Work Text:
《 Sometimes destruction is just reconstruction with better priorities》
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"There it goes."
"That robot thinks it's a person?"
"I don't trust technology like that."
"What if it gets a virus and kills us all?"
"It's powers are meant for humans."
"What was the Master of Ice thinking?"
"It's 'friends' are insane for being near it."
"Why didn't it just stay gone?"
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They had heard it all.
Every whisper.
Every insult towards their humanity.
Every time someone wished that they had stayed gone.
They hated it.
Sometimes, they wished that Cole just hadn't noticed them beneath Chen's Island.
That the others had just left them in the Never-Realm.
That Pixal had left their broken body in the crashed plane.
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There was an unnatural chill in the air on that day.
The day when everything went wrong.
Zane had been acting distant.
Until one day -- that day -- when nobody saw them at all.
Then, the news report started streaming.
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There are many reports, with many still coming in, of Zane Julian, famed Ice Ninja of Ninjago, walking down the streets of Ninjago City, emitting spreading patches of ice anywhere they step. According to our data analysis team, the Ice Ninja seems to head straight for Borg Tower.
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People looked on in shock and horror as one of their 'heroes' walked down the streets of their city, freezing anything and anyone nearby. Clusters of ice sprouted from the Nindroid's footsteps.
Instead of staying where they were, those clusters grew. Through the streets, up the sides of buildings, under doors, and through open windows.
It was a twisted version of a beloved children's movie.
Nobody knew what drove one of their saviors to do this.
I don't even fully know the reason myself to this day.
The rest of the ninja, including myself, attempted to stop Zane from continuing. Kai stayed behind as a backup and last resort if things went... unwell.
All of our efforts were in vain.
Lloyd tried talking to them first. He started about 3 meters ahead, asking why Zane was doing this. He pleaded for them to stop. But Lloyd only ended up frozen in his tracks like the civilians he wanted to save.
Jay tried shattering or melting the ice with his lightning. He stood on top of clusters, but it turns out that even though they looked like they had stopped spreading, the ice still reacted to any touch. Jay was frozen completely within a minute.
I can still see and hear Nya's terror from watching her yin get turned into solid ice. Even though I tried telling her that it was useless, that Zane could stop her powers in a second, she still attacked. All mercy was gone from her soul in that moment.
It was like watching her battle Kalmaar and Wojira again. Except this time, she was fighting her friend.
Nya hopped from water platforms, shooting blasts of jet strong water, but it wasn't until one actually made contact with Zane that it went wrong.
The second the water touched the cold, frostbit outer metal of Zane, it all froze within a millisecond, and Nya didn't even have time to retract her hand from touching the water.
She got frozen, too. She just hangs in the air now, a bitter reminder of what we all lost that day.
Pixal didn't rush in right away. She took time to evaluate the situation and act accordingly.
If only her solution had worked, then maybe I would still believe that brain is triumphant over brawn.
She attempted to remotely pilot the Samurai X mech to lift Zane off of the ground using its cables. I didn't tell her my doubts, although maybe I should've.
I remember the whoosh the mech made as it flew past.
The crackle of the ice as it made its way up to the building's rooftop.
The cables froze the second they touched Zane, much like Nya's water. The mech followed in suit shortly after. It, too, now hovers in the air supported by thin strands of ice as hard as deepstone.
Pixal still gets thrown back to that moment any time she gazes up at the frozen mech.
I tried telling her that we needed to move to a different rooftop, but Pixal remained still, any and all reason seemingly evaporated from her head.
The ice grabbed a hold of her in no time. I tried so hard to grab her from its hold. But it didn't work.
Kai had no clue what was going on. The news had shut off half an hour earlier, and our earpieces weren't working at all.
It was down to just me.
Now, I was and am not stupid. I knew that making contact with Zane was a fool's errand. So I decided to see what they were going to do.
It took about another half-hour of me following Zane walking down the streets of Ninjago City until they reached Borg Tower.
However, instead of walking inside and using the elevator, Zane did something peculiar.
A pillar of ice rose from beneath their feet, lifting them up to the roof of Borg Tower. As a small test from an adjacent buolding rooftop, I threw a pebble against the pillar. It didn't freeze until it touched the ground.
I pulled the makeshift grapple I carry around off of my belt and, once the pillar reached Borg Tower's rooftop, I flung it on top, praying to the First Spinjitzu Master that it'll hold on.
I then gripped onto the rope and swung, bracing myself from slamming into the side of the pillar with my feet. The climb began.
It took no less than five minutes to reach the top. The pillar didn't freeze me where I was standing, which I considered a blessing. Zane was at the base of the large 'spire' of Borg Tower, just staring out at the ice-covered city.
I was afraid of what would happen when I tried to approach Zane, but I threw the fear away and just tried, despite logic screaming at me, not to step forward.
I took a step.
...
The ice parted around my foot. I took another step.
The same result occurred.
I walked forward, more confident. Each time I took a step, the ice parted to allow me to make my way towards Zane.
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"Why are you trying to stop me?" They say.
I stop for a second, thinking about the question Zane had just asked me. "Because I care," I reply. I hear a small but audible scoff.
"You never seemed to care before now," Zane stated. "They said words that dug under the metal I call skin, they called me a worthless piece of technology that would eventually fail when Ninjago needed me most."
I just stare at Zane, not knowing what to say. They never told me about the things that people were saying about them.
But now that I look back, the jabs at Zane's humanity were always covered by other things. Other reasons for aggression.
"I-I never-I never noticed that-" I stutter out.
"Of course you didn't," Zane replies, cold and calculating.
"You also never told me. Never told anyone," I mutter in disbelief. I'm really lost. I don't know what to do.
Zane chuckled a little. "I guess I wanted to protect you from the cruelness of the world a little. From how much I and many others hate me."
"Why do you hate yourself?" I whisper, more to myself than anything, but Zane still responds.
"Cole, look at me," They say. "I'm an advanced piece of machinery with powers meant to go to humanity. Not something cursed to live on forever, never returning the powers to where they came from."
I stare at Zane and reply, "Then why did you destroy the city?"
"An impulsive decision, I guess. It's curious, I've never been like this before, but when powered by the hate thrown my way instead of the logic and reason I've used for so long, I just snap," Zane laughs a little, which unsettles me.
I can't comprehend what they're saying right now. Why try and 'protect me' from the world if it's destroying them inside? I have no answers to my own question, and I hate it.
Zane speaks up again, which startles me from my thoughts. "After all, sometimes destruction is just reconstruction with better priorities."
"What 'better priorities' are there, Zane?" I ask.
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Their reply still shocks me to this day:
"It's simple, really. If nobody is here to speak, then there is nobody to sprout hate from their mouth."
That's when the cold hit my feet. It crept up my legs, and by that point, I knew what was happening.
The ice wasn't being merciful anymore.
"Please," I begged. "Zane, we can fix this."
"They'll still hat me, Cole. They always will. Going back won't change anything," They had said.
The cold wrapped around my torso.
"Zane, please. I love you."
My right arm froze behind me. My chest started to hurt.
Zane turned around right then. They smiled a sad smile.
"I love you too, Cole."
Then, faster than I could form a thought, the cold reached my mind, and blew out its flame.
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I awoke an unknown amount of time later to Kai's concerned face. I felt the heat as much as the cold that wrapped around my body.
No words were spoken between the two of us. The silence was filled with the whoosh of the wind and the crackle of ice melting and breaking apart.
Once my feet were free, I took a step onto the ice. It stayed where it was. That's when I saw that Kai was standing on the ice as well. Then I looked up.
Zane was standing on the top of the Borg Tower spire, holding onto the taller bit while standing on the smaller half. My eyes took a minute to see it.
"They froze themself. I can't melt it."
I felt the tears prick my eyes as I turned around to look over the city. Only a few were walking around.
Children.
Those were the ones the ice left alive.
I didn't want to head back on the path that I had taken on the way there. I didn't want to see all of the ones that weren't with us anymore.
I know why Kai was able to unfreeze me.
And I will keep that secret to myself for the rest of my life.
I just hoped that it was the same for the other ninja. Unfortunately, however, not everything we wish for turns out to be true.
When I asked Kai if he had tried to unfreeze anyone else, he nodded solemnly and turned away.
"Pixal is the only one that I can unfreeze. She's down there assisting the survivors as we speak."
The rest of them had become one with the ice. Literal, indestructible, unmeltable ice statues.
Pixal and myself were the only ones spared during what we now call "The Frost." Not the most creative name, I know, but we had to name it something. It's too painful saying, "The day Zane froze the city over."
The ice no longer spread. But it stayed.
No amount of sun melted it.
No amount of fire ever dented it.
Metal broke under contact.
The ice now serves as a constant reminder of what words can do to anyone, even those others claim to be "unfeeling."
Everybody has emotions.
Everybody deserves kindness.
Nobody deserves to feel so utterly horrible that they hurt others, including themselves.
I don't know if the elemental powers in my friends will ever resurface in others, but I can at least hope that they will.
Until then, this is how Ninjago is. Frozen over. Uninhabitable. But we have nowhere else to go. So we push on, and let those who died during The Frost have a purpose for dying.
Not that it makes it any better.
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The man closed the leather-wrapped book and set it down on his lap.
"Story time is over, guys. Go back to your homes now," he said.
"Mr. Brookstone?" One child asked. "What does warmth feel like?"
He paused for a second to let the memories resurface.
"It's like getting the biggest hug from your parents, except it wraps around and you can feel it inside of you."
"Will we be able to feel warmth one day?"
"I don't know. All we can do hope, little one."