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Chapter Text

Cole hadn't meant to get struck by Serpentine magic.

Or maybe he had?

He'd made a split second decision, acted on sheer instinct without thinking much on the possible outcome. It was also something he'd gladly do again, even with his previous assumption that anything that got struck with the power contained in the Staff of Forbidden Spinjitzu was sent into oblivion. Destroyed, gone.

With that knowledge, and watching the purple arch of energy spewing out of the staff still held by a frozen Aspheera, the deep blue crystalline ice that held her in place and pronounced her defeat seemed to do nothing to sway her from getting the last laugh. The beam had shot forwards, and he and Zane had reacted simultaneously. Zane, he moved in front of Wu.

Cole, he'd tried to grab both of them by the arm and pull them out of harm's way. He'd barrelled past Jay, his body moving on autopilot before his mind had caught up.

He'd caught onto Zane's sleeve, balled the fabric in his hand.

Then his gaze shifted to darkness, and a cold chill quickly seeping into his skin and deeper into his bones pulled him from the dregs of what must have been unconsciousness. Even though the resounding thumping from inside his head was enough to make him want to curl up in a ball and ignore the world.

World?

Cold?

He was alive?

"Hello?" someone called.

Cole shifted slowly from where he was laid, the crisp snow below his hands giving way as he gathered himself up off the floor. It didn't help with the chill at all, but as his eyes adjusted to the bright glare of light reflecting off a snowy landscape, aches and pains and uncomfortableness faded into the background as confusion set in.

He'd been inside. He'd been in the vehicle hanger under the Monastery? Inside. Even then, outside had been spring weather with a slight chance of ancient serpentine fires.

Not… Not snow and cold. Not an overcast sky.

Cole didn't do cold weather.

He needed warmth, he needed greenery and the sun because who liked a drab and seemingly never ending snowscape that bit into his fingers, fogged his breath and made him hug his bare arms and shiver involuntarily.

What had happened?

Aspheera, the staff, Zane and an incredible show of his ice powers; the final blow.

Zane…

"Is anyone there?" Came that voice again. The tinny metal sound carrying over the snowy silence. He'd recognise that voice anywhere.

"Zane!" Cole called back, turning as fast as his feet would allow him so he could look around.

Zane was okay?

The surroundings fell back into silence, and Cole kept looking. Snow. Snow. His breath fogging in the air in front of him. Mountains. Cliffs. A mound of rocks.

A glint of titanium.

And, "... Cole?"

That was all he really needed to give him a spur of energy. To ignore the snow seeping into his gi and shoes, to put what had just taken place out of his mind even just for a second. Zane was here, and he was okay.

He charged through the snow, leaving a large drift in his wake as he made his way over to his friend and all but tackled him down with a hug and a laugh. It was only the counterweight of the nindroid that kept them both from falling backwards into the snow.

"You're okay!" Cole pulled back and let out a heavy breath of relief, keeping his hands on his friends shoulders as he looked him over. Assessing him, seeing whether what Aspheera had shot directly at him had any adverse effect.

"You damn tin-can. Self sacrificing-" Cole closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You'll give me a heart attack one of these days." He stammered out, a smile pulling briefly on his face. Zane was here.

Wherever here was exactly.

"Need I remind you," Zane began, and Cole's gaze drifted up to the bright eyes of his brother. It was like a constant development, that every second that passed that he was looking at the Nindroid made him realise that he was okay. Zane was alive and in one piece. This wasn't a repeat of the Overlord.

Though his silent pondering was shattered when he felt a light push to his shoulder and refocused to see a look that was an unusual mix of repose and irritation. Zane wasn't the most widely expressive person, but he did have his moments of animation. They were always a sight.

"You were clearly intent on carrying out the same action that I did." Zane gestured to the entirety of Cole's body, as if that encapsulated his whole argument. Which it did. Cole's presence was proof enough that the same thing happened to him that had happened to Zane. They'd both been victims of the spell.

He still wasn't going to let his brother get a one up that easily. "The same-? You got in the way of the blast, you could have, like, pulled Sensei Wu out of the way."

"Everything happened fairly swiftly, Cole. I acted on-"

"- instinct?" Cole finished after a second, then nodded. "Same here. I saw Aspheera- and you were distracted," He cleared his throat before reaching up and patting Zane's shoulder lightly. "I'm glad I'm here with you, anyway. Wouldn't want you to be alone," He nodded loosely in the direction of the vast quantity of snow behind him. "You know, here."

Zane's eyes shifted around as he fully took in their environment, his brows furrowing lightly. Then he started walking through the snow, and it took Cole a moment to realise that the mound of rocks he'd seen a few minutes ago was anything but. It was Lloyd's Mech, wedged in a deep trench of snow with seemingly no power running through its systems. Currently just a useless hunk of metal.

One of which Zane was making a b-line for. Cole just followed closely behind, watching as the other climbed up onto the breastplate and stared off into the distance.

Vantage point, better view. Right.

He climbed up to join him.

Their attention jointly settled on the setting sun framed by a few rocky outcrops and towering pillars of ice.

"Wherever here is. My scanner does not seem to be working."

Like that wasn't concerning.

"Maybe we're in the first realm, just a very different part of it."

"Or an entirely different realm all together." Zane said.

Like that observation didn't make their whole circumstances that bit more bleak. The shift in tone was paramount in that moment, Cole felt his shoulders drop just a little. Zane kept his attention resolutely set on the light from the sinking sun.

Clearly, neither one liked that possibility.

Then there was a spark, and Cole's attention snapped to his brother, and more specifically the panel in his chest. Zane's gi was ripped in places, dirtied in others. His body was lightly scratched and dented in the same way Cole could feel a bruise swelling up on his forehead; but the chest panel had buckled slightly inwards enough that it wasn't closed fully, and from inside he could see flashes of light.

"You're hurt." He stated plainly, and any and all attention promptly shifted over to different matters, pressing matters.

Only, Zane gently caught his wrist and pulled it down away from where he was going to open the panel, much to Cole's chagrin, "Zane,"

"I am fine." was the simple answer. It didn't do much to sway his opinion.

"You're sparking more than Jay. Let me take a look at you." Cole tugged his arm out of Zane's grip and stepped forwards, only for Zane to respond by stepping back.

"If you wish to fix something, we should start with the mech." He pointed down to what they were standing on, "We can't leave it out here to the mercy of the elements."

Without waiting for a reply, and just as quickly as he'd scaled the side of the mech to look around the area, Zane had climbed off back onto the snowy ground below, the crunch of the once fresh carpet soon being broken by the sound of a metal panel being pried loose. Cole made a move to follow, before the realisation that he'd just be getting his already soaking gi even more wet and logged with icy water.

Minor injuries he could handle, a brother who was refusing to be looked after and ignoring his advances to help, he would begrudgingly allow.

But getting too cold? In an already frozen environment? A headache or sparky and fritzed wiring could be fixed. Hypothermia? Whilst there was no clear way for them to get warm and dry off? Death sentence.

Well, maybe not so much for the Master of Ice, who was currently centralised on removing the casing from Lloyd's mech to get at its inner workings. Walking around in his own element, his own white gi damp and clinging to his body. The one advantage Zane had, the cold wouldn't be his downfall. He was a nindroid, whether he felt the cold was ambiguous, but Cole was fairly certain that after knowing him for years, Zane got cold but he never felt it.

Fixing the mech and getting it up and moving wasn't for Zane's benefit, Cole realised. It was for him. A moving mech meant travelling much faster than they could on foot, it meant keeping them both off the ground; shelter, and with power and usage, came heat from functioning machinery.

And Cole needed to find a way to get warm sooner or later, since the tips of his fingers and cheeks were already getting numb.

"Fine. Okay. We'll fix the mech first." He caved begrudgingly.

He would be lying if he didn't sense accomplishment in the light chuckle he heard from his friend, carried up to him by a wispy breeze.

Chapter Text

Though fixing the mech, they found out, was not as easy as they'd hoped it would be when they'd begun. At first they'd tried the joints to make sure that it actually had a full range of motion and wasn't physically damaged to the point of it sheer imobility. Then an hour or so of hammering out dents and toing and froing ideas as to what could be wrong, either dismissing them or deciding it could be a probable cause; the sky started to darken. 

Then lightning struck in the distance and the thunder clap that followed came a bit too soon after for either of their liking. 

They needed a new plan. 

"We should find shelter. Let's get you moved." Zane said, talking down to the inanimate mech, wiping his oil coated hands absentmindedly down the front of his gi. Cole winced at the sight, but it wasn’t like their clothes were salvageable at that moment. Still, the black smears down the once crisp white fabric felt like a quiet loss. They were both literally wearing all they had. The clothes on their back were all they'd brought with them from Ninjago, and they hadn't lasted long. Barely even half a day.

Ideally, the people who were wearing them would keep going. If they were in a different realm, which was growing forever likely, they needed patience. They needed to endure. Help would come, their brothers would come. It would take a bit of time, but they would. 

Yet, Cole had slightly hoped that, over the past couple hours, they'd already be back home and in the warmth. 

Beggars can't be choosers. 

Zane hopped off the mech, landing silently on the ground. Then before Cole could ask how he even planned to move the motionless hunk of metal, if at all, there was a soft blue light emanating from Zane's hands. Flowing tendrils of snow framed by a visible energy, the air chilling around him to an extent that any moisture turned to a puther of condensed air; and ice started to form. Slowly but surely growing into sharp spikes on the ground beside the downed mech. The progress was consistent, steady, until another spark interrupted Zane's power. 

That had probably been the third time; sparks, visible discomfort, minor glitches. Cole sighed and made his way to Zane's side, steadying him with a hand at his elbow. That chunk of ice, as cool as it was to see it form, would get nothing moving other that Cole himself if he stepped on it wrong. They were very quickly back at square one. 

Moving the mech wasn't going to be easy, that was clear. Even with the power that they had, their skills and training, years of mastery, in his damaged state Zane could only do so much. Cole, as much faith as he had in his strength, he couldn't drag the mech in a random direction forever. There were always limits.

They were in a tough situation. 

Yet, there was the joint awareness of the fact that they weren't entirely out of options. In their silent companionship, a single look could communicate a thousand words when they knew the other like the back of their hand. They had been the first two ninja that Sensei Wu had tracked down, the first to train together for months on the hilltop monastery. Sometimes they didn't need words. 

The simultaneous glance between each other, and then over to the staff that had laid discarded in the snow the same place Zane had dropped it earlier made their shared thoughts clear as day, even in the rapidly darkening sky. 

Still, Zane gave his prior plan one last go, whatever he'd been attempting to do anyway. The ice spikes grew a couple more inches but halted when Zane dropped to on e knee, and Cole followed him down to keep him balanced and upright, providing support. "Hey, woah, cool it buddy, don't wear yourself out. We can take a moment to think."

But what thinking was there really to do when there was an idea on the ground in front of them? 

"It's no use." Zane sighed, glancing down at his hands. Cole looked at them too, at how a slight fritz in his brother's wiring was hindering any and all progress. 

Cole's eyes shifted to the staff. 

As did Zane's. 

They both had the same idea as they jointly gathered themselves off the snowy ground and stepped towards it. Then both faltered and acknowledged the other. 

"Whoever uses it needs to be careful. Remember what Sensei Wu said-" Cole noted. 

Zane nodded slowly, "The staff corrupts those who touch it." 

"I'll use it." they continued simultaneously, before Cole quirked a brow and shook his head. 

"You're not one hundred percent, man. We need to get you fixed up somehow, and using that staff won't help."

"And you have a head injury." Zane observed with a loose gesture to Cole's head, and the darkened bruise that was partially visible under his hair. He tilted his head away to move the mark out of view. Zane had already seen it, "Neither of us are in any condition to be doing much, but since we are surrounded by snow and ice, it seems as though my elemental powers may still be at an advantage."

Cole would have said something, he was all but ready to grumble and put up an argument if it meant that neither of them used the staff. It was so innocuous, so underwhelming. To anyone unaware it was simply a metal spear with leather strapping for grip and an ornate scroll wrapped around its hilt. 

But it was dangerous, it was powerful. It was addicting.

If the brief thrum of power he'd felt when he'd picked up the staff to fight the Pyro Snakes and Aspheera, the tingle that started at his fingers and worked its way through his body, the way his powers oh so simply moved to his beck and call more fluidly than they ever had before; that scroll was addictive, and neither of them should be using it, even briefly. 

Then the staff flared to life with a blue surge of every as Zane scooped it off the ground, and Cole stepped forwards. 

"Zane, wait-" 

Glowing blue eyes snapped up to him and Cole stared back, stared at the sheer power he could feel in front of him. How the air around him dropped significantly in temperature in an instant, and the cool blaze of elemental fire haloing Zane's head whipped and flared in an invisible tycoon; he placed a hand carefully onto the nindroid's wrist, onto the hand the staff was in. 

"If we do this, I don't want you doing it alone." He let out a small breath and couldn't help a smile at the confused expression that briefly flitted over the nindroid's face. 

Then Cole took hold of the staff too, and the first thing he noticed was that the surrounding cold faded away. His hand was situated just below Zane's, gripping it tightly and in unity with his brother. If the scrolls power could corrupt its user, then maybe sharing the power would allow them more time to use it. 

That was his thought process, he just hadn't thought of what would happen with the power. Two elemental masters, using an ancient power that amplified their own abilities, sharing the energy. 

Seemingly, also sharing each other's power. The chill that had set into his bones was seeping away to a bearable level, the cold simply wasn't affecting him in the way it had previously. 

Is this what Zane feels? - Or doesn't feel? 

"Woah." Cole whispered, watching in awe as webs of frost began to encroach on his clothing, overtaking individual thread and leaving it glimmering in the dwindling light. 

"Indeed," came a slow reply, and a quick look revealed Zane staring down at the ground with a creased brow. "You can… feel the ground move?" 

"Not usually, wait-" Cole stopped. "Your eyes-" 

One a stark and glowing blue, one a fierce and deep, burning amber. 

Cole could only guess what his own eyes were like. 

Zane brought his free hand up to his face, as if to physically check for this development before he promptly shook his head and turned to the mech. "We should get moving. This staff- we shouldn't be holding it any longer than needed."

That statement brought them both jarringly back to reality, and the matter at hand. 

"Yeah." Cole turned and approached the mech, one hand outstretched, energy pulsing. Heart racing with sudden adrenaline. "Ice powers, right? What were you planning?"

Chapter Text

Getting a handle on new powers was honestly not as impossible as Cole had thought. It was actually a bit scary how easily he fell into the calming sensation of the biting chill the ice element provided. Maybe it was because he couldn't feel it, or more he could, but it was slightly absent. He knew he was cold; he knew he must have been downright freezing. Yet, he wasn’t worried. 

He and Zane had been trekking through the snow for what felt like a good couple hours. Without a watch or functioning nindroid systems, and specifically not even knowing if the time in this other realm mirrored Ninjago, time was currently hard to determine. 

If the present stress of being stuck in a different realm, away from home and his brothers, not knowing where they were or even if there was anyone else out there in the frozen tundra - if it was just them and them alone? The measurement of the passage of time was a minor thing but it was something more that they didn't have. 

Cole needed to focus on the here and now, floating a huge structure of ice above the ground, carrying the mech as if it was child's play and not very heavy machinery that had no business floating so effortlessly on their elemental construction. 

And it was theirs, both his and Zane's. They were both focused, both on the same wavelength. They'd been walking in silence for a while now, but Cole could safely say they were connected in a way that seemed impossible. 

Power flowed from the staff, from the scroll. It arched and hummed and burned and chilled all at once. It was incredible, the way Cole could feel every ounce of power. The way his element reacted and expanded, how it shifted from being an extension of his body to just being.

He could feel the world around him, he could sense structures of rocks and earth buried under what must have been years of snow. The mountains that were barely visible in the distance just felt so close. Everything echoed with a living, thriving energy. 

Then there was the ice, this foreign element flowing from his fingers. He didn't know how it worked but it still felt right. The scroll acted as a bridge, a single link in an immense and complex chain that connected the both of them. Cole had every grasp that Zane had on his ice powers, and Zane had every connection to the earth that he had, but it was all multiplied tenfold. Hundredfold even. 

It all felt so incredible, so right. Cole had to smile at it, the sensation. The power. 

Then all too quickly, the feeling of energy shifted into a feeling of wrong. What was currently happening, what they were doing wasn't natural. It was twisted by the scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu, powers grown beyond what could ever be achieved naturally. One could argue that what they were experiencing was their true capable potential. 

Cole knew that even if he trained for the rest of his life, for every second, the scroll would always provide more power than what he could ever have. That was the appeal, that no matter what he did, if Cole wanted more power then all he had to do was hold the staff. 

Hold it and not let go. 

He hadn't realised he'd stopped walking until he felt the staff pull in his grip lightly, and came around with Zane standing a bit further in front of him, looking back with an expression of building concern. "Cole, are you alright?" He questioned slowly, as if he’d already asked the question a few times beforehand. 

Why is he being so careful? Of course I'm fine. Cole found himself thinking. Why wouldn't he be fine, anyway? They'd made more progress in an hour than they had since they'd been banished to this realm and it was all because of the scroll. They'd moved the mech because of the scroll, they were protected from the harsh climate because of the scroll. 

Everything minorly positive was because of the scroll, and it was right there in his grasp. It was weighted, and the leather was wrapped carefully and smooth to the touch. The energy was calming, it provided reprieve from an extremely stressful day. There was no cold, no weakness, no pain from injuries. 

There was just power. 

"Cole-?" 

"What?" he snapped, his grip tightening ever so slightly. All Zane had to do was step forwards a little and pull, Cole could lose grip of the staff, he could lose this energy. Lose everything. 

They fell into a palpable silence, unable to step apart due to their contact with the scroll and the need to maintain the usage of the power, but it was clear that Zane had shuffled a step back. The pulled mark made in the snow was all the proof Cole needed. 

Cole's eyes widened, "I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap, I-" 

"It's the scroll." Zane nodded, content with those brief words to encapsulate the situation. The scroll corrupts those who touch it. 

They needed to put it down. Soon. Cole swallowed down a sharp feeling in his throat as he took the staff in through a new light. A clear light. 

It was corrupting him, getting in his head. 

"We don't have far to go." The nindroid continued, but this acknowledgement didn't help the tenseness of Cole's shoulders, "I can see a cave ahead," Though through the building storm, he wasn't sure how anything was even visible, but Zane's word was more than enough. 

"It will suffice for shelter." 

"You had me at 'cave'." Cole gave a grin to try and lighten the mood. It fell a little short of the mark when Zane didn't return his expression. "Let's get out of this storm." He lifted a hand, the ice platform lifting back up off the snow. 

It was a case of following Zane's guidance, since he seemed to know where he was going. The snow flurry had really begun to pick up, and the impending nighttime wasn't something they wanted to face whilst exposed. Even then, they'd gone through the day without seeing another living soul. Seeing anything, really, other than an assortment of rocks and mountainous ranges. Who's to say there was even anyone out there? In weather as treacherous as what they were experiencing, it would make surviving hard. 

But the night could bring dangers that they hadn't even thought of, that they couldn't even begin to comprehend? They were alone during the day, the night could be extremely different. 

It seemed that any worry over being stuck outdoors would soon be over, since Cole's gaze managed to break through the haze that the falling snow produced to see a large opening in the cliffs ahead. A fissure spiking up into the rocks, fracturing the landscape into a wholly unique formation. The mouth of it gaped widely, and whilst it would be a form of shelter that anyone desperate would be happy with, aesthetic changes would need to be fashioned in order to suitably keep the elements out. 

Cole smiled, and felt a renewed course of energy flow through him. Sure, the scroll kept his energy levels up to a point where using his elemental abilities didn't tire him out, but relief at finding some semblance of safety and security couldn't be replicated. A cave, indented into rock, sheltered, ideally one entrance which made it easy to keep a lookout and defend it if needs arose. 

That need ideally would not arise. 

So why did it feel like they were walking into something? 

It was like an unease sitting in the pit of his stomach, not so much a heavy weight but something that just felt off. No, it wasn't hunger, though that was something that would need to be addressed soon. It was something else. 

"You can feel it too?" 

Cole's attention snapped over to Zane in an instant, his mouth dropping just slightly. "How did you--" He stuttered out. 

"A feeling." Zane said simply, then gestured to the both of them. "And we've stopped walking." 

He hadn't realised, but they had ground to a halt. Their ice sled was situated on the ground in front of them, the staff was held lightly between them but they'd stopped moving. Now that Cole was thinking about it, they'd fallen silent too.

He'd been holding his breath, listening.

Listening past the quiet that snow always provided, it seemed to drain all sound, dampening any significant noise that occurred. 

"Zane, back to back. Now. " Cole whispered, and took a short step until he could feel the edge of Zane's shoulder plate pressed up against his own shoulder. He didn't know what it was that had put him on edge, but the hair on his neck standing on end was enough to drive him into action. 

Only, an ear piercing screech from the sky hadn't been what he'd anticipated. Followed by a huge winged creature diving from the cover of the low lying clouds and making their defensive tactic all but useless. 

It barrelled into them before either of them had taken their eyes off the sky. 

Cole went one way, and Zane went the other. Landing in a snow mound didn't hurt, but the sudden cold stole his breath away; a cold he hadn't felt in a good while. 

Cole glanced down at his hands and saw them empty, he looked around the area and found Zane sprawled out on the ground too. The only difference was that this creature, this giant bird with purple plumes and wide, far too intelligent eyes, was circling back around in a quick arch. Cole could easily bet where it was targeting next.

He had to act fast; taking in a scenario in an instant was both a learned and natural skill, and it wasn't going to fail him yet. It wouldn't. 

His hands were empty, so was Zane's, which meant the staff-

The staff was entrenched in the snow a few feet to his left, and the bird was aiming at Zane so he needed protection. 

Cole made a straight dash for the staff, picking it up and only letting himself revel in the rush of power for less than a second, the flicker of orange light that shrouded his head before he threw it like a javelin, "Zane!" He shouted over the distance. 

Limited communication didn't equate to limited understanding, Zane's head shot up and he dove over the ground, grabbing the staff from where it had landed, blue energy flickering to life as he came to a standing halt with the sharp end of the staff pointed at the creature. 

Zane was deathly calm, his gaze focused, his aim perfectly precise as he saw the beast approaching and did exactly what Cole would have done. 

He shot it out the sky, a beam of unforgiving ice gripped onto the creature's wing and in an instant it was downed; hitting the ground hard and sliding in what would have been Zane's direction had he not moved out the way. 

Cole ran over to his friend, but kept his attention on the bird. It's screeching was shrill, and every time it tried to rise into the air only to get weighed down by the icy sculpture, it caused the ground to shake. 

Then upon its next leap, it allowed gravity to pull the weight of the ice down to the ground and broke it apart, freeing the wing and providing the creature with its full range of movement again. Cole was all but ready to fight, even though he was sure that with wielding the power of the scroll, Zane could easily handle the situation. Just as he'd handled Aspheera and the pyro vipers earlier that day. 

The beast probably sensed the power too, since instead of staying around for longer, it took to the skies again and seemingly fled. Cole didn't count on it being gone for long, but he wasn't going to stand around and find out if it was coming back. 

He turned to Zane, looked at the blue fire cascading through his hair; eyes that already glowed slightly due to his nindroid nature were now crackling and brighter with energy. The scroll was reacting to the contact too, cascading an ethereal light onto their immediate surroundings. 

"Zane," Cole said, dragging his eyes away from the sight in front of him. Pressing matters. "Let's get the mech into the cave." 

So they did just that, or Zane did. 

He lifted the mech on his own, not that he couldn't have done that before. Cole holding the staff had provided help, provided a second person taking on it's burden as well as reducing the amount of power needing to be used by one person. 

This was just a short trip, albeit rushed, but Zane could do it on his own. The mech was slid into place just inside the cave, and Cole was about to ask Zane why he'd stopped before the nindroid turned around and shot a blast of ice towards the entrance of the cave. Huge spikes of ice grew in mere seconds, towering up towards the ceiling of the cave and further, shrouding the entrance, near enough sealing it with an elemental barrier. There was a small gap left though, in the centre. Large enough for a person to fit out easily, but it kept the outdoors at bay.

The ice was blue, clear and pure, and immense in size. 

Should the bird come back, it wasn't getting into their small sanctuary with any form of ease.

Chapter Text

Zane moved the mech further towards the back of the cave until it wouldn't fit much more, then finally, he allowed it to settle onto the floor. Cole observed all this from a distance with his hands held under his arms to try and preserve what warmth he had remaining, his breath fogging clearly in front of him. At least there wasn't that wind anymore, and the floor was rock and not layers of frigid snow and ice. 

He kept his gaze on Zane, following his movements slowly. He made his way over to a wall once he'd situated the mech to his liking and Cole would be lying if he didn't see the brief flash of hesitance move over his friend’s face. The notion that he was going to be putting the staff down, leaving the power behind. Before they'd known of the scroll's existence, Cole would have placed bets that no amount of power could be tempting to Zane. Nothing would override his need to simply be caring, to be aware and be present. To put others before himself, before his own needs and safety. It was selflessness, it was what had caused him to move in front of Sensei Wu when Aspheera had made her final move, it was what had made him take on the Overlord on his own on that fateful and sorrowful day all those years ago. Cole would say that it was what fuelled the nindroid, the drive to do good. 

Though power could corrupt, power could be tempting and addicting. But to actually see it having an effect, to watch as reluctance and literal strain show through Zane's expressions as all he did was let go of the staff was unnerving. It was foreign and made some of the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

Had he looked like that before when he'd gotten lost in thought? When he'd snapped at Zane? Had he really been that deep into the power? 

The only reason he'd let go himself was because it had been forcefully knocked from his hand, otherwise he would be in the same situation as Zane. No doubt about it. Staff in hand, power flowing easily, would he have been able to put it down in that situation?

Zane did manage to let go quickly, though. The scroll's light fading and plunging the cave into that bit more of a prevalent darkness without the blue hue reflecting off its frozen surfaces. The staff fell against the wall, propping itself up. Cole would have liked to cover it, liked to put it in a place that was out of sight. They just couldn't risk losing it. So it had to be there, in clear view. If there was a link home, it would most likely come from the same power that had sent them there in the first place. 

It was their ticket back to Ninjago. It had to be. If the staff could send people to a different realm, then it could send them back, why wouldn’t it be able to? The only issue was that they didn't didn't know how to do that; or if it could do that in their hands, or only Aspheera's. 

Cole stepped over to Zane, and didn't miss the way his shoulders slumped down with a heavy breath. 

"Hey, you okay?" Cole raised an eyebrow and placed a gentle hand onto his shoulder, "You should sit down, take a break. I'll deal with the mech."

Zane paused, as if considering the offer, before shaking his head, "You were subjected to the staff as much as I, if I am to take a break, then you are too."

He couldn't argue with that logic. They had been physically active since they'd arrived. That, and arguing with Zane was something he wouldn't win. 

So he relented, but that wasn't hard to do. Without the battering of the snow, the adrenaline rush due to being attacked by a giant bird, or the power of the Forbidden Scroll flowing through his system. 

For the first time that day he realised he was cold, exhausted, and in pain. 

Cole gingerly brought a hand up to the side of his head and ran his fingers lightly over a welt that had formed. He must have really hit his head when he'd landed. 

He backed up against the wall and slid down it till he was situated on the ground. 

Zane was prompt to join him.

"You're hurt." He observed, his words slow and punctuating. 

Cole just waved his hand, "Not much that can be done about it. I'll sleep it off tonight, see how I am in the morning."

"I am not able to scan your circumstances, but if you have a concussion, I would recommend not sleeping." 

"I don't think I'd be able to keep awake all night, Frosty." He said, forcing a jovial jibe into his voice. At least as a way to lighten the mood.

Since now they both had time to think, time to sit down where neither of them were freezing cold or getting frustrated at a task, or frying his circuits trying to make his powers function. 

They could pause, and just take in the day. 

Cole was contemplating that if they were going to be rescued, it would have happened before now. That if their brothers were going to show up in a completely different realm - a fact of which Cole was entirely sure about now; if the exotic and downright lethal wildlife was anything to go by - they would have come already. 

And they would both already be home, and warm, and safe. 

Not stranded. 

"I can see you thinking." Zane whispered after a moment, even though there was no reason to keep his voice low. It was just that the silence that had settled was nice, companionable, and Cole found himself whispering back. 

"We're stuck, aren't we?" 

They lapsed into silence again, until, 

"I believe so."

Cole let his head rock backwards until it came into contact with the rocky wall. His eyes slipped closed for a second. 

He was going to keep his head on straight and be logical, he was not going to freak out even though the situation vastly warranted it from either of them. 

They were trapped in a different realm, a frozen realm, the only life they'd seen so far had tried to kill them. They'd barely been able to move the mech to a safe space but the longer Cole thought about it, the more he realised that with all the broken and ruined circuits he'd seen when dismantling the metal plating earlier; it wasn't going to run. They wouldn't get it working with what they had, not easily. 

A few tools and their own knowledge, this would take time. 

It was still worth trying, though. It wasn't like they could really do much else. 

Cole shifted around where he was sitting, until he was at an angle, slightly facing his brother. "I'm glad I'm here, though." He said, shrugged even.

Zane just returned the statement with a puzzled look, "Why in all of Ninjago, would you be glad to be here of all places?" He tilted his head, "It is desolate. Cold. You're not like me, you aren't immune to the element's effects."

I was, he thought. I was when we shared the power of the scroll, our powers. 

He cleared his throat, "What you did was the right thing, protecting Sensei Wu. Getting in the way, it's what I would have done." Cole let out a sudden laugh at the realisation, "I'm the one who got caught up in the crossfire. If I hadn't gone for you when I knew that you were going to be hit, I'd still be at home."

Cole could see the beginnings of a question forming, how his apparent regrets at trying to save Zane from an unknown fate even related to being glad that he was in a frozen wasteland. The answer was simple. 

He put the question to a stop with, "I'm glad I'm here with you. That I got banished with you." He spread his hands, as if it was obvious, before wrapping them around his knees. Whether it was to conserve warmth or for comfort, he wasn’t sure.

"Because even though we're here, in this cave, and we're waiting on a rescue party, I know that you're alive. That this time, I know for certain that you're okay." 

Which was the truth, the solid truth. One too many times had he been left in limbo, not knowing if his brother, one of his longest friends was okay. Was alive. This time he literally followed him into the unknown. He'd do it again, never mind the consequences, the result of his actions. He'd been of the mindset that anything Aspheera's magic hit was destroyed. The mech, he'd thought that was as good as gone when he'd watched it dissolve out of existence. 

In his attempt to help Zane, he hadn't thought twice. 

"You're happy you're here, because you're with me?" Zane asked after a second to take in the information, as if that reasoning wasn't obvious. 

"Yep."

"And you'd rather be cold, and tired, and hurt; but with me, as opposed to being warm at home?"

Wasn't the answer obvious? "Yes. Because if I was at home in the Monastery, and I'd just seen you zapped by Aspheera's staff, then my first thought would be that you were dead again."

Again. Zane had died enough that it could be quantified. 

Whenever something happened, whenever a member of the team was waylaid, or actually gone, the team fell apart. They functioned as a unit, and to be missing a member was like missing an arm, or an eye. Sure, maybe you could function slightly, but it would never be the same as before. 

"I can assure you, I am not dead."

Cole chuckled and nodded, patting Zane's knee in acknowledgement. "I know. I know you're not dead."

I know you're not dead because you're right in front of me. I know you're not dead because this time I didn't let you face the final blow alone. I'm looking at you and you're alive. 

Then suddenly, something dawned on him that made his heart practically stutter, and his mind near enough stop. 

"I know you're alive because you're in front of me." Cole mumbled. 

Zane watched the scene in front of him, the way Cole had frozen, the way his fingers had so suddenly tightened where they were situated. One where his arm remained wrapped around his leg, the other on Zane's knee. He didn't make a move to even change position, Zane simply lifted a hand and tapped Cole's wrist to get his attention. 

To snap him back from whatever he'd just fallen into. To at least wipe the look of dawning despair on his face. 

What had just happened? 

"I'm alive, Cole, are you okay?" Zane said, finally breaking out of his stupor and moving until he was knelt in front of the leader, dropping his head to try and catch his eye. "I'm alive."

"But… We'd thought that Aspheera's staff destroyed what it hit." 

Zane knew that, he nodded, "We did. But it didn't, we survived. We were wrong." and he said that as if it was a great thing. It was, but it also meant something bad. Something the Earth ninja was trying to get out. 

"But I know that. You know that." Cole pointed a finger between him and Zane. 

"Yes, but what-- oh."

Oh. 

"They--" Cole let out a shaky breath and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't freaking out, he wasn't, he'd just come to a possibly dooming conclusion. 

"They don't know that we're alive."

In their shock, their realisation, neither of them noticed the shadow of a man lurking just outside the mouth of the cave.

Chapter Text

That realisation had struck hard. Very hard. 

Cole hadn't realised how much he'd been relying on their friends coming to rescue them. How the thought of a portal opening up in the sky at any moment, the same one that had spat him and Zane out was actually pushing him on. 

That their brothers would come through and they'd have a ticket home.

But they'd realised that wouldn't be happening, that no rescue party was going to be coming for them any time soon, since why would they think that they'd survived a direct hit from Aspheera's staff? 

Kai, Jay, Lloyd, Nya, Pixal, Wu. 

What reason would they have to think that he and Zane were alive? 

Cole couldn't imagine what they were going through at that very moment. They'd won the battle, the war. They'd vanquished evil, but they'd be entirely sure that it was at the cost of two friends, two brothers. A chunk of their makeshift family gone in one fell swoop. Or maybe he could in a way, with losing Zane during the battle with the Overlord. But again, and two of them?

Unfortunately, they couldn't ponder on what they might or might not be going through. 

Still, they couldn't just sit around and do nothing. 

Their circumstances had changed in an instant and they both knew it. They'd gone from the mindset of they had to wait, endure an unknown period of time between them arriving in the realm and them being saved by their brothers. 

To being aware that they might not be coming at all. Endurance became surviving. It became the task of getting the mech working if only for the heat it could provide, the shelter or the aid it could give with going outside the cave and braving the elements. It became knowing that when exhaustion finally overtook them both at night, they'd wake up the next day, in the same cave, and repeat the process. 

Routine maintained focus. 

Routine was finding a source of food, or any food at all. It became firewood and a way to make a fire. They were ninja, they were trained survivalists. They had to be with the amount of times they'd been stranded. Yet, it didn't make the situation feel any less bleak. 

They weren't giving up, though. Neither of them would curl up in a ball and let the world take them.

They had to believe that help would come. Be it their brothers, or from a different source.

Both Zane and Cole worked through impossible odds by keeping busy. Productive distractions, as Cole has once dubbed the process. Which was why, after what had felt like a few days, they had a good routine going. 

They may have gone to sleep hungry and exhausted that first night, but by the end of the second day and after being blessed with a clear sky, Cole had found a partially frozen-over lake. Both fresh water, and food in the form of fish. 

After the fourth day, they were rising with the sun in the morning, both Zane and Cole sparred together before either of them were really fully awake. They'd found wood for a fire, only it was too damp to work with and take a spark, not that they’d been able to suitably produce one. 

The cave and it's shelter was probably the only reason Cole hadn't frozen to death, but they needed to amend the warmth problem quickly.

On the sixth day-- or the eighth-- Zane removed the screen from the control centre of the mech, and one of the many batteries the machine had in order to get at least something working. 

He passed it down to a waiting Cole, who then situated it on the flattest surface they had in their shelter. A large and almost level rock they'd been using as a table. It was now home to an assortment of wires, jumper cables, and now a screen currently without power. 

"You want to do what with this thing?" Cole questioned. 

"Record a message." came the reply as Zane hopped down the mech, "I thought that we should document our findings, should anyone happen--" 

"-- To come across this place and we're not here. That's smart." Cole smiled softly. 

He'd been trying to keep himself upbeat over the past few days. One thing that helped was that Zane was in the same mindset. Power forwards, just keep on moving and doing and something good should come out of it. 

Only, it felt like the good was still yet to come. 

Or maybe the good was that Zane had stopped sparking since they'd spent a bit of time fixing his wiring. Cole wasn't the greatest with electronics, nothing compared to Nya, but he made do. Then the lump on his head had come and gone without much fanfare, so he hadn't been concussed. 

They still both wore the stresses of the past couple weeks like a second skin. Their gis were ruined, oil stained and dirt tracked, ripped and frayed in parts. A part of Cole's trousers had electrical burns from stripped wiring, even. They were dishevelled, tired, but alive and keeping it that way. 

And the discovery of the damaged processing unit in the mech had been a cause for celebration. They had something to look at, an actual possible reason behind the inhibited function and the fact that it just wasn't working no matter how much tinkering they both did. 

It was what he and Zane were going to look at today. 

That was the plan, but then they'd gotten sidetracked with removing the screen to document their progress. 

Though Cole had to admit, it was a good idea. 

He hooked the jumper cables up to the battery, then nearly jumped for joy when the screen flickered to life in front of them. Finally, something was going their way. 

"Wow, didn't think I'd be missing technology already." Cole said, a slight smile on his face as he looked at the flickering screen. It was just a mirror image of himself, courtesy of the camera at the top of the console. 

Then, Cole just stared. Stared into his own eyes on the screen. How tired he actually looked. The fact that he was in dire need of a shower that wasn't cold lake water, or new clothes that weren't representative of being pulled through a hedge backwards several hundred times over. He tugged lightly at the hem of his gi with a small frown, picking off a loose piece of dirt and flicking it away. As if that made all the difference. 

"We both aren't exactly the most well kept individuals." Zane said at his left shoulder, which dragged Cole out of his stupor with a quiet chuckle. 

"What gave that away? Was it the fact that I'm using my belt to keep my hair out of my face whilst I work, or the oil you didn't tell me was on my forehead?" He questioned. 

"I was more focused on the twig you've had stuck in your hair since we were sparring this morning."

The noise Cole made at that reveal was a mix of an indignant huff and a sound of surprise, which really made for an unusual mix. Then he brought a hand back and started feeling through his hair. After a few seconds of fruitless searching, and the fact that Zane didn't change his expression during that time keyed Cole in on the situation. 

"There's no stick, is there?" Cole raised both his eyebrows at his friend in question, and Zane's almost perfect facade broke into a smile. "You absolute-- wow, Zane, and I thought I trusted you." He laughed and lightly punched the nindroid in the shoulder, only to get the action returned to him when he turned his attention back to the screen. 

Naturally, the only reaction was to grip his shoulder and give the most affronted ow he could muster. 

Zane smiled, rolled his eyes, and looked at the screen too. 

"I believe this would help keep up a routine." He said, shifting the subject so he wasn't risking Cole turning and returning the jovial punch a second time. Smart. "At the end of the day, we document what we did."

"Like a diary."

"Of sorts." Zane cleared his throat. "It also helps to keep track of the days here. Especially the ones where it feels like the sky does not open."

Cole just nodded slowly. The days that sometimes were hard to distinguish from the nights. When the snowstorms got so bad that they blocked out the sky, all light and severely inhibited vision. When it was hard to figure out if the day had begun, or if it was still the dead of twilight. 

Keeping track of days helped to keep thoughts focused, heads on straight. There was nothing worse than losing track of time. Counting days, it was something to measure. 

"I know we're both confused as to how long we've been here. And with my internal clock broken, I'm not able to keep track exactly." 

Cole just shook his head and draped an arm over Zane's shoulders, giving him a sideways hug. "We can't do anything about it now. But we can document today, make our first message to an empty realm."

Zane sighed, and leant slightly into the hug, "The point of making a message is the knowledge that someone could see it."

They both looked at the screen. 

It was unspoken, but if anyone actually ended up seeing these messages, they knew who they'd want it to be. 

Cole blew out a heavy breath and tapped the button in the centre before Zane could tell him not to. The screen flickered once, before a small recording symbol appeared in the top left corner. 

"Cole, we haven't even spoken about what we will say." Zane observed, and Cole just nodded. 

Though he sort of knew, if he hadn't pressed the record button, they would have been dancing around the idea of recording a message for a while before either one of them plucked up the courage to actually go ahead and do it. 

It made everything feel final, like they were accepting their situation for the long run. 

Maybe that was what they needed to do?

"I know." He smiled, before turning to the screen and glancing into the camera. 

"Hey," Cole said, then just closed his eyes for a moment at how stupid that had sounded. 

He should have thought of what he was going to say. 

"Uh-- we don't really know if there's anyone else out there. You know, anywhere. But this is a message to document the fact that we're here. Or at least, at the time of this recording, we're here." He paused, then reached over and tugged Zane fully into sight of the camera. 

"My name is Cole, and this is Zane." Cole continued, then paused. It was hard to think of what should be said. What could he say? Anything that his mind was providing just felt too morbid, too much like giving up. 

If you find this message, we're not here anymore. 

We don't know if, by the time you're seeing this, this cave has been empty for a while. 

We were counting on a rescue, but we figured out pretty early on that it might not be coming. 

"We're strangers in this land." Zane took over when he noticed that Cole was floundering. "And we're trying to find our way home."

Cole just watched, still on the screen, as Zane managed to capture the situation in the best way possible. In the lightest way. Like his words were there to provide hope for whoever might end up viewing this recording, as if their personal efforts to get back home meant that in the future they could be successful. 

Even when the odds were stacked against them. 

"We've found it hard to keep track of days in this place, it feels like it's been a long time." They shared a glance for a second. 

Cole, he was convinced they were on day eight. Zane, his guess was a little more, ten to fifteen days. It didn't narrow anything down. 

"-- But we're not giving up hope."

Chapter Text

Cole let out a heaving breath from where he was laid on the floor, his hair was stuck to the sweat beading on his forehead as he paused, forcing some oxygen back into his body. He eventually got up, and easily settled back into a fighting stance. His legs a shoulder width apart and his arms raised in front of him, fists clenched. 

Zane mirrored the position meticulously. 

This was the morning routine. 

Just because they were stranded in a foreign realm didn't mean they were going to let their skills and training be wasted because they weren't actively using them. 

That, and any form of inactivity, Cole could swear he could hear the phantom words of Sensei Wu when he'd realised that they'd taken being lazy to a whole other level after the defeat of the Oni. 

He shuddered lightly at the memory, at all the booby traps that had been set around the monastery. All the times they'd been caught out, and called out about going soft. 

He wasn't going to go soft now, and the best thing about fighting against Zane, they each knew the others limits. 

They knew when the other was holding back, and being in a cave, just the two of them, they could fight and train to their heart's content without someone else encroaching on their training area or having to rotate and spar with someone else. 

They could just fight, and if they felt like it, agree that other than severe and possibly major physical trauma; they wouldn't hold back. 

Cole hadn't held back when he'd struck Zane hard enough to send him flying clear to the other end of the cavern. 

Zane didn't hold back when he'd used his shoulder to barge Cole into a wall and will the ice there to grab onto his clothing; weave into his hair until all he could do was stand there like a frozen popsicle, feeling every inch that the ice encroached further. 

This time it was hand to hand combat, strictly no powers; Cole had cracked the floor where he'd flipped Zane, and Zane had probably successfully given him a black eye. So they were even, and frankly enjoying themselves. 

No restrictions. No interruptions. 

Zane was the first to move forwards, and Cole made the mistake assuming he was going to aim high. His posture lent towards it, arms up and covering the face and his shoulder level. Only, Zane dropped at the last second and swept Cole's feet out from under him.

He was down in a second, but recovered even faster. Cole hooked a foot behind Zane's knee and pulled. Zane dropped forwards, but Cole kept up his momentum. He wrapped his legs around Zane's, locking them into place as they scuffled and rolled on the ground for some form of purchase. Zane was going for it, he was twisting in the hold, striking his elbow backwards into where Cole's chest was in an effort to get his strength to wain and relent. 

Cole winced with every contact, but carried on. He flipped Zane over on the ground until his back was pressed against Cole's chest. One arm threaded around the front of Zane's neck, and the other acted as a way to lock it in place. Then the struggling and brawl came to an end when Cole tightened the choke-hold and straightened out his body. 

Zane wasn't going to be going anywhere. His legs were immobile, his back had limited movement because Cole was forcing him to keep his body straight with the arm over his neck. 

There was a moment where neither of them moved, Zane's hands were wrapped around Cole's wrist. After a couple seconds, he released the hold and Zane promptly rolled off to the side, rubbing his neck lightly. 

Cole sat up, a hand coming up to rest against his lightly bruised ribs, but that wasn't important at the time. "Are you okay, I didn't hurt you too bad, right?" He questioned. He liked to think he knew his own strength. 

Zane eventually dropped his hand and sat back, shaking his head with a smile. "I am perfectly fine, nothing severe. How's your side?"

Cole laughed, "Okay. Little bruised but at least I won." And that was the whole point, technically. Or it wasn't, no one was really keeping score. 

"What's that, the first time in three days?" 

"Shut it, tin can, let me revel in my victory."

He definitely heard the quiet exasperated sigh that came from Zane as he collected himself up off the floor. He didn't miss the eye roll either. 

"Sore loser?" he joked as Zane held out a hand to help him up off the floor. The offer was accepted easily and eventually Cole was up and dusting himself off.

"Just sore." 

Cole grinned, "Because you lost."

Zane waved a hand, as if to say that it’s all water under the bridge before he retrieved their makeshift bucket, fashioned from a domed piece of metal that had fallen off the mech. It held water collected from a nearby river, still very cold, but after a fight, very refreshing. 

"Thanks," Cole said as he took some water into his hands and wiped his face clean of any grime. Training was probably the best part of the day, and the least stressful. 

It was their form of relaxation, a way to zone out from the actual pressing problem of trying to survive day to day. 

"What are your plans for today?" Zane questioned after a second, spurring on the conversation. 

Even though day to day, the routine stayed the same. More or less. 

"Head out, the storm from last night has dropped a bit - I mean, it's still snowing but we need to stock up on food for a couple days, just in case it starts up again. I'll go to that lake we scouted, spend today fishing."

Cole pushed himself up off the ground. Better head off sooner rather than later, more time fishing would ideally translate to a higher turn around of fish. That was the idea, anyway. He brushed himself off. 

Zane had made his way over to the computer screen, connecting one of the jumper cables back to the battery so it powered up.

"What're you going to do? Tinker with the mech again?" He asked, walking over to his companion with a slight smile, "You could always take a break from it, have a quiet day. What can be done today can be done tomorrow."

"You should never put off tomorrow, what can be done today." 

Cole sighed and rolled his eyes, "Quoting Sensei Wu, really?" 

"I was only observing the fact that the advice you gave me was not accurate to what we've previously been told." 

"And I was saying, there's no harm in taking a break." He gestured over to the mech loosely, then brought his hand up to brush some hair out of his face. It was starting to get unruly. "I'll go and catch some food, maybe scout the area a little more, you can take a break here. Your job today can be keeping an eye on the mech."

"You know I'm not a fan of sitting around."

Cole held up his hands in a mock show of surrender, "I know that. You've just been doing stuff constantly--" 

"As have you--

"-- Over the past couple weeks,"

"Twenty-five days," 

"I'm just saying," He shrugged, "no harm in a day off."

Zane seemed to think on the advice for a second, though when his eyes flicked quickly between the mech and the green cable they'd trailed from the motherboard down to the ground the day prior, Cole was ready to shut the idea down. 

He knew what Zane was going to say, "We," Cole gestured between the two of them when his brother's attention moved back over to him, "Will sort out the damage to the processing unit later on, when I'm back."

"A system diagnostic to discern the problem would barely take more than two minutes. If at all that." 

As if the whole process was as simple as that. 

They'd sat down and spoken about what could be done with the problem when they'd first figured it out. It had been awesome, a big relief to even know a possible cause for the mech's inactivity. 

Then Zane had given the details about what would be done next, how he'd have to connect himself to the mech to get a better idea of what was wrong. 

And what could go wrong with the process itself. 

On the mech's behalf, an irreparable system failure. 

But for Zane… 

"Cole, we can't keep putting this off, we need to do it at some point." He reasoned, placing one hand onto Cole's shoulder to keep his attention, though his eyes were trailing elsewhere around the room. 

They could talk about it later, do it later. 

Anything not to see his friend at risk. 

"If we can get the mech working, we can scout more of our surroundings, move over the snow and ice both quicker and much more safely. We can leave it running and get warm." Zane sighed, eyeing Cole's gi. The one dotted with rips and holes and was probably in no way keeping the biting winds at bay, yet he was still the one volunteering to go outside. 

He was going to head out the cave soon too, and here Cole was giving a small speech about safety and how he didn't want Zane risking himself when that was exactly what he was doing. 

Unless, he had a way to protect himself, keep himself safe, an extra line of defence. 

Zane cleared his throat, then said, "You should take the staff with you." 

Cole paused and raised an eyebrow as if he hadn't taken in what had been said, though in reality he had, he just wasn't so sure, "I should what?"

"Take the staff. If you're so insistent on risking freezing to death, you should take something that can prevent that."

He stared. 

Then he moved his attention to the staff. 

Then back to Zane, who had promptly busied himself with the screen and the wiring in the back of it. 

"I'm not insistent--" Cole sighed and moved over to his brother, to properly get his attention away from his not so subtle attempt at avoiding the coming conversation. "Neither of us have used the staff since we moved the mech in here," He gestured over to where the staff was situated, on the exact wall it had been propped against when Zane had put it down previously. Cole intended for it to stay there. 

Sure, the rush of power it gave was truly an… Experience. It was like a tidal wave, a huge oncoming force that seemed to crash over the wielder and drowned out all sense of anything but the sheer force and power it wrought with it. 

Sometimes Cole laid awake in the dead of twilight just staring up at the cavern ceiling, long past when Zane had turned in for the night. He found his mind wandering, getting lost in thought, and for some reason it always ended up on the same subject. 

If he picked up the staff, if he used it, then it could make their current situation a whole lot easier. He could use it to hunt more effectively, get different foods other than the fish he managed to catch on a daily basis. He'd seen rabbits hopping about, birds in trees, and whilst they were fair game; the energy expenditure in comparison to sitting down and waiting for a fish to bite his line wasn't worth it. 

Energy conservation in a cold environment was key, there was no sense in wearing himself out going for trickier prey animals just for some sense of variety to a meal. 

But the staff… Cole wouldn't have to worry about contending with the elements. He wouldn't have to stress out over getting tired, or not catching much food, some extra power could help with that. 

The staff… 

The scroll. 

"Cole?" came a questioning voice, and his attention quickly flicked to Zane's face crowding his own. 

If Zane hadn't been standing right in front of him, Cole would have been staring directly at the staff. 

How long had he zoned out? 

"I'm not going to take the staff." He concluded after a moment, running one hand through his hair. He'd been out multiple times already to fish, the track there and back was already etched fairly solidly into his brain and it wasn't as if it was a mile off. Barely five minutes, nothing really. 

Cole didn't miss the slightly relieved look that passed over Zane's face. He'd probably settled on his recommendation being a bad idea. "We should figure out a way to cover the thing, you know, when I get back later." He mumbled. 

Zane nodded slowly, "Out of sight out of mind."

Had he been thinking about the staff too? Or was Cole on his own with that? 

Cole clapped his hands and cleared his throat, startling them both back into their initial route of conversation. 

"We'll run the diagnostic when I get back. We can have something to eat, clear our heads, then run the diagnostic."

He could see Zane pondering over that idea at that very moment, and Cole knew what his rebuttal would be, it was fairly simple to predict. 

So he beat him to it, "If it takes two minutes, then we can do it when I'm here. I don't want you doing this on your own, just trust me on this. I want you to be safe."

Zane let out a slight laugh, "Says the person who always braves the snow to go fishing. What if I want you to be safe too? It's a miracle that you haven't gotten hypothermia, or even a cold over the past few days." 

"Hey, it's not just been me going out, you've been doing it too. And I don't like watching you walk out of this cavern anymore than you like watching me, but we gotta eat. Or, like, I do." He waved the point away with a flick of his hand, "You risk your life as much as I risk mine, and we agreed that we can't just leave this place unguarded. Just because we haven't seen anyone around doesn't mean this place is empty."

"How observant of you."

Cole's eyes widened and he scoffed, "Wow. The sarcasm." He put a hand to his chest and winced in mock pain, "That hurt. I'm hurt."

"Go fishing, Cole." 

"And now you're sending me away."

There was an audible and exasperated sigh. 

That just made Cole grin more. He walked over to the entrance of the cave and retrieved his fishing rod, a simple stick with a stripped and useless fried wire they'd found during their preliminary check of the mech. Though it did its job, it caught fish which was it's main and only purpose. 

He was about to step out into the light flurry of snow, though he gave a quick glance back. Zane was still tinkering lightly with the computer screen, for whatever purpose, though as if sensing someone looking at him, he looked up and caught the Earth ninja's eye. 

They shared a small smile, and a nod before Cole went on his way. 

Chapter Text

Fishing, Cole had to admit, was relaxing. Or probably the most relaxing part of his routine recently. There was just something enjoyable about standing on the riverside, listening to the water still flowing freely below the layer of ice that was acting as a seal over the top. Back in Ninjago, back at home, he'd never really understood the appeal of it, not really. Standing still for hours on end, staying as silent as possible, Cole found those things hard to do when his life wasn't dependent on it. His foot always tapped lightly to an internal rhythm in his head, he paced sometimes if he was bored enough. 

Silence, though. That was something he could do. Internally, it may have been a constant vortex of thoughts and songs and an incessant internal monologue that Cole used to keep himself occupied; with all that going on, externally, he was absolutely stone cold silent. Even his breathing was measured. 

The environment seemed to reflect this too. It had been a nice day when Cole had stepped out of the cave and for that he was grateful. Snowy landscape did not necessarily mean a biting and unbearable cold. The sun still rose in the east, it bounced off the white blanket in a beautiful way and it warmed the area to a degree. The snow didn't melt and the ice didn't get any thinner, but Cole didn't have a constant chill in his bones. 

Even though the sky had clouded over a bit back, Cole was still enjoying himself. Then when the snow had begun to fall in light fluffy swirls, he let out a small breath and allowed the calming silence to descend. 

Zane had explained it to him once, around a year ago when Ninjago was experiencing a white Christmas. Snow had descended and the world had quieted, and Cole had turned to his friend and simply gave the observation that the world seemed to fall silent when it snowed. 

Apparently, it was a thing that happened and he wasn't imagining it. 

Large flakes of snow take up the sky as they fall, Zane had said, Cole remembered fondly. This means that when there is a sound, instead of it travelling straight to your or my ears, it gets interrupted by these falling flurries. He'd reached out and caught one in his hand, the flake stayed solid, in perfect condition. All because Zane ran cold. 

When snow falls, the world really does become quieter. I, for one, find it calming.

It really was calming. Cole had situated himself on a low hanging branch of a tree, his leg dangling over one side and his fishing rod and line suspended over the other and in a large crevice broken into the ice by a solid stick and a few dropped rocks. 

He would fish for hours, but sitting down on the ground or finding a rock to get comfortable on would be stupid. The ground sapped away warmth like it was nothing, and Cole didn't have any he was willing to risk giving away. 

This was just routine, and feeling cold was always part of that. It was a constant presence now, even in the safety of the cavern where the mech was kept, where it was a slight bit warmer, it was nothing like home. Home with a heating system, working lighting, any creature comfort that Cole would never take for granted when they got back there. If they got back home at all. 

It was one thing waiting for a rescue, but a whole other thing hoping for one that probably wasn't going to come any time soon. The realisation that anyone's first assumption would be that Aspheera's magic had been the end of the both of them had been hard to get his head around. 

Cole was, in reality, still trying to accept it. 

But it wasn't all doom and gloom. If he could be anywhere in that moment, he probably would still pick the frozen wasteland they were trapped in. If only that it provided the knowledge that Zane was okay, Cole wouldn't trade that. He liked knowing that his friend was alive, anything was better than fearing him dead. 

Thinking that he'd given his life for yet another noble cause, that he was never coming back. Crouching down in the barren and frozen streets of Ninjago city with a part of Zane's facial plating held loosely in his hands, looking around and not finding him anywhere. Snow fell, everything was silent, and Zane was gone. 

Cole snapped sharply back to reality when he felt some resistance on the end of his line. He reached out and grabbed the wire, situating the wooden rod between his legs so he could reel the fish in the manual way, pulling on the wire until his catch was successfully out of the water. He had the method down, this process was basically muscle memory already. The amount of fish he'd caught over the past week or so was more than he'd ever thought he'd need to catch in his lifetime. 

Maybe he was getting tired of the mundane and repetitive action of catching the fish, scaling and slicing them up using a dagger that was made for combat and definitely not Cole's first choice of weapon in battle, using the blowtorch they had sparingly since that fuel wasn't going to last forever to heat it up just a little and hopefully kill off any bacteria. Rinse and repeat. Daily. 

Well, better to be bored of fish but have something to eat than have nothing and starve. 

He set the fish on the thick branch he was situated on, next to the others he'd already caught that day. 

Maybe he could figure out a way to dry them? Then they'd keep for a lot longer, which would mean less time being spent fishing. 

Which reminded him. 

Cole began wrapping the wire up; packing away his job for the day he used the last bit of its length to tie around the tails of the fish for easy transportation. 

Then he hopped down from the branch to continue with his day. 

Or at least, as much as he could do. A glance to the sky showed a nearing tundra of dark clouds that could only mean that a snow storm was coming. Though they looked fairly far off, Cole had faith that he had a little bit more time. 

More time to tread through the snow with his fishing pole resting on one shoulder, listening to the sound of the fresh blanket crunch and buckle under his weight as he made his way deeper into the surrounding forest. Though he wasn't going to get lost. He'd been this way already, if the deep score marks on the trees around him was anything to go by. They marked a path, a way home in a way. All he had to do was turn around and keep the marked trees on his left side, and he'd be back at the cavern in no time. 

The carved trees also marked out how far both he and Zane had trekked during their stints outside, each day they would go a bit further, score off a few more trees; yet currently, staying closer to their home base was more important.

As time went on, and as circumstances would evidently change if they got the mech working, they could venture further easier. 

For now Cole was content with walking around the area he already knew, specifically, searching for dead trees, or one with snapped and dying branches. 

If they didn't get the mech working, then they'd need other ways to get warm, and as much as Cole knew they'd gotten lucky with very few storms and generally nice days; he also knew that they had in no way experienced the worst of the cold this realm could bestow. 

Dying and dead wood meant it was already pretty dry, a few days out of the elements and it might have a chance of being firewood. Though it was an ongoing and long process. 

Cole had collected wood last week and laid it out uniformly over the cavern floor, yet any attempts to strike a flame and start a blaze had ended with very sore and tired hands and a pile of splintered wood. He'd tried the blow torch, that was the first thing he'd done. Everything was just so saturated with damp that nothing took.

It didn't mean Cole would stop trying, and by collecting wood today in order to dry it off for a later date, it meant that he and Zane could be better prepared for whatever the realm threw at them in the future. 

They were in it for the long haul, after all. What with no way home. 

No way home and no rescue team coming to get them. 

He sighed lightly as he used the dagger to sever an already hanging branch from a tree and held it under his arm as he walked over to another tree. 

Then another. 

And another. 

Until Cole was walking around with a substantial assortment of thin branches and some smaller fairly dry twigs in his hands, coupled with his fishing rod now being balanced on the opposite shoulder, there wasn't really much else he could carry without dropping anything. 

So he made the, most likely smart decision, to head back to the cavern for the day. Sure, there was daylight left and the storm clouds were still far off in the distance, but Cole wasn't going to do much more with full hands. 

He was stepping gingerly over the frozen lake when he felt the temperature take a sudden drop around him. The temperate weather of a sunny winter day took a stark and tangible shift. The wind picked up and blew through the torn gaps in his gi, pelted over his bare arms and made him involuntarily drop his carried items in favour of wrapping his arms around himself to ward off the bitter chill.

Cole felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle up, and that wasn't just due to the cold. 

He glanced down at the branches that he'd dropped, at the strung up fish that laid on the top of the frozen river. Then he looked past them, looked past the surface ice and down to the flowing water below. Or at least, what had used to be flowing not a few seconds ago. 

Fish that had been freely swimming beneath the ice were now frozen in place, suspended in their final actions by the water that had apparently undergone a flash freezing. The river, once topped with both thick areas of ice and slightly more dubious spots were now a solid chunk of ice all the way down to the river bed. 

Then Cole glanced at the trees just as snow began to fall and a once clear sky was soon overtaken by a wall of darkened clouds. Frost was visibly crawling over the bark in frozen spirals, and honestly it was an extremely pretty sight. Watching as they grew and danced, creating pattern after pattern. 

Yet, it didn't stop the feeling of a lead weight dropping in his stomach. 

The snowfall was speeding up now, becoming heavier, thicker, more blinding. It was getting worse by the second. 

It was getting colder by the second too, he could feel the numbness edging into his fingers, the cold chill nipping at his face, reddening and numbing his cheeks. 

Then when frost started to form on the front of his gi, Cole didn't even take a moment to collect his belongings from the floor. He just broke into a sprint, running headlong into the snowstorm and the growing fresh blanket of snowfall. 

He needed to get back to the cavern. It didn't take a genius to realise that the weather wasn't natural. 

Snow didn't fall from a previously clear sky, clouds didn't form and blacken the sky within seconds from nothing. 

Water didn't freeze so suddenly. 

It required a catalyst for something so abnormal, a force behind it. 

Raw energy and power. 

Like an elemental master and the scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu. 

Zane. 

This time, finding his way back to the cavern was muscle memory. Cole didn't look around to see if he was following the right path of trees, he was just running. He had to get to the cavern, he had to prove himself wrong. 

This had to be just one huge overreaction; maybe this was a weird event that happened in this realm every once in a while? A sudden freeze. 

Internally, though, he knew that he was just lying to himself. 

The temperature only continued to drop the closer he got to their shelter, Cole didn't even spare a second thought to the giant bird that sometimes circled the area; even that thing seemed to be staying away. 

He could see why even through the blinding rage the storm had developed to. The sheer blue light was a guide towards the mouth of the cave, but also a sign of what was waiting for him inside. 

That knowledge didn't halt his step. If Zane was in fact holding the staff, if he was causing the shift in the weather that was so sudden and severe as it was, then something wasn't right. His friend needed help and danger or not, he wasn't going to go anywhere but the eye of the storm. 

He did slow at the entrance though, his footsteps falling silent as they moved from the crunch of the snow to the solid stone floor. Cole just walked inside, his hands pinned under his arms to try and get some feeling back into them now that he was sheltered from the wind and snow. 

"Would you advise me to do so?" Zane's voice echoed around the room, it had a dubious note to it. Confusion. 

Why was he talking to himself? He furrowed his eyebrows and was about to step out into the expanse of the cave when, 

In a gravelly tone, "Most certainly." 

An unknown voice. An unknown third person. 

Cole felt the hair on his neck prickle, and it wasn't due to the power of the scroll.

There was someone in there. With Zane.

Chapter Text

Cole drew the small dagger from his belt, held it just behind his back and stepped clearly into the room. He'd prefer his hammer, but that was somewhere on the floor back in the Monastery's mech hanger. 

The surprise at seeing another person in the cave quickly wore off and was replaced by survival instinct. He could feel the adrenaline start pumping, his hands grow clammy and his focus going directly to where his brother was standing.

Right beside the unknown man, hand grasped tightly around the staff, his eyes and hair ablaze in the same way the scroll was. So vibrant and clear, and the mark of very active and very dangerous power. 

It was a corrupting force, and Zane was just holding it. 

"Who the hell are you?" Cole ground out, his voice echoing around the room and causing two pairs of eyes to snap in his direction. 

The man let out a low and scathing laugh, but Cole didn't pay attention, not yet. He was assessing the situation. Something had happened in the time between him leaving that morning and now; there were no clear signs of struggling, so no fighting had occurred. The mech was in good shape, their makeshift table with the screen on it was neatly organised. 

But that man… Zane was just standing next to him, his gaze level and the more that Cole watched, the more unfocused his friend actually looked. He was looking in his general direction, but it was like Zane just wasn't seeing him. 

Cole's throat tightened at that notion, but he shook it off. He was just looking into things too much, his mind was running too fast. 

"The question is, who might you be?" The man asked, taking a slight step forward. Cole kept the dagger down by his side, not in use, but it could be in less than a second.

He grit his teeth, "The one who's going to throw you into a wall if you don't answer me."

A chuckle rang out at that, and the man spread his arms as if the coming answer was obvious. "My name is Vex, and I'm a friend. I mean you no harm." though the tone in his voice, the fact that it never once shifted, didn't even lilt, set Cole on edge. 

And Zane was just standing there, staff in his grasp, observing the scene. 

Not moving. 

Not saying anything. 

Cole swallowed around a lump in his throat, eyes flicking quickly around the cave. What had happened? Zane was there, the staff was still there, the salvaged screen was still flickering with static which meant it had been used previously. 

He was missing something, he was missing… 

His eyes moved between the green cable strewn out over the floor, and his stoic friend. The cable used to manually connect Zane to the mech, laid out on the ground and spewing weak sparks at varying intervals. 

Zane had run the diagnostic when he wasn't there… 

And this Vex… 

Cole whirled sharply on the man and held the dagger out plainly in front of him, threat clear as glass. 

"What did you do?" What have you done to my brother? 

"I don't know what you mean." He smirked. 

Cole could feel the red encroaching on his vision. Zane had probably thought he'd be okay, two minutes out of commission, that's all. 

They'd thought they were alone in the realm. There hadn't been any reason to assume otherwise. 

"Zane?" He questioned slowly, his eyes tracing up the staff for a second before he met his friends eyes. "I need you to come over here and put the staff down."

I need you away from Vex, I need to know that you finished that diagnostic and that you have a reason for using the scroll.

"Your powers are affecting the weather, buddy, did you know that?" He gave a brief gesture towards the mouth of the cave but didn't dare take his eyes away from the intruder and his brother, "Everything's freezing over. So you need to put that staff down."

"Why would I put it down?" Came the reply, and Cole's eyes widened minutely as he stared back, completely thrown by the answer he was given.

"It is my sceptre?" At this, it was more of a question than a statement, but a brief glance towards the man, towards Vex, and Zane seemed content with his answer, "I am not relinquishing it."

Cole felt himself falter and Vex was quick to jump at the pause in the exchange, clearing his throat so attention promptly shifted over to him, "You heard him, boy. Why would he put something down that is so powerful?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow and looking at Zane. 

It was like he was looking at an opportunity, at something that was an advantage. A personal gain. As if Zane wasn't anything more than an extension of the staff, as much of an inanimate object. 

"Perhaps you are trying to take the staff for your own. You're special too, aren't you? Why wouldn't you want this power for yourself?" Vex said slowly, deliberately, directing the words more in Zane's direction than Cole's. 

Cole's grip tightened on the daggers hilt, his eyes narrowing. He didn't want the staff, he didn't want anything to do with the thing. He wanted his brother safe, and Vex knew that. 

It was easy to tell, the man knew what he wanted. He was twisting his words. 

"I don't want the staff- it's dangerous. Corrupting." He enunciated the final word, he had to get that point across. "Zane--" 

He finally moved. His brother finally shifted when Cole had been worried he was literally frozen to the spot. Though it was a shift, barely, along with a slightly disjointed tilt of the head. As if he wasn't used to an action that he probably did on the daily. 

As if he was uncomfortable by his own body. 

"Who's- who's Zane?" 

His blood ran cold. Colder than the frost that had so rapidly nipped at his skin when he'd been exposed to the elements, colder than the depth of the power that the scroll provided. Cole was sure, if he had a mirror, that any colour would have ran from his face. 

Though he didn't need a mirror, he just needed Vex's amused reaction to solidify his assumption. 

Cole let out a shaky breath. 

He had done the diagnostic, and it had been interrupted. Vex had interrupted it. 

Though he powered on, tried not to look too thrown. This had shifted from trying to talk a friend down from a power high, to trying to get through to someone who in effect, saw him as a stranger. 

Zane didn't even know his own name. 

Which meant he didn't know Cole. 

"You are…" He mumbled, lifting a hand out; it wasn't as if Zane was even close enough to take it. "You're Zane." Cole edged forwards, "Just put the staff down, we'll figure this out. Okay, Zane? You just need to put it down." He was pleading, he could hear it in his voice. But he wasn't above anything if it concerned his family. 

Vex chose this moment to move, and Cole made sure the point of the dagger followed him directly, at least until he stopped right in front of where Zane was standing, "You are in no place to tell the Emperor to do anything of the sorts."

The Emperor? What? 

He frowned at Vex, "I don't know what your game is, but I know what you've done, and I'm giving you one chance to leave before I gut you like a fish. And I've had practice." He spun the blade to enunciate his entirely serious meaning. 

Then, there was the sharp sound of metal striking stone, hard enough that Cole felt a slight tremor run through the room. Loose fragments of rock and dust drifted down from the disturbed ceiling. 

Cole looked at Zane, who had just rammed the bottom point of the staff into the cave floor, leaving a substantial crack. 

If it was at all possible, his eyes seemed to glow brighter, the cool fire licks in his hair whipping sharply. 

"You will do no such thing to my Advisor."

"Your what?" he spluttered, eyeing his friend carefully. "Zane, he's the reason you don't remember anything. He did this to you!" 

"He is my friend. My loyal Advisor." Zane yanked the staff from the ground and advanced forwards, frost creeping up the hand that had the source of power in its grip. 

Cole stood his ground. No matter how much he wanted to go backwards, no matter how much his instincts were screaming at him to keep a distance between him and the scroll, he wasn't going to leave his friend. So he stayed still, resolute; even as Zane halted in front of him. 

The dagger drooped in his grip. 

"He's no one to you. I'm your friend, your brother-" 

"He's a liar." Vex interrupted, "A manipulator, a trickster. He is only here for your sceptre, my Emperor. He will take it without a second thought."

"I don't want the staff, I want you to put it down. The power isn't good for you, and your head isn't on straight. Zane, you need to put it down!" Cole reached out and gripped a hand around Zane's wrist. Though it was instant regret, since the cold shock was rapid. 

The temperature of the air around him just kept on dropping, and Zane was just so cold. So cold it was burning; that the touch hurt. 

He wouldn't back down. 

Zane's eyes slowly moved down to where Cole was touching, then they narrowed to slits.

"Let go. Now."

The words were deep, reverberating, and so foreign coming from his lips. 

"Put the staff down." Cole countered, and it was a conscious effort to keep his voice level. 

"Just so you can take it from me?"

"I don't want the staff!"

The staff grew brighter, and Cole's hand grew numb. 

"You're a liar." Zane growled. 

In the next second, Cole felt a sharp and sudden impact on his side, and he went flying. Not into any of the surrounding stone walls, but out of the cave only to hit the ground hard. 

The snow barely acted like a cushion, the cold stole the breath from his lungs as much as the impact did, his ribs hurt, he couldn't feel his left arm and as Cole collected himself off the floor, he could see why. 

There was ice clinging to his bare skin, and frost covering everything else. His fingers were nearing a purple colour and frostbite had resulted in the skin on his palm and fingertips to look inflamed. His hand had probably been frozen to Zane's arm, only to have it ripped off when he'd been struck. 

Struck with strength that clearly matched his own. 

He held his limp arm gingerly, but the touch wasn't computing, just a humming lingering pain over most of his body. 

Then he noticed Zane, advancing over the snow towards him, and quickly. 

A swing of the staff, and Cole's thankfully fast reflexes resulted in a scar of ice spikes rupturing up from the ground where he'd previously been standing. 

Cole simply stared wide eyed at the ice, stark black with rivulets of cyan arching through them. Sure, there were sections of clear ice, pure ice. 

Everything else was… 

"It's corrupted…" He whispered, and he forced the sensation of pain to the back of his mind.

He steeled himself, and turned fully to his friend. Zane had stopped a few meters away, the staff pointed directly in Cole's direction. Meanwhile, his dagger was probably still in the cave. It definitely wasn't in his hand anymore. 

Not that he'd even lift it against his brother. 

"Zane, listen to me--" Cole tried. 

The next blast of ice from the staff missed by mere inches. Cole felt the air chill rapidly just next to his face and he stumbled back and fell to the ground again. 

More spikes broke through the snow. 

Talking wasn't going to work. 

It wasn't going to get through to him. 

He had to get Zane to let the staff go. If anything, taking the scroll out of the equation may make him more open to listening, to logic. Since that power, the problem with his memory, and the deceiving words of a stranger were all amalgamating and spiralling into confusion and misplaced trust. 

Which meant he'd have to use force, he'd have to fight back. 

His own powers and skills against his supercharged brother.

Zane would forgive him. He'd understand. 

"My name is not-!" He didn't even finish the sentence before a pillar of rock shot out the ground and caught him in the cheek. It threw Zane off balance, so he righted himself with the staff. 

By then, Cole had already cleared the distance between the two of them. 

The strike from the rock was promptly followed by a smooth right hook to the other side of Zane's face. 

Throw him off. Use force, distract him. Then go for the staff. 

Go for the staff. 

Zane pulled the staff back and swept low, then when Cole jumped to avoid it all he gained was a foot to the chest and even more hurting ribs. 

Trading direct blows continued for a few more seconds, some were avoided, some hit hard and Cole could feel blood dripping from his nose the next time his back met the ground. 

It stained the snow. He wiped the red away with his arm. 

Zane was a little away, out of reach of any close range attacks. 

But not in the clear. 

Cole got onto his knees, gripped both his hands together in a tight fist, and hammered it down onto the ground with a gutteral shout. The results were immediate. 

Fissures opened in the ground, right in front of him. 

There weren't many times when he was willing to just let go and put everything he could into his elemental ability. Very few battles even called for such extreme measures. The Serpentine could be taken down by weaponry. The Oni were a lot tougher, but manageable. 

Nothing ever called for uncontrolled, unbridled use of power. There was never the situation. 

Yet when he looked at Zane, the absence in his eyes and the glow of the staff pointed directly at him. His brother wasn't going to hold back in this battle, he probably didn't see a reason to. 

He doesn't even know you, a small part of his brain supplied. Cole could feel his eyes start to sting, his breath came out in deep, visible puffs of fog. 

A shock wave followed the impact, and the ground shook violently. Snow fell into oblivion as cracks webbed out beneath the once neat blanket, he could feel the sheer power running through him. 

He didn't need a staff to use his own tricks. 

The moment Zane moved to adjust his stance, Cole stood quickly and threw one hand up in an arcing motion, his fingers clawed. The earth responded immediately, a portion of it lifting just under where Zane's foot was. The rapid shift in his center of gravity caused him to fall back. 

He wasn't going to get another chance. 

Cole ran, he put all the aches and minor agonies out of his head and he just ran at his brother. At the staff.

He was there, at Zane's side, keeping up momentum he crouched to lift the staff from the floor, from his grip. 

Though he didn't find the metal of the staff, all he felt was an abrupt wave of absolute frigid cold. There was a hand pressed in the centre of his chest. Zane's hand, palm flat, fingers splayed. Frost crept along the material of his gi, onto his chest beneath. 

He tried to suck in a breath, but that just made the pain climb more. He was freezing, his chest was freezing, his lungs were freezing. 

The cascade of numbness that usually followed extreme cold didn't come this time, it just kept on hurting. Cole screwed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, but that didn't stop the pained shouts from getting through, the sound of his shallow and struggling gasps for air broke the silence of the scene. 

There was a low laugh just off to his right, and a blunt knee to his side caused him to tumble sideways over the now frozen ground. 

The snow was now solid on the floor, and in the exact centre of the perfect circle, Zane was dusting himself off. Staff still in hand. 

The shove that, courtesy of Vex, had made him slide on the ice; mercifully detached the hand from his chest but as Cole laid limply as he slowed to a skidding stop where the ice became snow again, he was cold. 

So, so cold. 

Cole could barely get his hands beneath himself, and the sensation that the snow should have given him was lost. He could have been soaked through with ice water in that instance, and he wouldn't have felt a drop. 

He was in shock. 

He was hypothermic. 

He wasn't even shaking. 

He wrapped his arms around his chest, trying to maintain some form of warmth. 

But there wasn't any left, not this time. 

Cole could see Zane and Vex, even with slightly blurred vision. They were coming closer, and he wouldn't be able to fight in the position he was in. 

Think, he needed to think. Around the cloying sensation of cotton descending around his mind, his drooping eyelids and the feeling of just wanting to sleep. 

An idea dawned with a mixture of apprehension and relief.

Would he even get it to work? 

He turned his focus inwards, trying to collect as much power as he could. Stopping his spiralling thoughts, the onsetting of panic at the prospect of not necessarily succumbing to the cold, but leaving Zane alone. Leaving him vulnerable, to the mercy of a stranger.

Cole wasn't going to give up. 

Eventually, a tiny spark of warmth bloomed in his chest. It was minuscule, near enough nothing. He could work with it, though. He shifted until he was on his knees, his fingers balling up the fabric of trousers. Eyes closed. The sputtering warmth expanded outwards, shifting and forming, warping into a silhouette of a dragon. 

His dragon. One that he hadn't summoned in so long the process felt near enough foreign. 

The growth of power felt like a blanket wrapped over his shoulders. Sure, it was a thin one, subject to be blown away, but it was something. 

It was enough to make him start shivering, violently. Teeth chattering, body basically vibrating. 

It was a good thing, though. Shaking was a step in the right direction. 

That, and if he fully summoned his dragon, it would be an advantage in the fight. Zane had the staff, he had his elemental powers but there was a method to summoning a dragon. A method that presumably he wouldn’t recall.

Cole couldn't help the small smile that grew on his lips, despite the situation. He opened his eyes and gazed at the forming apparition of his powers. 

Stood on the ice, between him and Zane, was a great hulking beast. A dragon that represented his element, through and through. Formed of rock, earth, dotted with green plant life, it's eyes were slits and glowed with a soft green hue. The teeth were razor sharp, glinting in the dying light of the day. 

The energy output was warming, even just barely. 

Then, in an instant, his power broke apart. 

A blade of frost seemed to cleave through the dragon's form, this tangible beam of ice and snow ruptured through the almost fully summoned dragon. It struck home in the centre of Cole's chest. The illusion of the dragon shattered, and the energy that had been growing and expanding cascaded back into him. 

It felt wrong. 

The power that had felt so calm, an extension of himself became sharp and writhing. The frozen beam impacting his chest wasn't doing anything he could notice other than causing his powers to fluctuate and shut down. 

It made his elemental dragon collapse in on itself, it trapped him in place and no matter what he tried to do, no matter how much he tried to focus or force his power to the surface the energy from the staff was blocking it. 

The instant the beam shut down, though, Cole caught a brief glance of Zane with the scroll shrouded in a burning light. He was walking closer. Then Zane lifted his hand, a mimicry of when he himself had shifted the earth a few mere minutes before. This time, the motion was fluid, it wasn't jarred or rushed. It was calm, relaxed. 

Cole felt like something had shattered in his chest.

Like a glass orb had splintered. 

He could feel his elemental powers almost writhing in union, enough that a pained scream edged its way out of his throat. It was reacting to Zane's power, whipping just under his skin but not being able to surface. If Cole could just use them, cause an earthquake, split apart the ground, he could release the building blinding pain inside him. His powers were shrieking to be free, to be let out. The staff was blocking everything, every and any attempt.

It was like his powers weren't his own anymore. They belonged to the scroll. 

Which was twisting them, wragging them, causing the sensation of glass in his chest to pull with it and the pain only grew more and more with each passing second. 

The way his powers were being wielded wasn't natural. 

Cole slumped forwards, his shoulders tense and his teeth gritted so hard he was worried they were going to break. There was no relenting, and the agony only seemed to expand a hundredfold when Zane balled his fist. 

His elemental power erupted outwards in a concussive blast, and for a brief moment Cole couldn't feel a thing. He was floating, his mind distant and detached from all sensation. His vision was blotted out by a blinding white light so much so that everything around him fell onto oblivion. 

Mercifully, sensation started to return. 

He could feel his hands in the snow, the biting wind on his face and arms. He could see Zane out in front of him. 

Though, he seemed smaller. 

The ground looked further away. 

He let out a ragged breath, a proper one, one that wasn't short and forced around pain. Then he moved, lifted his hand, and a scaled appendage moved in its place. It lifted into his vision, a clawed foot with deep black and brown scales covering it. Rivulets of white and cyan arched through them too, almost glowing softly in the fading light of the day. 

Cole opened his mouth to talk, to air his confusion, his fear. All that came out was a deep and resonating growl. He felt it run down his throat, into his chest. 

He felt wrong. This was his power, it felt like the earth, but that comforting hum that came along with using it was gone. 

It was cold, and quiet. His elemental power was still under his skin. But it wasn't right. 

It was foreign and it wasn't responding to him. 

A glance down at Zane, at the glowing scroll and his still outstretched hand. 

Vex was staring up with wide eyes, at what Cole wasn't sure, but his gaze was focused on him directly. 

"A dragon..." the man mumbled. 

His brother finally dropped his hand and all at once, his power collapsed inwards. 

All Cole saw was a flash of light. 

Then in the next moment he was himself again. Knelt on the snow, his head bowed forwards and his chest tightened as he sucked in air. His mind was a mess, moving between trying to focus on what he'd just taken place to searching somewhere inside him for a trace of his elemental ability. Anything at all. Any warm response, anything to indicate that it was there. 

Inside, the sensation of broken glass had rounded off, as if the edges had been buffed and polished down. It didn't hurt anymore; but that was all he felt. 

His powers weren't responding to him. They weren't there. 

The staff had done something to them. It was the scroll, the old and foreign power. It was corrupting. His powers were corrupted. 

Cole was dragged from his thoughts when he felt a sharp pain on his throat, and he slowly lifted his head to find Zane standing right in front of him. The blade of the staff was situated against his neck, and he was sure it had already drawn a bit of blood, but he wasn't going to risk moving an inch. He didn't think he could anyway. Exhaustion was thick, his shoulders drooped, his arms felt like lead and his eyelids were heavy. 

There would be no more fighting. 

Vex stepped forwards and crouched before him, he gripped Cole's chin tightly and jerked his head so he had no choice but to look at the man. At a face that held far too much glee in its expression, one that grinned with crooked teeth and the onset of wrinkles over his forehead. 

"Incredible." He whispered. 

Cole didn't pull away, he couldn't with the blade at his throat. So he was forced to stay on his knees and stare up at him. 

"A dragon." Vex repeated slowly, and Cole knew what he was talking about. What had happened. 

As much as he didn't want to believe he was right. 

"You could be very useful." The grip on his face tightened to a bruising pressure, and a blunt strike to the side of his skull finally forced his fading vision into permanent darkness.

Chapter Text

When Cole came to it was to the sensation of bitter cold seeping harshly into his skin. Number one rule of sleeping outdoors, never sleep directly on the ground. It acted as a suction for warmth. Anything there was, any minor sensation of heat, the ground would swallow it in an instance and then still search for more. It was the entire reason he and Zane slept on the chest plates of the mech. They were off the ground, and sure the metal was cold and it was far from comfortable, but it was better than sleeping on the floor. Anything was. 

This didn't explain that when Cole felt the surface beneath his hands, he found cold and solid stone. Or why it was hard to even drag his eyes open from their last dregs of sleep, his body seemingly trying to pull him back under into the embrace of unconsciousness. 

He was more than willing to just fall under its pull, to let his head rest back down onto the floor and allow his eyes to close fully. It was only when he tried to shift and get more comfortable did he notice that something was awry. First, it was the sudden and sharp stab of pain that ran up his side. The way the sensation arched over his ribs, near enough through the bone and the surrounding muscle. It was like he'd broken something. He must have. The feeling stole his breath away, and any air that did make its way in caught and dragged in his lungs like shards of stone. 

Cole snapped his eyes open, gritting his teeth. 

All that met him was overall darkness and as his eyes adjusted, the blurriness fading away from his vision and the light filtering in that bit more; he saw he was most certainly not the mech's cavern. 

No, the room was far too small. Too closed in. He could see all four walls from where he was situated on the floor, each one solid stone and just as formidable as the last. He let his eyes scan over the surface, where bits of moss and mould grew, and the odd fine film of ice which seemed to be a staple of this realm no matter where he ended up. 

Then there was the door, right in front of him. With a small window looking out into a faintly lit hallway, and iron bars cascading down the opening. 

So he was in a jail cell…

He'd woken up in a cell.

What had..? 

Zane. 

That thought snapped Cole back to reality. 

He sat up quickly, letting out a sharp breath as he did. Memories came crashing in like a freight train, unstoppable. 

Everything that had happened. The fight, he'd fought Zane. His brother who had welded the staff at him without a second thought, his brother who had fought back with every intent to injure; of which the bruises now most certainly littered Cole's body. 

His brother who'd had his memories messed with and his mind swayed and manipulated by that… That Vex. 

Cole's body moved on autopilot in a second. The thought of that man, of the very idea that Zane had felt safe enough and assured that if he ran the diagnostic he would come out the other side no different than he went in. He was offline for less than two minutes. 

Two minutes. 

He wasn't sure what he was going to do, how he was going to get out the cell he'd found himself in, but as soon as he did he was going to track that liar down. 

He was going to- he would-

Cole's body met resistance. 

He had his legs beneath him, his feet, whilst aching, were flat against the floor. He just couldn't stand to full height. 

Honestly, he wasn't so sure how he hadn't noticed earlier. 

Maybe it was the present cold, the fact that his skin was close to numb and prickling. Or that, because he'd moved so quickly, the overwhelming feedback that came from the assortment of injuries he'd sustained was enough to distract anyone from noticing the details of the situation. 

The details being the cuffs that sat tight around both of Cole's wrists. They were cold in themselves, and the longer he stared, the more he realised why. They were crafted from solid ice, as were the chains which trailed down to the floor and to the far side of the room to a secure bolt in the floor. 

He was chained down. 

In some unknown room, in some unknown building. 

His brother was out there somewhere, with a manipulative creature of a man guiding and twisting his thoughts. He was out there, making Zane work against his programming, making him cause undue pain and suffering. All in the effort of what? Ensuring he had the staff? That this corruptive piece of Ninjagoan history was in none one else's hands but Zane's. 

He was out there, alone, and Cole was chained down to the floor with frozen cuffs. The cool temperature biting at his bare skin, and the sound that the chain links were making just seemed so delicate for something that held so fast. 

He hadn't even given the chains a tentative pull, Cole went straight for a solid tank. If the chains wouldn't break then he'd drag the deadbolt out the floor himself. He'd pull himself free and open the door, he'd find his friend, he'd get him to put the scroll down if he was still holding it. 

He'd-- He'd…

He let out a frustrated shout as he pulled on the chains. The links were taut, and his feet beneath him acted as leverage, as well as him placing his entire weight on the phantom and unwanted limbs. 

He yanked again. Listening to the clang of the chains, feeling the cuff pulling on his wrist, digging into the skin there. 

Still, he tried again. The chains pulled tight, the ache in Cole's arms and shoulders grew into a more paramount pain and still the cuffs didn't give. 

And again. This time, the ice drew a little blood, the red rivulet drawing a line down his skin before it dropped onto the stone floor. 

"Come on, please." Cole swallowed hard, screwing his eyes shut. "Please just break, please, please, please."

He grit his teeth, let out a deep growl and pulled again.

Stopping only came after a minute or so, when he realised what he was doing was getting him nowhere, other than causing further injuries. His wrists were red, and the areas where the skin had been penetrated were between stinging and all around hurting. 

The chains were still in prime condition, glimmering and glinting in the weak light of the hallway. 

Cole was out of breath. He dropped down to his knees and lent forwards, his arms resting flat against the floor as to rest his now aching muscles. The blood was already slowing gradually, but the cuts ached. Still, it didn't distract him from the situation. 

A lump was forming in his throat, and his chest was tightening a little. He hadn't realised tears were dripping free from his eyes until the sound of them pinging off the floor echoed pristinely around the room. He moved one hand up to his mouth in order to keep himself quiet, to hold the sobs in. He wasn't sad, he wasn't in severe emotional distress. 

He was just on his own, chained down in some random place with an iron door just to his side and light filtering in, being broken apart by the thick metal bars that stretched over the single window connecting him to the rest of the building. It was the notion that where he was, he wasn't going to be found by someone. Securely chained to the floor, lost in a foreign realm with no clear hope of rescue and his one friend and companion who-even-knew where? 

Cole wiped harshly at his eyes to force the tears to stop, then he moved to the far side of the cell; sitting with his back to the wall right next to the deadbolt on the floor, facing directly towards the door. 

Zane was out there. He was on the other side of the door, he had to be. Maybe he was in a cell nearby? If… If that Vex had used him and was now finished with him, for all Cole knew his brother was in as good a shape as he was. 

Battered, bruised; with the way his breathing and moving caused pain to sharply climb up his side and hum under his skin, burning. Agony. It meant what was probably a broken rib, or at the very least severely bruised. 

His gi was torn, stained with mud and snow and his own blood. 

Cole felt himself go still as he rested his head back against the wall, waiting for the hum of pain to abate. 

Only after five minutes, when he felt like he wasn't going to heave up his stomach contents by moving too quickly, he stood. Slowly walking towards the door with unsteady feet, he wasn't surprised when the chain became a taut and unyielding force. Even with his arms straight until he couldn't bare to pull further, even precariously stretching one foot as far as he could go, the toe of his shoe didn't even come close to scraping the metal. 

This was bad. 

Cole moved back over to the far side of the cell with his options exhausted. Not that he had too many to begin with, really. Which left him with nothing else to do but check over the injuries he'd sustained. Properly, this time, only he wouldn't exactly be able to deal with anything. Either way, it would probably be better to know if he was extensively bleeding from somewhere than not knowing, but the fact that the cell floor wasn't slick with blood boded well at least. 

He started with what he could see. His hands were first, touching each of his fingers together to check for coordination before flexing the joints and rotating the wrist. The cold made it hard to know for sure if something was wrong, but the fact that Cole didn't experience sharp sensations of agony at any point only meant good things. Yet they weren't unscathed. Skin was red and blistered in places due to frostbite, his knuckles were scraped and he was sure he was missing a couple fingerprints. 

Next came arms, then legs and feet. Each check passing without much fanfare. There was bruising, which meant that he'd at least been unconscious for a day or two for them to develop into the dark smears of purple and blue they were now. There was his head, and the fact that he'd sustained another injury to it. A brand new welt after he'd gotten rid of the first one he'd sustained after being thrown into the realm. The black eye, though, discovered after carefully pressing over his cheeks wasn't a welcome development. 

Though Cole knew there would be worse to come as he readied himself to check his torso. It was like ripping off a bandaid; untying his belt and setting it to the side, peeling back the material, he sucked in a heavy and immediately regretted breath. 

There was an assortment of injuries, minor lacerations to near black bruising that stretched all the way up his left side and protested severely with every intake of oxygen. Purple marks stretched over and outlined the muscles there, moving over his skin and around to his back. Cole tried to look over his shoulder and see the extent of the damage but now the pain was ratcheted up. Something about seeing an injury always made it worse, and when it was already bad… 

He just stayed sat on the floor, eventually pulling his legs up so he could tilt his forehead forwards and rest it on his knees. How had he even got up..? Moved around, been so active?

There were still a couple more checks, and Cole could already feel the sting of pained tears edging from his eyes at the sheer notion of what he was going to do.

It needed to be done, he had to give himself the all-clear. 

He carefully threaded a hand under the fabric, keeping contact to a minimum. The skin underneath radiated heat, even in the frigid environment. It was burning. It was only going to get worse. 

Cole took his belt in a spur of the moment idea, balled the fabric up with one hand and wedged it between his teeth. Then without giving himself time to think too much, he started pressing against his ribs. 

The shock of agony made his vision white out for a terrifying second, and when he came around everything was still blurred and dancing with cloudy colours that precursored the possibility of passing out. When the first rib didn't give way under his touch, Cole moved up to the next. 

Each one, a brand new and increasing fire of pain pulsed through his body. It made tears flow freely, teeth clench tightly against his belt to stem any sounds from coming out. In all honesty, it didn't help much. Tortured noises slipped free, muffled grunts and shrill keens ricocheting around the room as he went, one rib after another, until he was done; drenched in a rapidly cooling sweat, his skin nearing on a grey and sickly tone once the affliction had concluded. But it was over. 

Cole had to force himself to lean back instead of slumping over to the side. He tentatively pulled the gi back over his ruined side as if that thin layer would provide any form of protection, but it was a subconscious action. Out of sight, out of mind. 

If something had been broken… 

He forced himself to shake his head which simply gave him swimming vision. 

Positive thoughts, positive thoughts. No broken bones, severe bruising but nothing broken. That was the main thing. 

That was the only thing, really. 

He spat his belt out off to his side and left it there, there was no way he was putting it back on at that moment. He needed to rest, catch his breath. Cole needed a break. 

Everything had been going so well, so well. Granted, they were trapped in a different realm, but they had everything sorted out. They might have not had a plan much past getting a source of constant warmth that didn't include wasting the limited fuel from the blow torch or relying on the sodden pieces of wood Cole had spent hours bringing into their shelter; or collecting enough food should the storm get too bad for anyone to leave the cave safely. They went day by day, but they kept on moving forwards. Him and Zane, together, working as a well oiled machine. 

Everything had been fine…

Cole clenched his hands tightly and let his eyes slip closed. 

How had it taken one man to bring everything down? 

He should have been there. He should have known.

"Idiot…" He whispered, to no one but himself. 

There was part of him that told him that there had been no way to foretell what was going to happen. That there was no way he could have known to stay behind. 

He had one job, to keep his friends safe, protect his family. He'd failed at that. 

"You're an idiot."

Had Vex been planning it? Or had that whole plan been a spur of the moment decision? Neither option made Cole feel better. In fact, if at all possible, he felt worse. 

The notion that Vex may have been watching them for days on end, it made his stomach curl in sickness. Observing, invading their privacy. Doing so, all unnoticed. Then at the absolute worst moment, when Cole hadn't been there and Zane couldn't have been more vulnerable, he'd made his move. 

Then Zane had attacked him. Cole felt his breath hitch. 

Zane had attacked him, full force. He hadn't held back, and whilst Cole liked to think he gave as much as he got, he knew that was a lie. 

How could he fight his brother, knowing that he was confused and lost, under the sway of a horrible man? 

And that he'd defended the staff so resolutely, even without his memories. He'd held it, felt the power, and a mere few words from an unknown man and Zane had attacked him under the idea that Cole, this stranger, was there for the staff. 

Struck him so hard he'd bruised his side. 

Almost made him hypothermic. 

Not held back. 

But that wasn't Zane, and Cole knew that. Anything that had happened, it was all Vex. Everything. Every inch of pain he felt, the situation he was in, it was Vex. 

Zane using the staff, that was Vex. 

Zane… 

Cole quickly came out of his thoughts and brought a hand to his chest, cold fingers making him flinch lightly. Still, he kept contact, steered clear of the bruise, but felt over the smooth and unblemished skin at the centre of his chest. In the exact place he remembered taking a direct hit from the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu. 

The hit that had made his power collapse in on itself, that had disintegrated his elemental dragon in less than a second and shut down any possible use of his powers promptly afterwards. The hit had hurt, like inhaling glass shards, unexplainable and terrifying. 

He'd tried to fight against it, the feeling of everything spiralling from his control. The way his powers had thrashed wildly, almost physically beneath his skin; against the foreign force. But that had just made everything so much worse. Then his power had bounced back, near enough exploded out against Cole's wishes… 

He blew a slow breath out his nose, feeling as his chest moved lightly under his palm, the thrum of his racing heart permeating into his head. Adrenaline was rushing at the sheer memory of what had happened. 

The pain. The power taking over. 

Cole didn't realise what he was doing until he'd started. One hand was placed flat against the floor, fingers splayed out, the other stayed on his chest. He was trying to focus his power, though whether he could use it or not was a different question. 

Whether it would act the same as before… He didn't know. 

Only, there was absolutely no feedback. 

There was no sensation in response to his focus, no warmth blooming, no nothing. Even when he'd been caged in vengestone, or experiencing the absence of his powers due to Lloyd being incapacitated, there was always still something inside. 

The tiniest spark, warmth, a feeling. There was always something. 

Always. 

Cole swallowed hard and screwed his eyes shut, pouring everything into just looking for a sign of his elemental abilities. 

What if..- That hit from the scroll-- Cole's thoughts ground to a halt. 

The scroll had done something. 

He could feel his skin crawl at the memory, almost enough for him to abandon his current task to try and scratch the sensation away. 

Vex had called him a dragon, he'd looked at him with awe, and barely hidden curiosity. He could still see the man's face, clear as day. The unbidden glee. 

Cole swallowed down bile and searched further, deeper. 

For anything. 

Vex had said dragon. He'd stared at Cole, and called him a dragon. He'd felt it too, the shift in power. The blast from the scroll, the pain, it had all faded into the background as he felt it shift and fluctuate into a new thing, how he briefly remembered standing impossibly high over the snowy ground, his body feeling absent and wrong. 

Then it had all ended just as the blast had. 

Cole had been himself again. He'd thought it had ended there. 

However, his powers weren't responding, they weren't even there. There was nothing in response to his searching, not a single sensation which indicated that there was anything left inside him anymore. 

He felt normal, other than in pain and exhausted beyond measure, he felt so inexplicably normal. Like when Chen had removed his powers. 

There was nothing inside to find.

Chapter Text

Cole wasn't exactly sure how long it had been since he'd woken up. Time was hard to measure when there was no sky to look at, no window at all to gaze out of, nothing accessible to figure out the passage of the day. It could have been the dead of night when he'd first woken up. Or even the early morning.

Also, the short stints of sleep that he'd managed to get in the meantime had thrown out any possible hope of figuring out the time, since who was he to know if he'd slept for half an hour, or a full eight hours? The only current seemingly reliable measure of anything was his increasing level of hunger. 

Though honestly that wasn't very reliable either, the more that Cole thought about it. He'd eaten before he'd gone out fishing, but not when he'd gotten back for obvious reasons. But the pain and nausea that was caused by his injuries made it hard to determine whether hunger pains were actually hunger pains or something else. 

So that left Cole trying to keep himself occupied in the cell, his mind flicking between possible routes of escape and taking some time just to focus on the situation at hand.

How long would he be kept locked up? What was going to happen to him? 

The latter query was answered on what Cole had judged to be the third day, and it came in the form of a light clicking noise at the cell door, the welcomed sound of the lock disengaging. 

Only that was followed by an assortment of armour clad guards filing into the room before Cole had even gotten to his feet. Bitterly cold hands grasped at his bare arms dragged him forcefully forwards, he had to stumble a step to make sure he at least stayed on his feet. His chest was all but roaring in protest to the sudden movements, the bruise tugging forced fire to torque around his body, Cole could feel these unknown people turning his wrists, messing with the frozen cuffs. He could feel a hand grip and drag at his hair, pulling it back. He made an attempt to buck free of the hold when he felt a thick strip of cloth placed over his mouth, tied far too tightly at the back of his head. 

Yet, after supposed days sequestered away in a tiny cell, chained down, spending his time sleeping or resting his battered body; these people all working at a scary level of unison, each carrying out their supposed tasks to perfection, Cole couldn't fight back against it. Not really.

It didn't mean he wouldn't at least try though. When he felt one cuff click open and fall away from his wrist, he yanked his arm out of the guards hold and held it as far away from him as he could stretch it out, the only issue was that his other wrist was still resolutely chained. 

Then a misplaced knock to his ribs ended any attempt at being an inconvenience. 

His vision whited out in less than a second, and the pained gasp that was forced from his lungs was muffled by the cloth gag over his mouth. 

Even still, it was an agonised shout, and unconsciousness wasn't fast enough to beat the wave of pain that overtook him. 

When his head finally began to clear, he wasn't in his cell anymore. He was on the move. 

Hands looped under his arms, keeping him more or less upright, if it wasn't for his feat dragging along behind him. Cole's head was still full of cotton as he blinked away the grey fog that still encroached in on his vision, but he did manage to get his feet back beneath him and take a few steps for himself. 

The guards at his sides still didn't slow down their pace, and initially the general speed was punishing. Cole could feel that his legs were slow to respond, as was the rest of his body. His fingers were tingling sharply and his side was still ablaze with a near numb pain. It was almost pleasant, in a weird way. He wasn't able to focus enough to zero in on the constant pain his body seemed to be experiencing, he could just let his mind float. 

Until his mind snapped back to reality to the fact that if they were moving, they were most likely heading somewhere. Somewhere currently unknown, for some reason or another. Not that Cole could figure that out, the past few days had been filled with nothing but confusion and wondering what situation he'd actually gotten himself into. 

The hallway he was being led down seemed to just stretch on for ages. It seemed to be just as cold as every other part of the building too. 

Puthers of cold air seemed to roll off the walls, leaving a light layer of chilled fog floating just above the floor. It was a sharp realisation that everything seemed to have a layer of ice encasing it, and if not ice then brittle blankets of frost took its place.

The seemingly one warm reds and oaken brown colours that the building used to have were dulled and masked beneath the sheer layers of cold. It almost threw everything into a negative state, warmth and colour being flipped for dark blues and bleak near blacks, the odd swatches of lighter colours and whites dotted about the darkened hall. 

Ice seemed to permeate everything that existed inside the walls. Even the people. Cole hadn't realised earlier, what with the blur of movement that had been them coming into his cell; then blacking out from pain. These people, with their eyes trained blankly forwards, they were not free from the touch of the cold. Their skin was tinged with blues and greys as if they had long since succumbed to the effects of hypothermia, and yet they were still moving. Still alive, animated. Icicles clung to their armour and even to bare skin, some walking with spikes of ice framing their faces and arching out over their hair, possibly even freezing their helmets to their heads. 

Cole couldn't ignore the eyes though. There was something so painfully familiar about them, a puzzle piece his mind immediately put together. The ethereal blue glow, even in the absent gaze. The pristine ice that coated every surface… He didn't want to think about what it could mean. 

So he forced himself to focus on something different. That being, where he was being led. The hallway turned and curved and was vastly extensive, maze-like even, and still he wasn't sure what was happening. Though he would keep walking, maintain dignity. If whatever he was about to face was dangerous, then he would walk towards it instead of fighting against the situation. Since it wasn't like he was in any state to run. He wouldn't know where to go if he could, honestly. Yet, with the sheer number of guards flanking him and cuffed wrists, he wouldn't get far. One hit to his side and any escape attempt would be over in a second. 

So he walked. 

Eventually, the hallway opened out into a huge room. A throne room, if Cole could place one. Vast enough that his steps echoed even though they weren't heavy. Open enough that the lack of any place that would significantly provide cover. He was exposed, as much as anyone could be. Exposed and vulnerable. 

The first person Cole clicked onto was Vex, in all his conniving and lecherous glory. Moustache covered with a layer of frost, as was most of his clothing, but he didn't seem bothered by it. He wore armour now too, a metal chest plate with shoulder guards, pitted with frozen fractals along its surface. As what he already came to expect, there was a large grin on the man's face. 

Cole hoped that his glare gave off the sharpest daggers he could possibly summon, what with words not being an option. Though actions always spoke louder. He quickly pulled forwards in the guards' grip. He would throttle the man, all he had to do was get closer. Yet the hands around his arms and balling in his clothes held fast, and instead of breaking free he was forced down to the ground. 

Knees flat, elbows held crooked so the chain between his hands was pulled taut, his head forcibly bowed forwards by an unknown hand in a false greeting. 

Cole grit his teeth behind the cloth and forced his head back up against the hold. Vex just laughed, the sound reverberating. 

"As much as I prefer this welcome silence." He stepped forwards, until he was temptingly close to being within Cole's reach, then stopped. "A one sided conversation is not what we're looking for."

Vex reached forwards, hooking one finger under the gag and pulling it down around Cole's neck. 

"You bastard." Cole said instantly, only once the words were out did he take a moment to flex his jaw. 

"That's no way to speak to your host." Vex stated plainly, his back held straight in a mockery of importance.

It made him bristle. 

"Host my ass. Where's--" 

The chime of splintering ice permitted the room. The sound of it chipping and falling away, seemingly from a great height since a larger shattering sound didn't happen for at least a second afterwards. 

Then footsteps, hard and heavy. Metal on ice, Cole noticed. It bounced and ricocheted around the hall, and eventually the earth ninja moved his eyes over to the vast staircase that stood in the centre of the room. A smooth and incredible structure, but foreboding. With huge spikes of ice jutting out from the sides, a deep almost polluted black with ridges of blue fracturing through them. 

Then he noticed who the footsteps belonged to. An armour clad figure with a chilling mask shielding the lower half of his face. The staff and the glowing scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu solidified in his head who it was. 

It barely took a second for Cole to recognise his friend, even with the distance between the two of them. 

He could feel his old run cold, and air escape his lungs in one long puther of fog. 

"... Zane?" He whispered quietly, then turned sharply to Vex with a venomous expression, "What the hell have you done?" 

Zane had reached the bottom of the steps, and Cole couldn't keep himself from staring. 

The bright glow in the frown of his eyes, the white gi that he was able to see under all the armour, the fact that he still had his light blue belt tied around his waist. The sight… Cole couldn't pull his eyes away. It made it hard to pull in breath, it made him go stock still on the spot and just look because that was his friend. That was his brother. 

He only returned to the present with a light sting at the back of his eyes and the inability to swallow easily when Vex began to talk. 

Feigning innocence and confusion, the words struck right into Cole's chest because how could someone be like that? So uncaring about who he stepped on in order to get what he wanted. "I have no idea what you're talking about, boy. And this Zane you speak of, who is he?" though throughout, the smirk never left his face. 

Vex was fully aware of what he was doing. 

Cole put one foot flat against the floor and pushed himself up into a standing position, the chains clinking lightly with the movement. Yet it didn't last long. He watched as Zane simply lifted his free hand, palm out straight. The guards responded instantly, forcing Cole back down onto his knees with a grunt and a bit of resilience before he could even think of trying to break free and ring Vex's neck. 

The cold of the floor was starting to get to him now. Seeping through his trousers and onto his bare skin beneath. 

"You are quite the interesting creature." The voice that spoke was far too low, echoing and almost breathy to an extent that it took Cole a moment to figure out that it's actually coming from Zane. His eyes widened in response, and he knew that Vex had clocked the shocked expression if the minor look of achievement was anything to go by. 

He just watched, staying still and moving his eyes to follow his friend as he advanced. Each step was measured and equal, the base of the staff striking the ground provided a silent beat to the movement. Cole's breath just fogged more and more the closer that Zane got, and it wasn't like he could back away as the cold increased. 

Then Zane didn't stop his walk, he began to move in a small and slow circle around where Cole was lent, his eyes tracking up and down his form as if he was seeing it properly for the first time. In a way, he was. 

"You look almost human." He said vaguely, easily, as if he was at a museum and admiring something that had clearly been lost to time. Something with such scarce information no one could make top-or-tail of what it was. Cole couldn't help but feel the slight wave of discomfort at the notion of being eyed the way he was, at the words. 

"That's because I am human." He replied, as his brother finally came back into his field of vision on his left side, his steps still a chorus of noise in the otherwise silent room. "Zane--" 

"I don't know of any Zane." Was the prompt reply, and Cole felt something heavy settle on his chest. It was just the same as before, just like when they'd fought. It had been days, presumably, and there had been no clear change of circumstances. No doubts about what was happening, no confusion or random surfaced memories. There was still absolutely nothing. 

Though that notion wasn't going to stop him from trying as many times as it took to make his memory come back, "But you're--" 

"My Emperor," Vex interrupted before Cole could get anything else out, "His time in the cells may have confused him slightly. Why did you even wish to speak with him?" There was an edge to his tone. He knew what he was trying to do, Vex wouldn't give him a chance. 

Cole realised that the man had probably argued against bringing him out the cell. Not for the fact that if he got out then he was a possible enemy that he'd have to deal with, but that whatever plan that he had in place, Cole was a direct threat towards it. He was the one with all the information, all the memories that Zane no longer had. Being out of the cell, in the open, interacting with his friend; he had the ability to put a stop to everything, all he had to do was get through to his brother. 

He was about to say as such, get the words into open air, hopefully plant a seed of doubt into Zane's head. Anything to make him realise that something was wrong. Anything to make him second guess his decisions or rethink what was happening. 

Then the footsteps ceased just in front of him, and Cole looked up into the eyes of his waylaid brother. 

"His show of power was quite… Astounding." Zane said, as if he hadn't seen them before. Though in his current state, he technically hadn't. Zane didn't know anything. The notion of that fact always seemed to force a lump to form in Cole's throat. 

He was speaking to Vex, as if Cole wasn't even in the room, or he wasn't important enough for his attention. 

Being brought out of his cell to be asked about his powers? Kneeling, face to face with Zane who couldn't have looked more different. More foreboding. With the glint of silver armour, reflecting the washed out blues and blacks of the surrounding ice. The fact that he could see any expression or emotion around the mask that it made it hard to judge how the situation was going, or where it was even leading. 

What did they need to know about his powers? 

Until Zane eventually turned his attention away from Vex and back to Cole, his eyes just barely more ablaze than before. 

"So, Formling," The word sounded far too new in his mouth, "Might you show me your power again?" 

"Formling..?" Cole frowned, his brow furrowed in confusion. What even was that? Though he met Zane's gaze and raised an eyebrow in contention. "You've seen my power already."

"We did." Vex nodded, his arms crossed over his chest, "An incredible ability to wield the earth." He almost sounded impressed. 

Cole couldn't help but bristle at the words. 

It wasn't as simple as moving the ground beneath his feet, not anymore. Not after what he'd discovered during his time behind bars. Any time not spent trying to get in at least a few hours of sleep on the cold floor, he'd spent it meditating. Taking a leaf out of Zane's book, if he was being honest with himself, but it was for his own means. He wasn't relaxing like the nindroid usually used the technique for, he wasn't collecting his thoughts. He was searching. Searching for whatever tiny spark he could find inside himself, any form of indication that there was still something, some elemental ability still left inside.

In all his hours of quiet focus, he hadn't found anything. 

"Yeah, well, I'm not a dancing monkey." He spat out, glaring over at Vex. How simply looking at someone could make him so unequivocally angry, he didn't know. The fact that he held himself like he was the most important man in the room, that any time Vex grinned it made his blood boil and the drive to just jump up and try and land a solid strike against the guy’s face. 

He balled his hands into fists in front of himself, keeping them tightly flexed and his arms tensed. He wasn't going to do anything. He couldn't. That didn't mean he couldn't make his hatred of the man clear. 

"Even if I could, I'm not doing anything for you." Cole grit his teeth around the words that spilt from his lips before he could stop them, but Vex' face, his glare, the chipped teeth and wide grin, it was anger inducing. He wanted to frustrate him, not give him what he asked. He wanted to do anything to ruin what the man wanted to get from him.

In reality, he was really just giving away unwanted information. 

"'Even if I could'?" Vex repeated in a curious tone, and looked far too intrigued. "Is something the matter with your abilities?" 

Cole clamped his mouth shut. 

Vex moved just a little closer, his words clipped, "I said, is there something wrong with your powers." 

All the man received was a daggered glare in return. Then, in the corner of his vision, Cole saw a light flicker. It was small for at least a second, before the energy roared to life in a wild fervour. 

His attention whipped around to the staff in an instant, to the scroll. 

Internally, Cole knew that it was Zane who was wielding it, but currently that meant nothing. Maybe it was Zane's body, maybe somewhere deep down the Zane he knew was still in there. But at that moment, the person holding the staff, they weren't anyone Cole knew. 

The level of power in a stranger's hands? It was unpredictable. It was highly dangerous and corruptive. Being chained down, knelt on the floor, injured and definitely not at his strongest; it was a volatile situation. 

And if Zane decided to use the power on him again? Who knew what would happen? Who knew what else it could do? 

Cole flinched at the light. Hard. 

Any and all conversations fell silent at that reaction. There was just the sound of breathing, of the ever present crackle of expanding ice. 

"Do you fear that light, my boy? Or do you fear the one holding the sceptre?" 

Cole's eyes flicked between the burning light of the scroll, and Vex. 

"You were ready to charge at it before," Vex took a short step forward. "To try and steal it from my Emperor's grasp. What changed?" He crooned. 

There was no answer, the earth master wasn't going to grace him with anything. So he just stayed stock still where he was, fully focused on Vex in front of him and pushing the burning light of the scroll out of his mind. 

Then, as the silence stretched on, something shifted in the man's expression. His own gaze went to the sceptre before back to Cole, though now he sported a far too knowing grin. Teeth bared. 

Vex hummed softly, "The staff inflicted more than physical injuries, didn't it?" 

Nothing. 

That seemed to be all the confirmation he needed. 

There was a brief shared glance between Zane and Vex, something that spoke far too many words. A talent that he and Cole had shared before… Before everything went wrong. 

Vex and Zane both swapped places, his friend now situated directly in front of him with the scroll still in his grasp, eyes a blue fire. Vex was stood off to the side, out of the firing line should the scrolls power be used, simply observing.

"What occurred during your previous fight was quite incredible. The mastery of your skills and gifts." He almost sounded jealous. "But your little show at the end, Formling, you seemed just as confused and shocked as I was as to what had occurred." There was a short pause. 

Cole wasn't sure where he was going with this point, but none of it sounded good. Though he kept his eyes on his friend before him, willing silently for him to just come back before things got any worse; if that was at all possible. 

"I had my theories, but you…" Vex chuckled, "You've confirmed exactly what I had been thinking. 

"Your earth powers, that was all you. Intrinsic abilities, presumably you've had them since you were born." It wasn't a question, more the man muttering to himself before he got back on track. "But the dragon. That wasn't you, not really. You didn't cause that yourself."

If at all possible, the sceptre roared even more to life. Cole could feel the sheer cold of the power that was expelled outwards, frost crawled sluggishly across the floor from the base of the sceptre. The ice that encased the metal and what had spread over onto Zane's armour was taking on a much darker tone. No longer was it a clear pale blue in the dim light of the room, it was turning black before his eyes. 

Then suddenly, as a solar flare of power flickered off the scroll, Cole felt something sharp in his chest. This burning heat and pain, so sudden that he couldn't help the pained grunt that pushed past his lips. 

As the light of the staff increased, so did the growing agony.

The weird thing was, the pain didn't feel foreign or unusual. It wasn't like a fractured bone or a torn muscle, there was something far too familiar about the roaring burn in his chest that it was almost a welcoming feeling. 

It took a second for Cole to realise it was a more volatile form of the exact sensation he'd spent the past few days searching for. Though it wasn't a comforting spark of budding warmth, it wasn't like a perfectly placed ray of sunshine on a warm day. It was whipping, tearing almost. A sensation that bubbled and roared beneath his skin and in his chest, and as Zane moved closer, as the staff came closer, everything just got worse. 

Agony stole breath from his lungs and forced tears into his eyes. 

This was his power, this was his power. It was the earth and life and everything he'd been trying in vain to find since their fight. 

Yet, Cole wasn't the one who had control of it at the time. It was reacting to the flickering staff, moving with the swayed movements as the sceptre grew closer until the bitter cold made ice form on his skin, dusting his eyelashes with frost and making his the right side of his face ache with freezer burn before it all too quickly started to go numb from the cold. 

His powers were flourishing, growing and expanding outwards, all in response to the scroll. Only in response to the scroll. It was as if they couldn't act on their own accord, as if Cole had no influence over their use anymore. 

That strike to his chest, the one that had concluded their last battle… The one that had arched through the beast he'd been crafting before him, forcing his elemental power back into his body along with a blast of glacial blue and white energy. 

That single blast, the one that hadn't even left a physical mark, had been the most debilitating strike out of everything he'd experienced. 

Cole was the Elemental Master of Earth, but his powers now only seemed to react to the scroll. When the light blazed, his powers bucked and writhed, when it flickered so did the energy in his chest. 

They were intertwined, forced together. It was no longer Cole's power and the scroll, it was just the scroll. 

Just the scroll. 

His power, it was an extension of this corruptive force. 

The burning fire that he knew was licking at Zane's hair seemed to escape the confines of his helmet. 

The light was almost blinding now, the pain flowing into his limbs and settling like a fog around his mind. 

Then the internal power exploded outwards. 

Cole's vision whited out, but he knew what was happening. He could feel the shift. The 

way it almost felt like his very being was ripping and distorting, the wave of pain was all encompassing. Though this time it faded away so much faster than it had before. This time he could actually take stock of the situation. 

The way his elemental energy ebbed and flowed with the waxing burn of the scroll, the fact that when he blinked his eyes open and looked at Zane, he was no longer looking up from a knelt position. He was looking down. 

Towering up on scaled legs, new near obsidian claws digging sharply into the frozen stone floor beneath him. Cole tried to keep a level head, to stay calm in an almost impossible situation, but it was hard. Every breath he took and expelled wrought a deep timbered growl from his throat; every movement of his head as he looked around the room from the shifted vantage point had so much foreign weight behind it that it almost threw him off balance.

He could feel the sharpness of the teeth in his mouth, the warped length of his jaw. Layers of ice had edged over the yin and yang of near black and opalescent white scale plates on the side of his face. He moved, took a brief step back and the floor shook lightly when he put his foot down. 

Words weren't coming, they couldn't come. Not in that form, anyway. All that came out in their place were low drones, clicks and whistles, snarls. 

This was what his power had become when corrupted by the scroll. 

This was what he had become. 

There was definitely panic now, simmering in the background. Cole didn't want this, he didn't want this. He… Stared down at the staff. The light held in Zane's grip. 

One vivid amber eye, another a solid and hollow blue. Staring down at his lost friend and his--

No, their. Their manipulator, their captor. Zane may have not had his memories, but Cole did. They were both as trapped as the other, slit pupiled vision reflecting the blue energy. 

All at once, a calming fog seemed to settle. Gazing at the scroll, he couldn't draw his eyes away. The dragon's swaying tail slowed to a stop, his head tilted forwards almost in a low bow as he could feel the wave of blurred fuzziness move over his body, into his mind. Any thought of panic, or even using this moment of his arms being free of the cuffs to escape, it all just faded away into the background. 

Even with Vex standing just a mere few steps away, Cole couldn't bring himself to care, or even focus. It was just him, the power of the scroll, and the Emperor.

Chapter Text

On some level, Cole knew that the sudden feeling of calm, especially in the situation he was caught up in, was anything but good. This blanketing, almost oppressive fog wrapped tightly around his mind wasn't shifting away. He should be panicking, there was in no way that what was happening was normal. He was towering over his friend and the manipulator, jaw elongated into a snout, plates and structures of scales just in his vision, some a deep brown almost black, equalled out by the odd streak of pure white. Frost edged between the scales, splintering and falling to the floor in a light dusting of almost glitter, reflecting the dim light of the room so carefully. His breath was being forced out in large puthers, his body… This form-- it was cold, every inch felt like it was edging on numbness but not succumbing. It wasn't uncomfortable. It was almost welcoming, in a way. It felt right. That a dragon, forced into being by the corrupted element of ice, it should be cold. This wasn't the earth, it didn't have the spark of comforting warmth. It didn't need to. 

The staff flickered briefly, the power it exuded waning as it was reduced down, drawn back in almost. Cole could feel the power at work now. The way his form shifted and shrank down into a more human size, the drag and contortion of his arms and legs as they went back to their normal state. Five digits on each, skin dark and slightly reddened by the cold, human palms held flat against the stone floor. 

He drew in a heavy, deep breath and sat up on his knees. 

He was back to normal, his gi definitely more ripped than it had been before, one shoulder near devoid of material as it hung in a torn mess from the last few stitches holding it to the seam. Hair was dangling in his eyes. After weeks of letting it grow, not that he had much of a way to cut it shorter, it was longer than he'd like. Blocking out his vision, the dark strands pleated, oddly, by the intermittent paler fibre. Maybe it was just the light of the scroll in front of him, still whipping and glowing almost softly. Maybe that light was why part of his hair seemed almost white. 

Cole blinked slowly, as if his mind was moving through molasses to get the command through to his body. He was dazed, it was hard to focus, hard to get his thoughts in order. His body was back to normal, but his mind seemed to be taking it's time. 

His shoulders were drooping, overall he felt exhausted and in need of sleep, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. All Cole could do was crack his vision open, using the sliver of space he could gain to stare at the light of the staff. It was so present, so bright. It almost washed out the entire room around them, delving everything else into sharp greys, monochrome except for that clear blue glow… 

Then, Cole felt his brow furrow as the light only proceeded to get too harsh. Then, ever so slowly, it died down until there was nothing more left in its place than the scroll that was shrouded beneath it. 

The blurred vision began to retreat. Exhaustion was still present, still building, but he didn't feel nearly as absent as he had a few seconds ago. 

What the hell..?

He took a moment to shift around where he was, taking stock of himself. His arms ached, his breathing shifted from calm steady breaths to deeper, but not nearly as satisfying. 

The pain in his side had reduced down, but Cole was all but ready to blame that on the constant encroaching cold in his body. The only good thing that he could figure out; or that he could see right in front of him was the cuffs. 

Apparently, they had been crafted from ice, because they now laid in shattered remains over the floor around him. Like his clothing, they had most likely also protested the shift in form and quickly lost. 

His shift in form… 

Realisation crashed in next, throwing his eyes so much more wider. 

He'd… 

The staff… 

This situation was bad. Very, very bad. Cole had built on some theories over the past few days but none of them had shown any merit. Turning into a dragon once, barely remembering what had happened, it didn't make for something that was easy to figure out. Or to believe.

Initially, he has assumed it was his powers acting up, almost in defence. A new ability, or maybe something anyone with an elemental power could do? They could summon dragons, so why not turn into them? 

Then there was the idea that it hadn't been natural, that the scroll had forced his attempt at summoning his elemental dragon back into himself and it had caused them to warp and temporarily alter their purpose. 

That the dragon, it was a one off thing. That Cole's limited, or not at all existent access to his elemental powers was a short-term issue that would right itself over time. 

But now..?

The power of the scroll had done so much more than interrupt his power and make him lose what was in all honesty, an unwinnable fight. 

It had threaded its way into Cole's very being. Wrapped and knotted itself around him and his elemental abilities. 

His power was tied to the scroll in every way, almost in a grigorian knot, forcibly shifted and moulded into something so foreign from what it had used to be that it wasn't recognisable as an elemental power at all anymore. 

The staff had corrupted it, corrupted him, and he wasn't even the one holding onto that power. He didn't have the power of Forbidden Spinjitzu flowing through him, making his eyes glow and providing him with so much more potential than he could ever hope to attain in his lifetime, but that didn't seem to matter. The damage had been done.

His powers had responded to the staff, whipped up into a frenzy and then guided into something so new and foreign. 

One well aimed strike and now, Cole had no control over his own abilities. He couldn't imagine what it was doing to Zane. He'd been holding the staff for so long.

Had he even put it down? Or had it been frozen to his hand ever since their fight? 

"Zane, listen to me," Cole sat up, blinking rapidly to force his eyes to focus on his friend and not move over to the lethal temperance of the staff . He wasn't going to sit back and admit defeat. He wouldn't stop trying to get back to his brother. "He's manipulating you. The scroll is manipulating you." He spoke, his voice carefully level and serious, eyes flicking over to a far too interested Vex. "You have to stop him, you have to put it down!" 

Zane seemed to be nonplussed about what he'd just heard, simply continuing to stare down at where Cole was knelt, the cold from the frozen floor seeping through the cloth and tears of his trousers. Was he even hearing what was being said? 

Then Vex stepped forwards, and started talking. 

"My Emperor, I know you spoke about why you wanted him kept alive, but why would you want to have an attack dog that bites back?" He observed simply, waving a hand in Cole's direction. 

Attack dog?

He was no one's attack dog, and even if he was, there wasn't much he could do in the way of powers. He could practically feel his elemental energy whipping under his skin, trying in vain to breach the surface and flow freely. To break through whatever barrier was there and shake the ground, to be normal again. 

Though Cole now knew what it did when it manifested. It didn't appear in cracks in the earth, unparalleled strength; they were wrong. 

Corrupted. 

By a single, direct and perfectly timed blast from the staff. When they surfaced, if they could even surface on their own without the scroll's guidance and energy, it was in the form of a dragon. His powers made him a dragon. 

"Might I recommend," General Vex continued, and Cole shot him with a scathing glare, "That you put him under your control."

His mind skidded to a halt and his eyes widened. Cole sat back on his feet, his shoulders tensing up in a second as he focused in on the exchange that was happening right in front of him. The one that was about him. Vex hadn't seemed all that for the idea of him even being let out of the cell, but now he was okay with it? 

It was opportunistic. 

"With abilities like his, you'll be even more powerful. No one would even dare to usurp your rule again. Not with a dragon at your beck and call."

He hated the man. He hated every word, the grating sound of his voice. Even his breathing was anger inducing. 

"You won't get away with this, Vex. I'll be the one to deal the final blow, I promise you." Cole ground out, a growl edging it's way free from his throat without him thinking. 

Then Vex stepped forwards slowly, and crouched down until he was just within earshot of him. Cole remained stock still, his gaze level and forwards. He would show that he had pride, that he wasn't going to bow away and cower at a manipulative and slimy creature of a man. 

So he kept his eyes on Zane, on the frozen visage of his friend. Behind unknown armour and layers of ice and frost courtesy of the staff that was literally frozen in his grip. 

"This is where you make a choice, Earth Master." Vex whispered, inches from his ear. Cole remained stationary. These words were solely for him. 

"You can fight, rebel with every ounce of your being. You can spew truths, hope to get through to your friend." There was a quiet laugh, as if that notion was foreign. Impossible. It made Cole's blood boil, his teeth clench.

Vex moved his eyes away for a second, kicking away what must have been a shard remnant of the shattered cuffs from earlier. The action was casual, at ease. The man was thoroughly in his element. The situation either worked in his favour, or not at all. 

"But you know that won't work. Not really. You've been shouting his name and he doesn't know you."

At that, Vex just took a short step back and spread his hands as if addressing a crowd. His voice echoing around the chamber that was the throne room, making the frozen warriors that flanked the doorways and positioned around where Cole was knelt stand to attention; their gazes fixated on the man who was talking. 

His words were now for everyone, loud and clear. Vex was tying him in. 

"You can challenge the Emperor, fight him. This will be treated as treason and you will be thrown back in your cell. Though, I doubt my master would wish for your powers to go to waste behind bars." Vex glanced at Zane briefly with an unbidden grin, then turned back to Cole, "Do not be disillusioned, though. Should he need a dragon I can assure you, you'll be dragged from your cell, kicking and screaming if that's the case, and used whenever necessary. For whatever reason or task."

Or? 

"Or you can swear your undying loyalty. Your service. Fight by your friend's side, be his protector."

There it was. What Vex had been working towards with his sudden change of tact. Cole let out a shaky breath, spared a sideways glance at Vex before he moved his attention down to the ground. He had to think, he needed to think about this. 

This was what Vex did. He influenced people, exploited them. In a way, the man standing proud in front of him was probably one of the toughest enemies he'd faced. In comparison with Garmadon and his mega-weapon, the Overlord, the Pre-eminent, Harumi; at first glance it seemed that Vex didn't fall into any category likened to the past villains they'd faced. 

General Vex didn't have powers, he didn't have anything. 

Other than cunning, intelligence, spite and a thirst for revenge of which he was using Zane to enact. 

He was using Cole too, only the Earth Master was fully aware of what was happening. The decision he'd just been given wasn't a decision, it was a lose-lose situation. He knew this. 

Cole either chose to be thrown into a cell with the knowledge that the only person that Zane would turn to, could turn to, would be Vex. His corrupted powers would still be put to use, though. He'd just be a pawn to be used when needed if he was locked up. Then when he wasn't required he'd just be put back under lock and key indefinitely. 

Yet, if he chose to remain by Zane's side?

To swear loyalty to his friend who didn't even know him, nor listened to his pleas to remember, or even listened to him at all; his powers would still be used. The difference was that he couldn't just turn around and refuse to do a task that he was ordered to do. He couldn't just say no to a command, he'd just end up in a cell. If he was loyal, that meant blind faith, fealty in the face of every muscle in his body screaming at him that what he could end up doing might go against every moral code he had. 

He'd have to do what was asked of him, no fighting, no refusing. 

Be an attack dog, as Vex had so eloquently put it. One by choice, or one by force. 

Zane just tilted his head at the idea. An action that was so familiar that Cole felt a lump form in his throat. He was looking at this man, this Ice Emperor, and he knew that underneath the armour and the power, he was still Zane. However deep he was buried, Zane just had to be in there. 

He had to get through to him. He had to. Screw Vex and his careful words and influence, Zane was in there and he was the priority. 

"He's not your friend." Cole stated bluntly. 

And finally, finally, Zane's attention turned to him. His brows were low, his eyes set in a glare behind the mask, but Cole had his attention. "He's lying to you. Putting things in your head. He's controlling you the same way you're controlling these people," Cole glanced around the room, at all the warriors and guards who stood still. Frozen like statues with ice hanging off them to boot. It was a sudden realisation of what had happened to them, staring at these blank frozen faces, only one thing could have caused something like that. There were people under there, innocent people.

There was an innocent person standing in front of him too. 

"Zane--" He started. 

"My name is NOT ZANE!"

Cole felt the room around him plummet in temperature, but he continued. 

"You're a nindroid, you're from Ninjago! We got banished here together! You're a good person, my best friend, my brother, we've known each other for years, you have to trust me. This isn't who you are!" 

"SILENCE!" Zane roared, spikes of blackened ice erupting out from where he stood. The frozen floor webbed with cracks. 

Cole stopped and swallowed hard, just observing what was happening. The way the blizzard warriors took a step forward.

What he was doing was being treated like a threat, Cole observed. Zane felt threatened. 

Zane took a couple heaving breaths, visible by the way his shoulders moved under the armour. He was thinking, he had to be. He must have known there was something to what was being said, otherwise why react so severely to an unknown name?

Cole nearly felt like laughing, staring at Vex and laughing because what he was doing was working. His friend was still in there. 

Until, Zane lifted his head. 

And the blood rushed from Cole's face. 

The entire front of the mask had frozen over, the metal plating around Zane's eyes had webs of frost reaching out until what was beneath was blocked from view. Yet, the eyes were perfectly visible and glowing with such intensity, displaying such hatred and anger that this time, Cole tilted his body away just an inch so there was more space between the two of them. 

Vex was the one that laughed. He stepped up to Zane's side, as if he belonged there. 

"Might I recommend throwing him back into his cell?" 

"No."

Vex frowned, "But my Emperor--" 

"Loyalty will not be gained by throwing him in a cell. He will have more use being cooperative than fighting and refusing every order I give him." 

Cole, even faced with the current situation, let out a huff. Looking at Zane, at his corrupted friend, he was scared. 

Because unlike Zane, this version didn't act the same. Cole couldn't predict his next move, what he would or wouldn't be willing to do. Though, deep down, he concluded that this corrupted false-Emperor before him would do anything to maintain his supposed rule. 

And he'd trust General Vex's advice before anyone else's. 

Though he wasn't going to show fear. He would keep his chest proud, his pride in place. He wouldn't cower. 

"No matter if I'm in a cell or next to that damn throne, you can't order me to do anything." Cole glared at Vex, "You aren't going to win. I'll never fight for you."

"Then how about for your Emperor, for your supposed friend?" Vex grinned. 

Cole felt something cold press against the side of his neck, then the sensation started to travel up the right side of his face. He could feel how the frost quickly clung into his hair and onto his eyelashes.

It burned. 

"For my first order,"

He grit his teeth and turned immediately to Zane, who was now standing right in front of him, his eyes still blazing. The staff was held at an angle, the frozen tip of it situated just under Cole's throat, forcing him to tilt his head back. 

The deeper timbre to Zane's voice lent to the severity of the situation. The end of the staff was cold and sharp, the point of ice there digging in just that bit too hard. He didn't dare move, didn't swallow or breathe. 

Then the scroll began to glow harshly. Cole looked up at his friend, the way his expression was so twisted and foreign, the fact that if he looked between the gaps of the metal mask, he could see him smiling. 

Then Cole realised, with startling clarity. 

There was no talking his way out of this. 

"For my first order," The Emperor said slowly, "You will stop talking," He ground out. 

"You are to never speak of this 'Zane' again."

Chapter Text

The building frost burnt as it crept on its way, edging over Cole's cheek, cascading onto his eyelashes in a thin, white and almost soft film. It kept on moving further; intertwining with his hair, though instead of freezing them solid and in place; the strands still scratched at his ears and the top of his neck, all he knew was that the chill wasn't halting. 

It was numbing. It made his skin hurt and his body internally try and cringe away from the sensation only there wasn't anywhere he could go to get away. The frosted element was on him like the internal and external corruption, present and spreading further and further. It caused his breath to puther harshly into an icy cloud that he could almost feel every time air moved up and down his throat. 

The worst part was, the scrolls power wasn't simply skin deep. It delved further, torpefying as it went. Until finally it seemed to halt, the chill wrapped around his mind almost like a blanket. Only it was far more oppressive than before. The sensation could be likened to when he'd shifted back from being a dragon. The first time, Cole had been overcome with exhaustion and the drive to get up and carry on fighting; that had drained away with the new form. The second time, everything had faded to the background. 

Now though, now it was worse. Every sensation, or lack thereof, had multiplied by a tenfold. The oppressive and lurking feeling of just… Absence. The feeling of everything, his body, his surroundings, fading out of existence. Of his limbs, just like his mind, growing foggy like they'd individually been stuffed with cotton till near maximum capacity. Even though he knew that his legs were supporting his weight, his feet were flat on the ground now and at some point he'd stood up; his arms were dangling loose at his sides. He could still look around, still take in his surroundings but everything just seemed so distant from what it had been before. 

The staff was still present, its point held resolutely against his neck, the sharp edge biting through his skin inch by inch even though Zane was still standing completely still, Cole found that he couldn't back away either. The feeling of his feet refusing to move was foreign in itself, since out of fight, flight, or freeze he was usually the former. He could act in an instant, whether he had a plan or not. Fight back to the best of his ability when he was in a dangerous situation. He never froze, his body never refused to cooperate as it was currently doing, so there had to be something more to it.

It must have been the scroll. 

Everything he was feeling in that moment, it wasn't him. Every sensation, the struggle that came with cognitive thought, that came with mobility; it was all the power that was being forced to flow through him. 

The bitter cold that made his chest stutter. 

Then, the sensation seemed to fade away. It wasn't so much the feeling of the energy being pulled back outwards and into the scroll itself, it was the feeling of this foreign energy dissipating. Going from palpable and nauseating in its effects, to almost normal. Cole could still see the frost that littered his eyelashes, that had crept over the right shoulder of his gi, but there wasn't the cold there anymore. Or a cloying sensation, which faded with every inch that was put between the now retreating scepter and his neck, the blade falling away more and more as the light finally, finally died from the scroll.

Cole just blinked, his eyes tracing over the ice that encased the relic beneath, the way the faded light had refracted so carefully throughout the almost crystalline formations of ice, if he wasn't in such a dangerous and honestly confusing situation, it would be a beautiful sight. 

Now, the Emperor seemed to be taking a short step back. Away from the close quarters they'd had previously. The staff coming to a standing halt on the ground beside him, the handle still frozen into his grip.

Maybe, maybe there was something that had stopped him? That had halted the flow of power which now allowed Cole to take a shuffled step forwards, and his fingers to crook into a tight fist at his side. 

Something must have made him stop, otherwise why summon the corruptive power only to allow it to fade away with seemingly no adverse or lasting effect? Cole felt fine, better than that even. 

He didn't need to hunch his shoulders to stop his joints from aching, or that need to carefully ensure there was a bit less weight on one leg due to a few bruises over his shin and knee. In a spur of the moment decision, one hand rose carefully up to the base of his ribs. It was a tentative and slow movement, but no one seemed to try and halt him. Vex was standing just a little off to the side, observing what was happening with a calculating expression that never seemed to drop, and the Emperor? He was staring too, but Cole didn't let that hinder him. Pale tipped fingers carefully brushed over his gi, rising and dipping with the form of his ribs beneath along with what should have been a bruise. 

Yet, there seemed to be nothing there. There was no sharp pain that was returned, no stolen breath from the agony of having bruised ribs, because the injury just seemed to be gone. All there was as feedback, was a dull ache. Not even that, barely even an ache. As shaking fingers moved over the skin, he couldn't help but feel his eyebrows rise as he stared at the armoured man before him. 

Had he-- had Zane healed him? 

Cole kept his gaze locked onto his brother for a moment longer before he deigned to be the first to break the stare, his attention promptly going down to his side. It was easy to see, the arch of his ribs and the muscles that were around them were plainly visible through a tear down the side of his gi. Only the sight that met him didn't seem to line up with what he was feeling. 

The bruise was still there. Still as deep as ever, as red and angry as it had been when he'd checked it that morning yet there was no feeling from it. No pain, no nothing. His fingers halted in an instant, pulling away from the exposed skin rapidly with his eyes wide. 

One part of Cole's mind had assumed-- no, had hoped that Zane had used the power for good. The brief instance when he'd thought his injury was no more, it was understandable that his first thought had been something hopeful. That his brother was still in front of him, still helping, still there. 

Now, though, he was just confused. 

Why use the power of the scroll like that? Why had it felt so oppressive, so sickening to feel the threads of ice marring over his skin only for it to have taken away the pain of his injuries but not actually the injury itself? There was no point in that, not when it was such an extensive bruise. Pain was good, it let him know how bad it was. If he couldn't feel it, how could he be sure that it wasn't getting worse? That it was healing right? 

His thought process must have been fairly clear since when he lifted his eyes up to where the Emperor was standing, the glowing gaze that stared back, that graced over where Cole was situated in a near curious fashion, he seemed almost pleased with himself. 

Pleased with the unusual result of the previous display of power. Cole's throat and face still felt numb from the rapid chill.

Whatever it did, compared to the foreboding sense of danger that had come alongside the point of the staff digging into his throat and the words that the Emperor had spoken alongside the overwhelming dose of power, it almost felt like an anticlimax in a way. 

Not that he was vying for something worse, it simply didn't make sense. All it did was provide a sense of unease. 

Had it been a scare tactic? The order; as if Cole would do what he was told to do, was unnerving in itself. 

Though the sheer chill? The fog around his head for a worrying few minutes before it had faded away, was it all to remove some pain from an injury? 

Honestly, Cole didn't know what to think, other than it was a fairly over the top statement? A show of power? Establishing a position of superiority over someone who was in no fit state to have another extensive battle like the one he'd experienced a few days ago. 

It seemed more ridiculous the more he thought about it. Even as a small smile rose on his lips and an eyebrow quirked up at the man in front of him, there was still no apparent shift in the Emperor's expression. 

Cole opened his mouth, entirely intent on saying something to break the silence. A taunt even. He could feel it building, the words flowing free in his head because was that really all he had? Glorified power? 

A light show? Some cold? Pain relief? 

Only, that's not what came out. He was going to grin, shout at Vex, get the upper hand at least verbally. No matter what the man did, no matter the corner he managed to back the two of them into, they would always come out on top. They'd keep fighting to the bitter end. The show of power had barely done anything. Was he really trying to get the upper hand by using fear and some ice? 

The words were all in his head, all in a line; ready to be spoken. Yet, when Cole went to speak, they all promptly died on his tongue. 

He wasn't second guessing himself, he wasn't rethinking what he was going to say; any form of speech, any words just didn't seem to want to pass his lips. Cole knew what he wanted to say and even with every intent to put the words out in the open, he couldn't make his mouth work. 

His brows furrowed deeply, eyes downcast as if he would be able to see the problem for himself. Maybe there was no problem at all, maybe it was just the cold he could feel in his throat. I could be stuttering his vocal cords, temporarily preventing his speech. 

That could be it, that had to be it. All he had to do was try again. 

So he did, the words in his mind's eye. He opened his mouth and all noise instantly died away. 

His eyes widened minutely, one hand coming up to massage at his throat as if that would make all the difference in the world to the predicament. Cole's mouth was clearly moving, miming sheer silence when nothing came of his efforts to speak. 

There was confusion, and well hidden fear in his gaze as he lifted it up to the Emperor. Internally, he knew what had happened, he just didn't want to believe it. The power of the staff, the order that he'd been given when that corruptive force had been passing through him. It had done something, sure it had numbed any pain that he felt but it was more than that. Worse than that. 

The reaction he got from his armour clad brother before him was all the answer he needed to the internal questions ravenging through his head. 

Then Zane gave a slight tilt to his head, as if regarding the scene in front of him with minor interest, then simply said:

"Speak."

In an instant, it was like a dam had burst. A wall that Cole hadn't even realised was there, this internal barrier, it seemed to crumble down and finally words could escape the confines of his mouth. 

They were rough, gravelly almost as if they were a strain to use. They hurt his throat, almost prickled with an indescribable and impossible cold, "What-- What the hell did you do to me?" 

At that, there was a bare smirk and a casual but advancing step forwards that brought Zane just that bit closer and Cole couldn't help but take an equal step back. 

His elemental powers not being his own, that was one thing. It was something he'd experienced before to honestly a more extreme degree. With Chen in the picture he'd been entirely stripped of powers that he'd spent his entire life on developing and training, nothing to prepare him for the sudden and palpable feeling of loss when they'd been pulled from his body. At least this time, in some twisted way, he still had them. They weren't gone, they were inside him, they simply acted in a different way. 

But his voice? 

The fact that in that moment he wanted to scream, shout, do anything that would make any semblance of noise to even just prove that the conclusion he'd come to was wrong. That the only sound he could hear was the ragged grate of his own breathing forced from his lungs, and now thankfully his voice was working but in a way it wasn't. Like the crumble wall in his mind was still there, and it was almost like the loose bits of shattered concrete were trying to lace themselves back together with each passing second. 

If the block reformed? If it put itself back together? Would his voice go too? 

Would his voice not work until… 

Cole's attention zeroed in rapidly when Zane stopped directly in front of him. 

The earth ninja could clearly see the sheer cold rolling off his brother, in cascading slopes of visible white fog falling down through the crevices of his armour, frost creeping over the joints with every opportunity it got only to be broken and fractured by the barest of movements. Splinters of ice falling to the ground with a far too light echo. 

Yet, Cole realised that now, couldn't feel it. 

Actually, it was probably the very first time since he'd entered the new realm that he wasn't frozen to the bone. He knew the room was bitterly cold too, and he could feel the frosted dampness to his torn trousers and yet… 

He wasn't cold. In fact, he'd dare say that he could feel faint dregs of warmth flowing through his veins. The chill in his throat had lessened just barely and the fact that his fingers were slow to respond to movement and taking on a paler tone as opposed to their usual brown told him that on some level, he was still subject to the glacial oppressiveness of the room. 

He just wasn't feeling it. 

It was wrong.

"What did you do?" Cole questioned, staring his brother down, their faces barely even a foot apart and both expressing wildly polar emotions. Cole, he was nervous, eyes flicking around rapidly as his mind tried to make sense of the situation. 

Zane? It was calm, carefully so. Though the upturned corners of his mouth and the relaxed set to his shoulders, he knew he had the upper hand. He knew, in this situation, he was in control. 

Even though in reality, neither of them had any sway over what had taken place. 

"No one wants a warrior that speaks so freely." It was said as if the point was obvious, as if it was the entire reasoning behind what had been done.

"And having you by my side, my advisor is right, it would be much to my advantage. A dragon, a mighty creature, no one would dare to stand up to my reign again."

Again? 

Zane reached forwards, grabbing Cole's chin with a gloved hand and forcing it up so there was no other option but to meet his eyes. 

"Will you join me? Be loyal by my side, or do I have to throw you back into your cell myself?" 

The threat was there, and it was entirely real. Depending on how he answered could make the difference between, well, everything. If he was thrown in a cell, he'd be behind a locked door until he was needed; but knowingly pledge allegiance to not his brother but to the manipulative man who had swayed him so far from who he used to be over the span of two minutes? 

Cole grit his teeth as Zane's grip only tightened when he didn't come out with an immediate reply, and he realised, startlingly, that the hand was warm on his skin. Despite the ice over it, despite it being metal and only gloved with a layer of fabric, there wasn't a single ounce of cold to it. 

He wanted to say something, to pull out of the guy's grip and tell him to go screw himself, because brother or not, Zane's eyes staring back at him, they were definitely not the same person. 

Only, the biting vitriol didn't come. The insults he wanted to shout at Vex, bad enough that he'd probably wash his own mouth out with soap without being told to.

Cole was angry, frustrated. How had they gone from surviving in a cavern and honestly doing pretty well, to where they were now? 

One brother, a shell of himself if at all that. Chilled and bitter and so cold both in emotion and demeanour. 

And the other, no longer in a position to fight back. Torn clothes, frost even in its absence of cold made his skin sting, mind rapidly switching between any and every possible scenario that would be better than the inevitable two that he had to pick between. 

Be thrown in a cell, or be a dragon bent to the whim of a corrupted friend? Where he couldn't talk unless ordered to, where his powers were a slave to someone else. There was no scenario he'd win in. 

The Emperor just grinned at Cole's calculating and minorly panicked expression, as if he could tell exactly what was running through his mind in seconds. A source of entertainment. 

"I'll ask again," The tone was sharp, and held something in it. Be it intrigue or glee, Cole's thoughts skidded to an immediate halt in favour of listening, taking in the words that followed. The hold on his chin didn't let up. 

"Loyalty or your cell? Answer me." 

Cole barely had a second before the answer, the honest truth, fell from a near voluble mouth. 

"Loyalty." He found himself saying, and he couldn't even bring a hand up to his mouth to halt the flow of words. One hand was grasped tightly around Zane's wrist, the other hung down by his side. Neither moved to stop him talking. "I want to be by your side, I want to protect you. I've lost you before and I'm never leaving you alone again."

There was only a raised eyebrow in response, a slight huff, before a small smile grew wider and wider behind the mask. "Good. A good answer."

Cole swallowed hard; what had just happened? He forced himself to take in a breath, trying to bite back the words that were all too quick to pour from his mouth, when previously they had been trapped. Though they had already been said, been forced. 

"Now," The hand dropped away, and the staff in a way did too. It was frozen in Zane's grip, but almost seemed to be going forgotten as Cole watched his brothers back straighten, his posture taking on one that was close to grandeur. Standing tall, looking down on those around him, on Cole, victorious; "What's my name? 

Zane, your name is Zane. You're my brother.

You're my brother. 

"The Ice Emperor." Cole said without thinking, then he felt his body sway, his limbs shifting and crooking almost on their own as he knelt forwards, body bowing onto one knee and his head drooping forwards in a visage of a knight to their king. He couldn't stop himself, he couldn't make his own body move. 

Even his voice was slave to whatever had been in the power of the staff and the order that had flowed easily into the open air.

"My Emperor."

Chapter Text

A single, quiet breath of puthered ice forced its way out of his throat and into the open air. 

Cole had promised himself. 

A promise that from the very beginning, he was going to keep his brother safe. He had told himself, made a silent pact that he wouldn't accept anything less. He couldn't accept anything less. 

He was still doing that.

He was. 

Cole had volunteered to go out and catch fish more often so he was the one exposed to the elements. Provided food, collected the firewood even though nothing had come of that little plan. Cole had stayed awake as the sky had finally started to darken into a true night and not into another oncoming snowstorm. His back was always propped up on the chest plates of the mech, fingers fiddling with his once ragged gi as he watched as his brother dropped off into an undisturbed sleep beside him. It had always been about safety and preservation, because Cole knew that he was getting the same in return. In the early mornings when the sun had barely risen and the Earth Master found himself sitting at the mouth of the cavern, legs crossed comfortably beneath himself as he waited for the arcs of sunlight to break into the sky and through the darkness. To then be joined by a familiar, comforting and cool presence just beside him. In the intense training and worried glances and quiet lectures shared afterwards when any injuries accidentally sustained were assessed and cared for, followed by the routine of their morning video log. What they planned to do for the day, all set out in a recording. Just to keep them focused, so they didn't flounder in the foreign realm. 

Cole protected his family as much as they protected him, that was his job. 

That was still his job. 

So, standing by the throne, watching as torrents of chilled air rolled off the walls and collected in dense and low clouds over the floor, tumbling and thinning out as they spread through the expanse of the room. In the feeling of new clothes scratching his skin, a much thicker fabric than what he was used to but even then, the absence of rips and holes were welcoming. 

He was keeping his promise. Even after everything that had taken place on that one day. 

The memories were all still there, and Cole had made it his job to sift through each and every one with a fine toothed comb. From the battle that had started it all; returning to the cavern as the snow storm had raged so violently, to losing the fight and waking up in a cell. To his meeting with Vex and... The feeling of the damp chill seeping through his old ruined clothes, the feeling of his extremities growing numb with the bitter atmosphere that was always a constant presence in the Ice Palace. The staff, roaring to life with power, the bright light that always accompanied it and the phantom licks of blue fire that he was sure he'd been able to see exuding from beneath that frosted helmet. 

Cole let his eyes slip closed for a brief second. 

He started back from the beginning again, with his first analysis of the scene. Walking into the sheltered cavern with only a small dagger in hand, he hadn't even spent much time figuring out what he'd do, or even what he could face once he rounded the corner. There was no way he could have predicted anything that would have followed. Not really. So his reaction was understandable and justified. 

The fight? In reality, there had been no contention as to who would win. Whether it had been drawn out longer or not, whether that one debilitating final blow had come or whether he'd been felled by different means, the ending would have always been the same. He could acknowledge that. Cole wouldn't have ran away from that fight. 

Which would have led him to the cell again, which in turn would have meant he would always end up having that audience with Vex. 

There was so much he could have done differently, that he would have changed if he would just be given that impossible second chance. That the moment the cuffs had fallen away from his wrists in a shattered heap he should have gone for the staff, or that when he'd turned into a dragon he should have used that to his advantage. He should have moved, gone for Vex, anything other than what he'd actually done. Anything other than falling into that state of blind and confused panic as he tried to force his mind to understand what had taken place. 

Or he could have said something different. He could have stayed quiet, to not buy into Vex's traps, not give away any information. He could have stayed knelt on the floor in utter silence and that could have provided such a different result than what he'd gotten. 

He could have attacked even with the chains around his wrists. He could have used any opportunity when he wasn't flanked by the Blizzard Warriors to strike - any action like that could have swayed the ending.

Or even, he could have just tried harder than he actually did whilst trying to get through to his brother. 

Cole could have shouted, could have ignored everything Vex had said and only focused on the single objective of surfacing any possible memory he could think of. 

He shouldn't have even spared a single glance in Vex's direction. 

It had been a week since that day, or at least that's what Cole had figured. Even with all the time that had passed by, with everything that had taken place, he still couldn't get his failure out of his head. It bit and hummed at the edge of his mind, always vying for some form of attention. 

You could have done this, you should have done that. If it had been anyone else in that scenario then they would have done such a better job than what you did. 

Cole shut his eyes. 

Any of them at all. The one in red, that old man, anyone. Why did it have to be you?

He was dragged from his thoughts when he heard the clink of ice to his side, his eyes snapping open and focusing on the throne beside him. The way flurries of frost had begun to float in the air around him. Them. 

The Ice Emperor was a man of very few words, Cole found. Maintaining his guard position beside the throne didn't exactly make for much riveting conversation. Standing in silence, the slightest sound from the surrounding hallways, echoes of footsteps and scrapes of swords in sheaths seemed to be amplified by the magnitude of the room. Cole's breathing seemed louder too. More gravelled, deeper almost, reverberating with every chilled puff of air that left his mouth. Though that could have just been his imagination. When there was silence, complete and total, any sound seemed so much more oppressive. 

When he was the only one actively breathing, out of a room of currently two people? That just made him all the more hyper-focused. 

However, it wasn't as if Cole could actively break the oppressiveness of the present quiet.

He'd tried. Earlier on in his… Service; he'd tried. Even though he'd known the coming outcome. That hadn't made the first couple days any easier. 

There was a present agony about the situation he was in, some form of cruel irony because the one thing he was always afraid of was now his reality. Isolation, being alone. All the way through his time in the Never-Realm, he'd never been alone. Maybe at the beginning, landing in the pile of snow with a minor head injury and not knowing where he was, only seeing miles upon miles of snowy tundras and not another living being in sight for a good few seconds. There hadn't been any time for panic to set in since before Cole had even had time to take in what had happened, he'd found out that he wasn't the only one who had been on the receiving end of Aspheera's magic. 

So he'd never been alone. Day to day, with every job and each training regime, every night as the sky darkened and the temperature seemed to get that bit lower and dangerous, he wasn't alone. 

Even in that cell for however many days, he wasn't alone. He'd had hope and ignorance so he wasn't on his own. 

Then the power of the staff, and a command searing itself into his mind and suddenly he was cut off from the world. 

It was just like the Day of the Departed all over again. Not the fading away, not the nearly getting trapped as master of house in Yang's Temple, but being alone. Being left by his friends, going forgotten, not being seen when he'd reached out to them and received nothing in return. It was like that. Every single day was like that.

Cole was present, he was there; dressed in leather armour and thick clothes, metal plates secured over his shoulders and down his arms, the etched design of scales overtaken by a build-up of frost and veins of cyan and black ice. Boots lined with fur and hide, a belt with an assortment of small blades and a sword hanging at his hip. 

He was there, but he was alone. He was alive, but Cole likened the situation to his time as a ghost. He didn't exist until he was acknowledged, and that was the key. 

Until he was told to talk, told to do something, he was just there. A guard. A puppet almost, suspended and tangled in his strings just waiting for guidance. He was alone because without orders, he was trapped in his head with his words sealed in his throat just waiting for something. Anything. A task, an order, something that allowed him to function more physically instead of mentally. 

Until the Ice Emperor acknowledged him, he was isolated and alone. 

He was no different to the Blizzard Warriors that made their rounds around the building. 

He could try and talk, but there would be no noise. He could move, flex his fingers, tilt his head, analyse the room. Though there wasn't much use for much else. He protected and guarded the Emperor, so why would he need to stray from his side?

But those early days, trying so hard to make his words work. Trying to get absolutely anything out because his brother was right there, in the throne right beside him, and Cole could do nothing. 

Or maybe I'm just not trying enough? 

"Formling."

Cole's attention snapped to the side in an instant. His eyes dragged from the closed door of the room and it's frozen walls surrounding it over to the Emperor on his throne. 

The fact that all it took was one word, and everything else fell into the background. He may have wished to have his voice back, but sometimes he preferred the silence, since silence didn't force unwanted words from his lips. 

Cole's face was stoic, his expression neutral as he turned just barely towards the voice, "Yes, my Emperor?" 

He didn't want to say that, he didn't want--

He forced out a level breath and tilted his head to show he was listening, even with his body mainly angled towards the rest of the room. He could pay attention, but he had another job to do. That was to protect the person beneath all that corrupted ice and armour. 

He was exactly where he needed to be, in a twisted way. If he was anywhere else, if he was locked in his cell? Then his brother would be at the mercy of anyone else that would talk to him, he'd be solely in the company of a manipulative man who didn't care for anyone but himself. Vex wasn't in the room at that moment, he'd left around an hour ago claiming he had something to do and he'd simply strode out the door. No questions, no explanation. He could do what he wanted, that was the level of trust that man had been given. That he'd forcibly taken. 

The very thought of Vex being the only influence? That as much as Cole wished things had turned out differently, that he'd succeeded in surfacing any single memory he could find, if he was in a cell? 

If he was in a cell then he wouldn't be able to protect anyone. 

"Your scouting mission this morning to observe the nearby villages and their population, did you find anything interesting or of issue?" there was a careful rhythm to the speech, as if the underlying meaning was being guarded behind faux interest. 

Is there a reason for me to take further measures in their compliance? Cole could read between the lines. 

When he'd flown just above the clouds, his bi-coloured gaze focusing down on the tiny people below in so much more detail than his regular human vision could ever hope to achieve, Cole hadn't seen anything unusual. 

At least, nothing more than he'd seen on the couple previous missions. People fishing in the lakes or hunting in the surrounding forests. Dragging back their spoils, only there always seemed to be less and less even over the course of a few days. The ice on the water seemed to grow thicker, the snow on the ground deeper, the chill in the air more and more brutal and unforgiving. People rushed from door to door, bundled up in furs and layers upon layers of clothes to keep out the chill. Fires did burn, but they were tiny. Flickering, dying. 

Not so long ago, knowing that there were so many people living and thriving in the realm that he'd called home for a while already, it would have been amazing. Had they found a village instead of a cavern? People instead of nothing but vast wilderness? It would have changed so much. Everything would have been easier, not as terrifying. 

Though now, looking down at them all forcibly having to embrace a whole new level of cold that had overtaken their world. That had blown out their hearth fires with an unforgiving wave of elemental energy, culled their food source, chilled them to the bone. 

Their world had turned against them, and word had spread of the new ruler that had taken over the Ice Palace with a vengeance. That the previous Emperor was no longer on the throne or had any sway. That he was gone and in his place? An inexplicably powerful being. 

What did he see on his scouting missions? Nothing other than a suffering population trying in vain to survive as everything turned against them. But he couldn't say that. 

Cole cleared his throat, wetting his lips. "They have heard news of your rule. There seems to be no present change to their habits other than they seem to be stocking up for the colder months ahead." The sheer idea that the realm could grow colder? 

"So they seem to be taking my leadership well?" It was phrased as a question, but it could be heard as a statement. "Good. And what of the Mountain settlement?" 

"They're," He paused and blew out a frosted breath. "Dealt with, my Emperor. Your warriors reached there just a day prior and were heading back. Nothing but kindling on the ground. Prisoners were taken." 

Sometimes he wished for the silence back. "The great village by the lake is still going. They have many flames still burning and haven't yet experienced the full effect of your power." Cole winced internally, one hand coming up to grip at his weapons belt tightly. He needed to do something to distract himself from the words pouring free. These observations, they could easily spell disaster for the places he reported on should he word the reports incorrectly. "But they will. They know the cold is coming, and they're aware of your presence. Your power is spreading gradually. Eventually there won't be a place free from your corruptive power."

He clamped his mouth shut, but it had already been said. 

Corruption. Sometimes things slipped through the cracks of the scrolls power. 

The creak and crack of ice and previously immobile metal permeated the silence as the ruler's head turned. 

The staff began to glow, the light permitting through the ice that surrounded it. The blue glow fracturing out in places, washing tiny areas with a kaleidoscope of rainbow colours. Cole could feel his chest tighten, the power dormant inside him flickering into wakefulness. 

The Emperor's eyes flashed brightly. 

Then the door to the throne room swung open, scraping across the floor and leaving grooves in the frozen floor. 

The light by his side died away, but Cole's heart continued to jackhammer. 

Into the room walked a large group of Blizzard Warriors, all marching in formation around an unseen individual at the centre. Out front with a small smirk on his face was Vex, apparently the issue he'd gone to deal with was extreme enough for it to be brought to the attention of the Emperor. 

Or it wasn't, but Vex simply wanted the satisfaction of displaying the level of power he had. Even from where he stood, Cole's eyes narrowed and his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He may not have been able to do anything, but his hatred of the man wasn't going to fade any time soon. 

Infact, it only seemed to be able to grow. As the flanking Warriors parted just before the base of the steps up to the throne to reveal an unknown individual at the centre of the group, a lead weight dropped in his stomach. 

There was a man. He seemed middle age, if a little bit older. A wispy dark beard on his chin and hair that was either frosted from the cold, or had the odd streak of grey slicing through it. He was wearing a leather shawl that draped down past his knees and layers more beneath it. It was clear that he was cold in the room, a small tremor to his shoulders that even Cole could see from where he was standing.

Or that could have been fear. The malevolent presence of the Ice Emperor was becoming well known to the surrounding population. 

Cole opened his mouth, though let it fall shut when nothing came of it. He wanted to question what a harmless man like himself was doing in the midst of the castle? What he was doing in chains, surrounded by upwards of ten guards as if he was a criminal and not a person who was scared out of his wits? What sort of reason could there be that warranted an audience with the Emperor? A single man, and Vex needed help dealing with the situation. 

This wasn't right. Whatever had happened, this was too much. The man had more guards than Cole had been appointed when he'd been pulled from his cell. 

Yet, all he did was stand, and stare, his eyes roving over the scene in silence. 

For a brief second the man in chains caught his eyes before the attention rapidly flickered away. 

He wasn't just fearful of the Emperor… 

Cole swallowed hard. 

"This man here," Vex stepped forwards slowly, giving a short bow in greeting, though not once did his expression shift from subtle glee. "Was caught making his way into the Palace," 

"Wait, what? No--" 

"Silence!" General Vex roared, as if he’d heard too much dithering already.

The man's jaw clicked shut. It was clearly audible. 

This wasn't right. The fear in his eyes, the clenched jaw, tense shoulders. His eyes flicking about everywhere. 

"This man," Vex continued promptly, "Broke into your Palace, my Emperor. We do not know what he was here for but we can assume it was for nefarious means."

This was so wrong. 

Cole's gaze slid just to the side, where the Emperor was still seated on his throne. He didn't seem to be making any effort to move from where he was; statuesque almost, moving nothing but his eyes behind the helmet. Yet, the Earth Master could tell to an extent what was going through his head. He'd had a week to get the tells down, or at least some of them. He was thinking, buying into his advisors words because what else did he do? There was more trust for Vex than there was for anyone else. 

Why would he even believe that he was lying, even if Cole could see the clear truth. 

If it was true, and the man had entered the Palace then it must have been for a reason. Help, aid, shelter? 

A small tilt of his head, and letting his eyes slip closed, Cole focused in on the noise. Past the deep breathing of the man and the chime of the ice, all the way to the outside. It was feint, but there was feedback. Quiet billows of noise deadened by the walls of the Palace. A storm was raging outside, and this man had been caught out in it. 

"But I didn't come to take anything, I just--" 

"My Advisor told you to be silent, thief." The deep and echoed voice of the Emperor rang out suddenly, and Cole couldn't help but feel for the man. The situation he was stuck in, he didn't know of the person behind the mask, or the truth of anything. All he saw was an unforgiving Emperor who was buying into lies.

And they were lies. 

"I'm not--" 

"Stop. Talking." The Emperor spat out, and the telltale sounds of splintering ice joined the fray. He was getting up, no doubt to deal with the situation himself. 

At least, until he paused and settled back down on his throne, the broken ice promptly fusing back together haphazardly. 

"Formling, how would you deal with this… Issue?"

Cole faltered, though his gaze was measured as he looked at the Emperor. One hand was raised casually, gesturing down to the man on the floor. 

He wanted… To see what he would do? He could feel the block on his words fall away almost entirely, but he kept his mouth shut. He was being given free reign, ability to state his thoughts on the issue. His opinions, how he would actually deal with the man. His true thoughts.

In reality, that wasn't what was being asked. This freedom, it was a test. Cole could tell that from a mile off. He wasn't being given his speech just so he could defy the Emperor. If he did that, in front of a witness, in front of the man? If he stood up to the ruler and said something he didn't like then that would be undermining his power and influence. It would be embarrassing, but it would also show that no matter what people thought of the Emperor, his will could easily be questioned and rejected. 

How strong a ruler could he be, if his supposed guard could outright go against him and let someone off for a crime. 

Let an innocent man off for a lie. 

Cole was being observed, his loyalty tested. If he did this wrong then the stance he'd gained over the past few days would come crumbling down, but it could also mean the punishment of someone who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

He needed a bit of time to think on what he could do, could suggest, but there wasn't that liberty. 

Cole slowly descended the stairs, the metal of his armour scraping together with each new step. The man cowered back. 

What was expected of him, at that moment?

"I'm sorry, but please! I didn't take anything." 

I know you didn't. Cole swallowed hard, walking in a slow circle around the man. The Blizzard Warriors had stepped back, giving him more reign of the area as each footstep echoed off the floor. I just need to think. 

If the man was thrown into a cell, it would be likely that he'd never see light of day again. Or at least, not as a free man. Odds on, he'd probably end up like the warriors around him, of some form of use and an extension of the already growing army. Or he'd just be left on his own to rot. The cells had to be avoided. 

He couldn't be set free either, that would pleasantly undermine Vex's status, but also the Emperor's. He couldn't do that either. 

He was expected to be brutal, as ruthless as the ruler he protected. He wasn't, but he had to be. Cole hadn't noticed that he'd come to a stop to the left of the man. 

"Might I recommend dealing with him promptly and being done with the issue?"

Cole didn't even grace Vex with attention at that option, he just looked down at the shaking man. Yet he couldn't just ignore what it was insinuating. It was a life or death situation. 

"Where are you from, thief?" He questioned after a moment of silence, the accusatory name sitting heavy on his tongue. He had to play the part. 

"I'm not--"

Cole glared. 

"I'm- I'm from a village up north. I went out hunting."

"North? The village at the base of a sheer cliff, stone bridge over a river's rapids?" He questioned slowly. Then, when he gained a nod in return, it just served to confuse him more. It barely took a day's flight for him to get to the small inlet he'd described, but by foot? Days. Through snow, and a storm? So much longer. 

He'd been out hunting? The man must have gotten so turned around and walked for so long. Cole felt for him, someone who just wanted to escape the cold of the worsening storm. Who had been seized and put on trial for false accusations. Who probably just wanted to go home. 

"How can we be sure you haven't stolen from the Emperor?" 

"Because I didn't! I promise, I was just looking for a place to rest!" There it was, the bitter truth right in front of them. But a honest admission was never going to be taken so easily. 

"He lies!" Vex hollered, stepping up to the man, "Why else would he be here, if not to take advantage of our grandeur?" 

"General Vex," The Emperor called out sharply, "Let my dragon deal with the situation."

At that, Vex had the decency to look like at least a little sheepish, though Cole wasn't laughing at the chiding. He was still wracking his brain, still thinking. 

The man was staring with wide eyes up at where Cole was standing, almost as if he was gazing past the armour. "Dragon? You're the beast we've seen above the clouds? You're human?" 

"I'm a formling." He said slowly, not missing a beat. 

He was well aware that the Emperor and Vex was watching his every move, and as much as he hates it, he needs to stay by the Emperor's side. He has to do what is expected of him. He can't risk losing what he's gained. 

Cole spared a glance at the nearest Blizzard Warrior; Grimfax if his memory served him right. The one in charge. "Strip him of his belongings. We don't know what he may have been here for." 

"But-- I wasn't-!" 

His eyes chose that moment to flicker a bright orange and a cold bitter blue, as a deep growl seemed to breath free of his throat. A sudden bout of anger swirled in his chest, and it felt foreign, far too sudden. A glance up to the Emperor showed that the feeling seemed to be mirrored. Staff gripped lightly, glowing just barely, frost edging over his helmet. The anger wasn't Cole's. 

"The Ice Emperor is being merciful. Take his bag, and then let him on his way. Make sure he leaves."

The man's eyes widened, but Cole just stared back with a forced level gaze. "No matter the weather outside."

Chapter Text

The sensation of a fresh blanket of snow crumpling down under his boots, the once clean slate being marred with a display of the muddied and sodden ground below was nothing new. It was an occurrence to be expected every single day with each new coming sunrise. It always snowed, near enough every day was filled with a storm of some kind that dropped a brand new white expanse of cold only for it to be trodden on and destroyed, for the scene to be reset the following night whilst people slept.

Only this time, this night, no one was sleeping. The instant the helmed leader lifted his foot from the ground for his next step, the falling snow had already begun to fill the space left behind. The moon was high in its crest, the sky itself seemed as though it was clear when in reality it was almost blotted out with darkened clouds that blended perfectly into twilight. 

No one was sleeping because everyone in the village that the warrior was walking through were either cowering or running. That's what people always did when coming face to face with the Emperor's Blizzard Warriors. Very few fought, and if they did then it was never for long and never organised, never successful. Most opted to try and escape, some with children in their arms, others wrapped in layers of pelt to keep themselves warm in the frozen night. They abandoned homes, abandoned beds, ran past smouldering hearths as the flames within spluttered and died with no one tending to them and preserving the precious few dregs of warmth that were dotted throughout the realm. 

Some people screamed too, they shouted and hollered when they were pushed to the snowy ground by the Emperor's army, arms pulled and chained up behind their backs. Buildings reduced to ruin, wooden structures that had been built to withstand forceful gales were felled either when the support beams inside were collapsed, or the dry contents of the interiors were set alight by a stray and billowing ember. 

Everything that was happening, it was nothing new. It was simply one more village that had been targeted and removed from the map as multiple others had been over the past half decade. 

It was the first one that had actually seemed prepared for the attack though, Cole had noted. Breaching the treeline that encompassed the village with a small army of over twenty Blizzard Warriors and coming face to face with women and men alike, armed with an array of weapons, that had been a first. Whether their approach had been noticed and that had given the village enough time to prepare for a fight, or if their plans had been leaked, the leader wasn't sure.

Honestly, Cole hadn't cared at that moment. He had a job to do, an order to carry out, and a few people who felt as though they were skilled enough to defend their homes weren't going to stand in his way. It was why, if he glanced over his shoulder back to where the battle and panic had begun, there were sharp stalagmites of ice protruding up from the ground, the edges jagged and sharp and encased inside were the supposed brave fighters who hadn't even taken a single step forwards before they'd been trapped. Their faces themselves were a picture, eyes wide as the torrential blast of ice had approached them and they hadn't been able to do anything about it other than accept fate. 

Besides, whether they'd manage to fight or not, the end result was always going to be the same. A conclusion that was rapidly approaching. The Blizzard Warriors were sheathing their weapons in favour of seizing the chains of their prisoners, the whole village falling into a suspended state as the people who were running had been caught and chained up under orders of their Emperor. Anyone else, and there were few who had thoroughly resisted arrest, were now statues encased in their own spear of ice. 

That was Cole's job, other than leading. He was there to observe, to guide and strategies, as well as prevent people from escaping the clutches of their ruler. The villagers, ones who used the mines and natural tunnels close by to their homes to collect ore from the for weapons, armour; they would either leave in chains, or they wouldn't leave at all. 

It was a simple decision, really. Though he really didn't get why people were still struggling in their chains even once it was clear that this battle was over. 

Still, had it really been a battle? 

Cole just gave a small smirk behind his helmet and shook his head. It was like these people didn't even try to fight for their homes. However, if they were so willing to speak out against their Emperor, well…

These people now knew what happened. 

Cole turned in his place and started on a slow walk back to the trees where they'd approached from, though now they were able to use the cleared trail that the villagers used as they took their leave. There were spared glances as the Blizzard Warriors fell into formation behind him, blank stares and frozen faces following his movements as he looked over what they'd achieved. 

There were few prisoners, in reality. Just enough for one person per warrior but then again, it hadn't been a large village. 

The only place these people would be going were the dungeons, where they would await an audience with their Emperor. Some of the people seemed to be aware of that, and were still tugging on the chains and their guards as if they were still able to get away.

Others, they just stood there. Heads bowed, defeat in their eyes. Apparently the intel the leader had been given had been correct, but that wasn't important at that moment. The sky was dark, as we're the barren lands around them, but that wasn't going to slow their approach back to the palace. If at all, it made it all the more important that they returned in a timely fashion. 

"Grimfax!" Cole shouted, a low and deep drone echoing from his throat as he looked over the group. The requested man stepped forwards, hands free of anything but a single sword that was loose at his side. 

"Yes, Sir?" 

"We aren't going to stay around for long." Cole looked at two soldiers, both empty handed and still stood at attention. "Both of you, snuff out any flame you can find and then return to the palace, let the cold take over. Grimfax, you are to lead the march. I'll take up the rear. We will return to the Ice Palace by dawn, no later."

There was a short nod gained in return, and a renewed ripple of apprehension and fear that rolled through the prisoners at the mention of the Palace, as if they hadn't taken into account the severity of their actions until that very moment. In reality, there wasn't time for them to be fretting or fearful, since as Cole took up his position at the back of the group, the march began. 

A prompt and brutal pace, with the growing storm blowing a confetti of snow in their faces, chilling any bare skin that was exposed to the element. The snow dampened clothes, bit into skin, made even the most hardy of individuals shiver and wish for warmth. A warmth that wasn't going to come to any of them, any time soon. 

The night pulled on. The sky, if it was at all possible, darkened further and further as the moon was purged from the scene behind a deep torrent of black. 

Whilst it was obvious that the trek back would be made much shorter if Cole simply shifted form, he wasn't about to leave his warriors behind to both handle their prisoners as well as walk the near blackened path back towards their fortress. There had been times, a few failed missions over the past few years. Nothing that the leader had partook in himself, but his presence there might have made all the difference. Besides, his presence, even looking outwardly very human, was enough to avert any possible thoughts of these prisoners fighting against their captors in an effort to get away. 

One sharpened glance, an echoed and barely human growl from his throat, it struck fear. It made eyes wide and skin pale further. It was the perfect deterrent. Yet even then, unpredictable outward forces were still at play. 

They had been passing through a mountain track when it happened. The sky was now awash with grey tones as the sun had barely begun to poke its head over the horizon line. There was no sharp beam of light, but the darkness of night was being rapidly chased away with each passing minute. 

A steep cliff face on one side, and the other the base of a mountain. A steady incline permeated with sharp rocks poking up through the bed of snow. The path they walked was wide, and their marching pace hadn't lessened from the beginning. Prisoners seemed to be tiring but that wasn't Cole's issue, it was the fact that as a single cool air blew through the natural gulley they were passing through, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. 

It wasn't a cold feeling. That wasn't something he'd experienced in a long time; it was simply just absence. There wasn't a chill to his body, but neither was there heat. The temperature he experienced was simply nothing. 

The sun didn't warm him, just as the snow didn't freeze him to the bone. But with his hair standing on end… 

That was something else. It was his bodies' early warning system, yet apparently that wasn't prompt enough. 

The ricocheted roar was the first thing that met his ears. The group stopped, Blizzard Warriors and prisoners alike. The world fell silent all too quickly, leaving the sound of heaving breaths and the odd crunch of snow as shifted steps were taken. 

Then something moved in the corner of Cole's vision. Something huge enough that it had cast a shadow over where he'd previously been standing, and in the next second there was a deep trench pummeled into the ground in that same spot. 

Instantly, his attention was hyper-focused as the leader turned in his spot rapidly, his gaze finally roving over the thing that had sprung its attack. Staring back with fully black eyes, three times his size when standing at its full height was something that Cole had never thought he'd see. He knew that this realm was filled with creatures that he could have never imagined. The giant winged banshee that flew through the skies, flitting and disappearing into the clouds, wolves that roamed through the dense forests in huge packs, that were so much larger than anything he'd ever seen before them. 

And now? A giant beast covered in a sleek white fur and what wasn't covered, the skin that showed on its hands and over its face was a light blue. There were sharp tusks protruding up from its mouth and glinted deadly sharp in the limited light. Its hands were almost larger than Cole's body, and it seemed far too intelligent for his liking. 

It was a yeti, through and through. He'd heard passing stories, tales almost. They'd been blown off as nothing, as hearsay. But now? 

Cole kept his stance level, his shoulders as relaxed as he could keep them as he stared back at the assailant. There only seemed to be one here, and if he listened past the snow and wind he couldn't hear anything else out of the ordinary. So it was just the creature before him. 

A creature that had moved its attention over to the larger group now, eyes roving over the prisoners as they cowered backwards, eventually coming to settle on the two Blizzard Warriors that were standing amongst them, weapons already drawn and primed for a fight. 

Not that they managed to do much in the following few seconds. The yeti charged forwards at a speed that took Cole by surprise. The intensity, how it had just gone from standing to a near bipedal bulldozer. The prisoners, they'd had the sense to scatter apart, but the Warriors? In a resounding thunk that brought a wince to his eyes and his men went flying. Launched over the people behind them and landing in a trench of snow. One stood up again and brushed himself off. The other didn't. 

Then the process was repeated again with the next group of prisoners and their handlers. 

And again. 

Then the pattern dawned in on Cole's mind quickly. The specific targets, the prisoners all left standing without anyone to keep them in place. Some were still being held fast by the Blizzard Warriors, but the ones that were free? Chained or not, they had their chance and they were taking it. At first, the process was slow. One or two of the people from the village broke away from the group and made quick work at getting away. Rushed footfalls as they ran through the snow back the way they'd come, disappearing into the shadow of the cliff.

Chasing after them wasn't on Cole's agenda in that moment, it was dealing with the beast that had its mind set on specific targets, on a particular goal. It had attacked the group, all on its own, with the drive to take down as many of the Emperor’s Warriors as it could whilst freeing those it wrongly deemed innocent. 

He had to stop this. He could, easily. He may be an observer, he may lead battles and not necessarily partake in them, but he was a fighter foremost. 

That was what drove him forwards, hands empty apart from the metal gauntlets wrapped around his wrists with the straps pulled tight. It was a large and powerful enemy, it was swift but presumably once it was moving quickly the momentum would make it hard to turn corners. It fought on the offence, not the defence. It relied on natural ability, natural strength. Cole did too, in a way, but he had other advantages up his sleeve. Advantages that would make this less of a battle, and more a simple task. 

He watched, saw the moment where the crowd split and more prisoners broke away from their wards as the targeted Blizzard Warriors readied their weapons. There was a steady breath, a flow of chilled air from his mouth as he felt a small ball of energy in his chest. It wasn't much, and it wasn't anything powerful. There were clear disadvantages of being so far from his Emperor's side and this was one of them. His dragon form was hard enough to call upon as it was, forcing his power to surface on its own came with drawbacks. It was significantly weaker and slower to respond without the aid of the staff at his back, the blue light flickering and churning the dormant elemental energy within. 

Cole stepped forwards, and kept his breathing steady as he charged. He could feel the way his body shifted as he moved, the brief glow that overtook his body; the one that always enveloped him before he shifted. Though this time, in the midst of the shift as his body was still shrouded in the expanding white light, he rammed into the yeti with all the force and density that his dragon form provided. It was a heavy and sharp impact, one that forced the creature off its feet and backwards into the solid stone cliff face behind it. Cole came to a skidding stop, his form shrinking back down to its human size without even having shifted into a full dragon. Honestly, he didn't think he would have been able to keep up that dragon form for long, if at all on his own. 

Either way, the damage had been done. Where the yeti had impacted, the stone had collapsed backwards and broken away, littering the ground around it. There was a short glance spared around, at the shocked and fearful gazes of the remaining prisoners; the ones still held fast by the warriors. 

A majority of their captives were still there, but the ones that had been freed by the unmoving and hulking beast on the floor had made themselves scarce. Footprints were clear in the snow, and it was obvious that the one place they'd return to was their village. Or try to, at least. 

Cole took a short and measured step over to the yeti. It didn't seem as though it was going to get up any time soon. 

"Sir, we have had some--" Grimfax's drawl of a voice broke through his stupor. 

"I am aware that we have lost some prisoners." Cole spat in return, straightening up. Though he was still staring down at the creature, then he turned in the direction that he had approached from. From the mountains, it must have been. It was clear that the yeti had been observing them, at least for a few minutes. It had identified him as the leader, and picked out specific people to take down all in the effort of freeing their prisoners. 

It had acted alone, when a creature of that size and intelligence--

It would be a social beast. It clearly displayed empathy for the villagers and anger at his Warriors. It felt for people, fought for people. It may have attacked and worked alone, but that wasn't how that creature functioned elsewhere. 

Cole cast his gaze up the neighbouring mountain, until his eyes met with the halo of clouds that shielded the peak from his view. 

Grimfax was still standing at his side. 

"Select your most competent warriors." He slid his gaze over to his second-hand man with a raised eyebrow. "Send them after the escaped prisoners. When they return with them, you are to lead my men back to the palace with no mistakes, do I make myself clear?" 

"Of course, Sir." There was a small shift, an expression of confusion, "And you?" 

Cole's eyes settled on the rocky kraggs of the towering peak. "There's something I need to deal with beforehand."

Returning to the Ice Castle, Cole hadn't been as fast as he'd first anticipated when he'd taken off on his impromptu errand. Walking through the hallways that were ingrained in his muscle memory, eyes floating over the frozen walls and the blank faces of the Blizzard Warriors that walked past him and not even sparing a second glance in his direction, it was unusual to think about how many times he'd walked that route. 

He didn't even know the point when he'd shifted from getting confused by the maze of passageways and sharp corners the layout took, to being completely at ease and familiar with traversing through the halls by himself. Being able to look down each hallway that split off from the main route towards the throne room and know what was behind each door and around each distant corner like the back of his hands. 

Most importantly, he didn't know when he'd shifted from his mind being so clouded by an oppressive fog to being fully aware and in control of what he was doing. That one second he could have been stood beside the throne at his guard post, and with a blink and barely any time at all, he would be standing outside the front gates in the snow. No idea how he'd gotten there, no idea how much time had really passed him by. All Cole knew was that he couldn’t properly remember. He'd been given an order, and for some reason his mind decided to close itself off to the words; and to the actions that followed. His body being guided by an incredible power that had weaved and ingrained itself into his very being. Something that over the first few months, he recalled, that he had fought against. 

He'd tried to ignore the Emperor when he spoke sometimes, but that never did anything to lessen the mental fog. Even in a loud room with any sound all but drowned out, the orders always managed to reach his ears. He tried to keep his mind clear and aware when he felt his body moving almost on its own, his brow always furrowing as forced words poured from his mouth. 

All Cole knew was that at some point, he'd realised how easy it was to just stop fighting against the fog. How much more beneficial it was, really. His confusion and attempted revolt against the foreign power in his chest wasn't going ignored, by neither Vex nor the Emperor. Every time he'd tried to ignore an order he knew that it was chipping away at whatever limited trust they had in him, if there was any at all. 

So he'd stopped fighting. It might have been after the first year, or maybe the third or fourth, but being given an order didn't mean loss of awareness anymore. It simply meant that Cole had a task, and even though he had full control over his own body, he always went to carry it out. 

After all, if he didn't listen, then no matter how much trust he'd manage to build up there was always a single empty cell that he could be thrown into. The Emperor didn’t like those who ignored his commands.

His job was to keep the Emperor safe. To stay by his side, no matter what. He couldn't do that from behind a solid stone wall. 

With all the years that passed by, though, things got easier. Leading an army of blank faced warriors, it was easy. Raiding villages, dealing with usurpers, reducing homes to piles on the ground and defending the Emperor's right to his throne. 

It was all so easy to do that any inkling notion of no longer being in control of his body was forced to the back of his mind. He was in control, he had been for a while now. He was given orders and he followed them, but he was in control. He was fully aware.

He was. 

Eventually, he reached the ever-closed door of the throne room and took the barest of moments between strides to adjust his armour back up his shoulder before he pushed the doors open. 

As always, the large room always seemed to be trapped in a quaint hush. With its magnitude it only seemed normal for it to echo with every tiny little noise that occurred, each shard of ice skidding across the floor, a hairline fracture that edged its way up the wall only for it to freeze again after a few seconds. 

It was always so quiet, at least until Cole stepped into the room, footsteps measured but still loud, the scrape of the metal of his armour not grating but still sharp. Upon the throne, he could see the Emperor stand up slowly, and at the base of the stairs his advisor stood at ease, only seeming to glance his eyes over Cole's advancing form with barely hidden distaste. 

For some reason, he and Vex had never gotten along. Though it wasn't such a big deal; the man didn't need to like Cole and Cole didn't need to like him. 

That point was made clear by the brief raised eyebrow that the dragon shot back at the stare. 

"I have to admit," The deep voice projected out and his attention was immediately dragged to the metallic form descending the stairs. "When my warriors returned without you, I was concerned." The Emperor continued his walk, stopping just a short pace before where Cole was standing, clouds of chilled air rolled off his chest plate and helmet. “Tell me, what happened?”

Cole's breath only seemed to fog more too. 

"My apologies. There was a minor detour, an issue that needed to be dealt with." He answered after a short moment, bowing his head forwards just a little in respect. He probably should have provided Grimfax with a little bit more information than what he'd actually given; though he could explain himself now. "How many prisoners were returned?" 

"Everyone seized was accounted for, according to Grimfax." Vex responded bluntly, barely shifting from where he stood, facial expression not even changing. 

Being able to ask questions, that was something he was thankful for. That there was enough trust that he wasn't simply just expected to remain silent through a conversation. He could raise his opinion, speak his mind to the Emperor in a way that no one else could should they risk offending their ruler. 

He wasn't as silent as he used to be. There had been time to get used to the circumstances and the person he worked under. Cole was well aware what to say, and what to avoid even mentioning. Anything that related to the time before the Emperor had retaken his throne was to be avoided. A sore-point, more or less. The fact that he'd been removed forcefully from a throne that was rightfully his? No one wanted to be reminded of that. He'd seen what happened to the poor individuals who even implied that the Emperor did not belong on his throne. 

There were right things to say, and wrong things. His mind always seemed to know what to edit out. 

"Anyone who was not taken prisoner has been frozen where they stand, my Emperor." Cole cleared his throat, carding a hand through his hair as he did a quick mental assessment of how the day had gone. 

The attack on that village had been in response to specific intel, information gained by some Blizzard Warriors as they'd scouted some of the further reaches of the frozen lands. Whispers of a revolt, initially not taken seriously. Intercepted messages between different towns and sometimes between specific people, individuals being brought to the castle for questioning. To gain more and more information on this supposed plan to remove their Emperor from the throne. 

It had seemed like a lie, a weak man's joke and attempt to spread unease and fear throughout the castle. The issue was, the Ice Emperor didn't feel fear. All he felt was contempt towards these rumours. Until more information had been gained, specific and organised plans all written out on a letter that had been seized. A village that sat surrounded by a dense woodland made for a suitable place to amass forces. To collect and store resources; to act as a base of operations for a revolution that now seemed all the more likely would be taking place.

A revolution that had been dismantled overnight. A seemingly innocuous village razed to the ground, the inhabitants seized and imprisoned only because a select few had decided to deceive their ruler. Cole didn't understand them. These people spoke of freedom, but then simply placed everyone around them at risk of losing that liberty because they were wrongfully targeting their rightful Emperor. 

Multiple towns had been attacked and destroyed over the past couple weeks, but that mornings one had been the crux of the operation. No more supposed leaders, no more revolt. 

 That was all easy to explain. Everything that had been organised prior to the attack had gone according to plan. Even though some of the villagers had fought back, they'd still fallen. 

Cole forced out a small sigh, "We were attacked during our return. A beast from the mountains, it had attempted to free our prisoners but was dealt with. As were the ones that resided elsewhere. It is why I've only just returned." He spread his hands, "I should have informed General Grimfax of my plans."

There was a brief stretch of silence, the Emperor taking a careful moment to absorb the information he was given in conjunction with the report he'd been provided by the warriors when they had returned earlier. The loss of prisoners would have been disastrous, especially if they'd used their freedom to spread word of the revolt further than before. It would have meant an… unwanted response. 

"That was not a fault of your own." He said after a moment, just barely spreading his hands, "My warriors should have been more aware, and you dealt with the situation aptly. The mistakes and weaknesses of your warriors are not your own."

Then, in the corner of Cole's eye, he watched as Vex stepped forwards from the base of the stairs, his hands clasped carefully behind his back. He seemed to be thinking over an unsaid subject, the corner of his mouth quirking just an inch at the notion of it. If there was anything Cole could say about Vex, was that he was secretive and observant. There was always something about him that didn't sit right, as if there was always so much more to his choice of words and actions than he let on. That simply served to increase the dragon's ever present dislike of the man. 

Still, Cole spared a short nod of acknowledgement in his direction. Vex returned the greeting, albeit reluctantly. No matter how highly the man regarded himself, it wasn't as if he could so openly look down upon the Emperor’s Head Guard and fighter; just as much as Cole couldn't show his clear distaste. 

"There are more beasts in the world than just some snow creatures that lived in a cave." Vex took a moment to look at his audience, two pairs of eyes fixed on his words, he gave a bare and small smile, "There are real and present threats that I am surprised have laid dormant for so long."

Cole could feel the hair on his arms bristle just for a second, his eyes narrowing at the man. It was clear that the world wasn't safe. There were wolves everywhere, so many beasts in the darkness than he could count on his hands, and Vex was saying there were things worse? There was curiosity, but also a wariness to his words as he spoke; "Threats that you have chosen not to mention until now?"

Vex seemed to bristle at that, and there was a deep chuckle that resonated from the Ice Emperor. 

Even still, Vex continued, "A threat that I have been observing for many years." He began to pace back and forth, as he usually did when commanding the attention of the armies he helped lead. He grit his teeth, "A threat that I have both mentioned and looked into multiple times before now."

"Those shape-shifting beasts south of the mountains?" the Emperor questioned after a moment. 

"Yes. And alike the village that has just been felled by your dragon, my Emperor, there has been talk of a coup. Citizens, spies even, leaving the confines of their small village and spreading further and further north. No doubt expanding their influence, planning their attack."

Cole fell silent, and resorted to listening. This was awfully similar to the situation he'd just dealt with. 

Almost exactly the same as the village he'd just dealt with, also using information that Vex had gained. Maybe they're interconnected? 

The Emperor gave a slight huff, though he seemed more than interested in the subject, that was clear. In the way his head tilted, how there was a lilt of curiosity to his voice. "And what do you suppose we do about them, General Vex?" 

The answer to that question seemed more than obvious. 

The Advisor seemed to bolden under the intrigue, his eyes flicking over the two people before he seemed to pull back in on himself, forcing down a smirk of pride that was rising on his lips. "We should show them, and everyone else who happens upon their village, the true power of their Emperor."

The destruction of another village? Cole could understand, in a way. The drive to preserve the current ruler on his throne, that was always at the forefront of his mind; but to seize another settlement and its inhabitants, and so soon? 

He took a small step forwards, his mouth opening to raise his grievances with the current subject, though with a simple raise of the hand and a shake of the Emperor's head and he remained quiet. 

"You wish to address them before they have become an issue towards my reign?" The Ice Emperor frowned lightly, as if something about the idea didn't sit right. 

They were moving between towns, homes. Taking prisoners, destroying lives, and they were so prepared to do it all over again? 

"They are a far bigger threat right now, than a small group of revolutionaries."

"Then, as my advisor, what do you recommend I do?" 

Standing on the crest of a small hill and looking down at a far too quaint village with small groups of people passing between buildings and interacting with each other, it was hard to believe the danger that these people posed to the Emperor and the iron handled influence he held over the realm he ruled. 

The information General Vex had collected had been extensive. Written accounts, witness statements, intercepted letters being passed from person to person, each one spelling out with a quill and ink clear talk of planning and war. Strategies written in code, small sketches that displayed the layout of the Ice Palace as if these people had managed to gain that information from an inside source. If there was an informant present within the castle's walls then that was definitely something that needed to be addressed, but one step at a time. 

The route to the Formling village had been long but uneventful, especially when it wasn't hindered by the march of an army. Simply the advisor, the Emperor himself, and his dragon by his side. There was no talking, the trip taking place in absolute silence other than the sound of weapons being checked as they walked, armour being secured as they neared their final location. 

Yet they wouldn't be stepping into a battle. As dangerous as these people were, they could be dealt with easily. As easily as every other felled village before them; they were simply one more to add to an ever-growing list. 

Another name to Cole's list, at least. But it was a necessity. He protected the Emperor, that was his role. Anything that could even possibly be a threat, he addressed and ended. These shifters? They were more than a threat. 

There was so much evidence pointing towards their danger. 

Yet, looking down at them they all seemed far too normal. Calm, content. Nothing outwardly unusual. That was probably how they wanted to seem to outsiders, whereas on the inside--

"They haven't noticed our presence, my Emperor." Vex said after a short moment, clear vitorol in his expression. "Should we make ourselves known?" 

"No." The answer was short, clipped. Final. "No, we wait for them to take notice, I want to see the expressions on their faces when they realise that their attempt at a revolution has all been for naught."

Even still, at those words, Cole kept his gaze on the people. There were elderly individuals, walking around with the help of a cane or with their arms linked with some younger and helpful people. There were children running about, bundled up against the cold. Adults tended to the multiple fires throughout the buildings, maintaining the warmth against the ever-present frost. 

Though they did start to notice. It had begun with a young girl catching their silhouettes whilst playing at the edge of the village. She'd disappeared off promptly, only to come rushing back with the hand of who must have been her mother's clasped in her own. There was a brief stint of silence, some wide eyes and dropped mouths. More and more people took notice after that, stopping with what they were doing. Looking up at the hill where the three frozen warriors stood, the fading sun cascading over their backs. 

Cole could feel the tension in the air, the palpable sensation of fear. Though the Emperor continued to stand still. Watching, observing. 

Until his staff flickered to life, and a near audible gasp rolled up to their position. 

The chilled blue light whipping and biting at his side, the sharp tug as his powered were dragged up to the surface. Cole barely winced at the sensation, and simply basked in the feeling of his power returning to him. They flared warmth, the pressure of the energy welcomed in his chest. 

He didn't need to be told what to do. 

Cole's form flickered briefly, overtaken with a sharp white light as it shifted and expanded out with practiced ease. A process that once would have taken him almost a minute of agony and a burning scratch beneath his skin was streamlined. 

It was so easy to just let his form move and shift into something he was so familiar with; and after so many years it made sense. 

The gasps from the inhabitants turned to shouts of alarm. Screams echoed over the vast landscape of snow as the hill was overtaken by the form of a dragon. Wings splayed out to the side, eyes both a frozen blue and a blazing amber, claws digging down so deep into the snow and rivulet after rivulet of fog rolling forth from an open and fanged mouth. 

There was a deep laugh just to Cole's right, and a single gesture forwards with the tip of the brightly lit scepter; encased in ice, protecting the scroll beneath. 

That was all the prompting Cole needed. He took flight, breaching above the clouds in a single galed swoop. 

Only to descend quickly, ice spewing forth and onto the buildings and people below with a concussive force. 

The screams that echoed up were all promptly cut short by a cascade of frozen power.