Chapter Text
Conscience came back quick. Zane jerked awake with a gasp, hands held above his head by metal chains. Zane? His name was Zane. Everything was moving slowly, his mind clouded and foggy. He didn’t know where he was, when he was, or really anything except his name. At least he thinks his name was Zane. He couldn’t be sure.
He looked around the room. It was dark but he had night vision that allowed him to make out the environment around him. The floor was made out of dirt, staining part of his silver gi. The walls were made out of concrete and there was a small window above him, moonlight shining through the bars. The door was wooden, with a small, circular, hole. He tried to focus on how he got there but all he could conjure up was the feeling of being cold. Ice cold. So cold that it felt like it was ripping his body apart. He didn’t want to investigate the feeling and find the memory it was attached to.
“Zane? Are you still there? If you can hear me, wake up. You need to wake up.” A voice came from a crack in the wall to his right. The voice was female, slightly mechanized. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place where he had heard it.
“Hello?” He asked skeptically. Like hers, his voice also sounded mechanized. Weird.
“Oh Zane, thank FSM! Are you alright?”
“Am I- who are you?” A moment passed before she responded, “You don’t remember me?” Her voice sounded hurt, laced with sorrow and he instantly felt regret. He didn’t want to make her sad.
“I don’t remember anything.” At that moment the severity of his situation hit him full force. He was chained to a wall in a cell with no way out and a woman talking to him through a wall.
“Your memory drive must have been damaged.”
“Memory drive?” What was she talking about?
“You’re a Nindroid, Zane.” Zane looked at his hands, which were the only part of his body not covered by his clothing. His fingers were slim and metal, still suspended over his head.
“I am PIXAL, we are friends.”
“How-how did I get here?” Before PIXAL could respond, footsteps sounded from outside.
“Ahhh look who’s awake.” The voice sounded slimy and sent a shiver down Zane’s spine. A man’s face appeared in the hole in the door. He had dark hair that was slicked back, high arched brows, and a thin mustache. His expression was sinister as he looked at Zane.
“Master Chen, is most pleased in your arrival.”
“Who are you? Where am I?” Zane struggled in his chains. The man didn’t respond only smiling darkly, before his expression shifted.
“You!” He called out to someone that Zane could not see, “Shut her off!” Zane panicked. He couldn’t lose PIXAL, she knew who he was and what was going on. But alas there was nothing he could do as he heard the cell door next to his, open.
“Zane! Try and remember-" before she could finish her sentence, her voice cut out, and Zane was alone once more.
⋆⁺₊❅.
Cole knew it was something he had to do, not just to ensure his friends made it in the tournament, but also to fix his broken friendship with Jay. In all honesty, their falling out was very unnecessary. Cole did not like Nya like that, his whole crush was just a way to mess with Jay. A joke that had gone too far.
It was also a way to distract himself from his very real crush. Zane. He had liked Zane for some time. Since their first meeting in fact. When he had been alone at the monastery, with only master Wu to keep him company, and then Zane had appeared. It was like he was seeing for the first time. People would call it love at first sight but for Cole it was so much more than that. It felt as though the bolder that seemed to constantly crush him was lifted off. It was as though Cole's life had been an incomplete puzzle, and Zane was the missing piece.
But then Zane died. He sacrificed himself for Ninjago. To save the lives of the citizens and his fellow ninja. And it destroyed Cole, making him feel incomplete once more. He couldn’t stand to be in the same place Zane had once been. To sit in the same seat he had. To stand on the Same floor he had. To look upon the city he had once loved. So, he left. He packed his bags and left. He didn’t tell anyone, not like it mattered. Kai had left before him, and he knew the rest would follow. They could not remain ninja without Zane.
Before he left Ninjago he went to Zane’s memorial. He didn’t know why he did. Maybe for closure? He stood in front of the towering statue and tried to will the words to come out that could show what he was feeling. What he had felt for his friend. But no words could properly articulate the love he had for Zane. So, he stood there silently. As still as the statue.
He tried to forget it all as he worked. He tried to forget his friends, his sensei, his parents, and his old life. He’d work himself until he was so exhausted that he couldn’t even conjure up a coherent thought. But it didn’t stop the dreams. He dreamt of snow-white hair, piercing blue eyes, skin as cold as ice. In the morning he would awake gasping for breath. All the dreams ended the same. With him watching, frozen, as he lost his friend again and again.
Then he was given hope. Hope that he had lost so long ago. The flyer had said Zane was alive, taken to something called the tournament of elements. It said the only was to get him back was to go. So, they went.
They knew the odds were against them. The games were rigged from the beginning, and it was only a matter of time before one of them would lose. Cole was glad it was him. Not just for the fact that he got to work at a noodle factory, sneaking delicious foods off the conveyor belt, but it meant his friends was safe.
Now he was walking back towards the cells. The guard had stopped them so he could chat with another guard in hushed voices. Cole thought he had heard one say “the green ninja” but he hoped he had misheard. He stood there, fiddling with his chains, eyes scanning his surroundings before he glanced into the cell on his right. His heart skipped a beat.
Sitting there, slumped forward, chains around his wrists holding him up, was Zane. He looked different. His skin was now silver, along with his hair, almost blending into his gi. He could see the blue light of his heart peeking out from beneath his collar. He grabbed onto the side of hole, ignoring the grumbling of the other inmates as they were pulled with him.
“Zane, Zane!” He whispered shout, trying to be quiet enough that the guards couldn’t hear him but loud enough that Zane could. Zane lifted his head and blue eyes met brown. But something was wrong. There wasn’t any recognition behind them. He stared at Cole as though he was a stranger. Not someone he had known for years.
“Zane…” Zane squinted at him and opened his mouth-
“Get moving!” The chains started to tug as the inmates before Cole started moving once more.
“I’ll come back for you!” Cole promised frantically, feeling as though his chance to have Zane back was slipping through his fingers. “I’ll get you out!”
⋆⁺₊❅.
Zane was… confused. It was like all he felt was just confused. He was confused about who he was, where he was, why he was there, who had taken him there, where PIXAL had gone, who she was, why was she there, and now he was confused about who that boy was.
He looked… Zane wishes he could say familiar but that would be a lie. He did not recognize the boy even if he had seemed to recognize him. The boy had long black hair, it reached his shoulders and was tinged with white with what seemed like flour. His eyes were wide when they started at Zane, big and brown. His dark skin was also covered in flour, but Zane could still see some scars from underneath. Zane thought the boy was pretty cute.
He had said that he would come back for him and get him out. Zane didn’t know if he could be trusted so he wasn’t going to wait for a knight in shining armor who may not even exist. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
He had figured out quite easily that he wasn’t human. That was clear from his sliver fingers and the blue heart shining under his shirt. PIXAL had said he was a Nindroid? He assumed it was a type of robot and was proven right the more he experimented with his body. He could feel pain but not as strongly as you would expect. He tested that by pinching his wrist with one hand and only feeling a small twinge of pain, not enough for how much pressure he put. His vision was also better than other people, unless normal humans had night vision as well. That was about all… oh right, he also had a small retractable circular blade in his shoulder that could be used to saw through his chains. So that’s what he did.
He had to wait until there was a gap in the surveillance of the cells to make his escape. He hesitated in front of the cell next to his. PIXAL was in there and she had tried to help him before the man did whatever to her. As well she knew who he was, she could answer his questions.
He broke through her cell door as well. He stepped in and was not greeted with a woman but instead a… computer? There were some mechanical parts next to it, some that he recognized were similar to his just more feminine. An arm, leg, torso. Not enough to construct a robot though. We walked to the computer, steps soft and controlled. It was off so he pressed the on button. It took a moment to load up but when it did a face of a robot girl stared back at him through the screen.
“Zane?” She asked, something sad in her tone, as though she had not expected to see him.
“PIXAL, do you know where we are and how to get out?”
“I do; I can only tell you though.” Her expression matched her tone now. “I cannot come with you, not like this.”
“Tell me then and I’ll find someone who can get you. Or I’ll find a way to take you with me, how did you get in here anyway.” At that her face lit up. “Zane you genius!”
“What?! What did I say?”
“Press your hand to the back your head, you’ll feel a small opening,” he followed her instructions feeling his head, “open it and then take the hard drive from the computer, it contains me. I will be able to guide you through your head!”
“Is that safe?” He asked cautiously.
“Of course it is Zane, I wouldn’t do anything that could be dangerous to you.” He wasn’t sure if he could trust her, but she was his only way out. He took the hard drive and inserted it into the back of his head. At first his vision went black and he thought the worst but then it came back with now a little PIXAL in the corner of his vision.
“Perfect! While I’m in here, I’m going to try and get you your memory back!” He went to respond but then she screamed, “Zane watch out!” He felt an electrical current pass through his body, and he fell to the ground, everything going dark.
“Next time, maybe it would be best to tie up the Nindroid with chains thick enough that he couldn't cut through."
⋆⁺₊❅.
Cole could barely concentrate on his work. Zane was alive! He had seen Zane! It had scared him though, that Zane hadn’t seemed to recognize him. He had full trust that Nya or Jay would be able to fix whatever was wrong with him. All he had to do was get Zane out of here and find a way to contact the other ninja. He was able to convince Karlof to make a distraction, and he was able to slip off to the cells.
He practically ran down the hall, passing by empty cells, until he reached Zanes. He shoved his head into the hole, peering into the dark room.
"Zane!" But Zane didn't react from where he was slumped forward in now thicker chains. "Zane! Come on, Zane! Youve got to wake up!" Zane still didn't react, still as ice.
Shit, this was going to harder than he had thought. Luckly for him, being the master of earth came with super strength. He was able to easily open the locked door, almost pulling it off its hinges. He ran into the cell crouching down next to Zane. He shook his shoulder, hoping to rouse the boy but he had no reaction.
Upon further inspection, Cole saw a burn mark on his side. It was consistent with an electrical burn and he figured, based off the new cuffs as well, that Zane had attempted to escape only to be shocked. That would also explain why he wasn't waking up. Maybe it fired some of his circuits? There wasn't time to worry though. He didn't have long until a guard realized he was missing so he quickly snaped Zanes chains off the wall. He didn't want to risk pulling it off his wrists, in fear of hurting him. He picked Zane up bridal style. He was limp in his arms, head falling onto Cole's shoulder. he also felt heavier than he used to be, but Cole could still carry him.
"Don't worry Zane, I'll make sure you're safe."