. With a quick glance upwards, she saw that there was, in fact, a spruce tree here. Someone had dragged a branch after them to hide their traces! And it wasn’t just one person who had done this, these paths were everywhere. Sora’s eyes widened at the discovery.
A few meters away, Lloyd had given up yelling. «He isn’t here.» he sighed.
Kai rolled his eyes, exasperatedly crossing his arms. «No shit Sherlock! But there’s no footprints here, so where could he have gone?»
«I don’t think it’s that simple,» Sora said slowly.
The ninja turned to her. «What do you mean?» Nya asked.
Sora rose from the ground, and gestured to the areas she had been inspecting. «Look at the difference in the snow. In lots of places around us, someone has attempted to cover up! Zane wasn’t as alone here as we thought.» She took a deep breath.
«And he didn’t leave alone either.»