author's note : this oneshot takes place sometime between when jay arrives at the monastery and when zane arrives. yes, i am aware that it is not quite christmas when i publish this the second time around, but i'm still weirdly proud of this oneshot because i really enjoyed writing it and i love found family bonding time- and, if you squint you'll realize that this does indeed further the plot of the book! plus, this chapter has very few reads and even less feedback, so i'd encourage y'all to give it a chance! don't let the holiday setting and 7.6k words intimidate you. (it's also one of the last few chapters before zane makes his debut. do with that information what you will.)

trigger warnings : mentions of (minor) past injuries in a humorous, storytelling manner

words : 7,591

another quick note : start getting excited for next week, because big things are happening for 'emergence'! the much anticipated, never-before published, zane-central chapter nine will be released in conjunction with my birthday (on the 29'th), and the 3k reads special will be released the following day! i'm super excited to share both of these things with you, and i hope that you will enjoy them! thank you for your support! <33

thank you all for 1k reads! 

( first published february 2021 )

Cole. Cole! Wake up, Cole! Wake up!

Somehow, even in the middle of his dreams, Cole realized that he heard someone calling him. He was too sleepy to register who it was at first, but as their voice soon pulled him back into consciousness, he recognized Jay's anxious chatter, and opened his eyes to find that the auburn-haired teen was shaking him.

"What is it, Jay?" He mumbled, voice slurred slightly and a little scratchy.

Something told him that he should be concerned that Jay was waking him up, and that there could be something wrong, but he was honestly too tired to care. Too tired to even be grumpy with Jay. So, he just rolled over onto his back, groaning softly as he rubbed his bleary eyes and waited for the younger teen to explain himself.

"Guess what Cole, Guess what!" Jay was practically bouncing up and down in excitement, his blue eyes shimmering cheerfully as he gazed down at Cole. He didn't seem at all bothered by the raven-haired teen's bedhead, or the soft frown that had begun to form on his face.

Cole groaned and rubbed his forehead, starting to get just a little bit irritated. "I don't know, but it better not be something stupid, since you woke me up and all."

If Jay noticed the warning tone in Cole's voice he gave no indication, and just resumed his excited chatter. "It's snowing outside! Sensei Wu says it's been snowing since late last night, and from the looks of it, we've already gotten several inches! We're gonna be snowed in! And maybe it'll even stay until Christmas!"

"That's great," Cole mumbled sarcastically, and though he was still a little irritated with being woken up, Jay's child-like excitement was infectious, and soon he found himself smiling slightly, despite his initial mood.

"I know, right!" Jay exclaimed, either completely oblivious to Cole's sarcasm, or purposely ignoring it. "It's so pretty outside! As soon as I'm done eating breakfast and finished with chores, I'm heading straight outside!"

This definitely brought a smile to Cole's face. Jay was so excited about this that it was almost hilarious, and actually pretty sweet.

"Let me get this straight. You woke me up just to tell me that it's snowing outside?" The raven-haired teen asked, propping himself up in bed as he looked at the other teen curiously.

Jay's excitement deflated noticeably at this, a rather guilty and sheepish smile forming on his face. "Uh... yeah?"

Cole laughed, running a hand through his unruly hair in an attempt to tame it. "What? You've never seen snow before?" He asked with a teasing smirk.

"I've seen snow before!" Jay replied defensively, crossing his arms. "I just really enjoy it, that's all. Plus, down in the junkyard, we don't usually get quite this much."

"Relax, Jay. I'm not mad," Cole replied with a grin, his dark brown eyes now flickering with mischief. "Though in the future, I'd still prefer it if you didn't wake me up."

Jay chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Right. Sorry about that, Cole." He then perked up again, the cheerful smile back on his face. "I'll go and help with breakfast or something, so you can do whatever you need to do to get ready."

Then, before Cole could even reply, Jay had hurried off down the hall, practically skipping in his excitement. That caused the raven-haired teen to smile, and he just shook his head, chuckling softly as he pulled himself out of bed.

Jay had left the door open, and now the familiar, comforting smell of coffee was drifting into the room, which prompted another small smile from Cole. He quickly threw on some clothes and fixed his hair, before heading off to join whoever was awake in the kitchen.

On his way though, Cole couldn't resist the sudden urge that he had to at least see the snow. Jay's excitement must be wearing off on me, he mused, shaking his head in amusement as he changed his course, now heading to the monastery door, which he opened soon upon reaching it.

It was indeed quite pretty. The monastery's roof kept the snow from falling on Cole's head, and from falling on the floor just outside, so he took one step out, closing the door behind him and gazing into the courtyard with an awed expression.

Jay had been right, already there were a good three to four inches of snow on the ground, and more was still falling. The huge flakes were even whiter than Sensei Wu's beard, each one a different shape. Cole watched for several moments, mesmerized, as they drifted lazily down from a sky the color of the sea during a storm.

For a few short seconds, Cole felt like a kid again, and seeing the snow-filled courtyard evoked in him an excitement that he couldn't put words to. The first snow of the year always seemed so, magical in a sense, no matter how old he was. Except, of course, after the fact, when he had to shovel out everything. Then it lost a significant amount of magic.

"Oh, hey Cole!" Lyla's cheerful voice startled Cole out of his thoughts, and he quickly turned to face his sister, giving her a smile.

"Hey, Lyla," he greeted, shifting his weight from one foot to the other awkwardly, a little embarrassed that she'd caught him off guard. "Didn't see you come out."

She chuckled at the look on Cole's face, returning his smile with one of her own. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, I didn't even know that you were out here, I just wanted to see the snow. It's pretty cool, huh?"

Now it was Cole's turn to chuckle as he gazed back out at the courtyard once more. "Yep, it is rather pretty. And Jay seems quite excited about it too."

Lyla smiled a little more at this, nodding in agreement. "He does. I am too though, and we're planning to go out for a little while after we eat, maybe explore a bit. You should come too, it'll be fun!"

"You know what? Maybe I will. Could be fun," Cole agreed, smiling and reaching down to ruffle his sister's blonde hair playfully as he spoke.

"Hey!" Lyla squeaked, ducking away from Cole as she attempted to fix her hair, rolling her eyes before she gave him a mildly annoyed look.

The raven-haired teen laughed at the expression on his sister's face, biting back an amused grin. "Sorry, Lya. You ready to head back in, now? It's probably not a great idea to leave Jay unsupervised in the kitchen."

Now it was Lyla's turn to laugh as she twirled around to open the monastery doors. "Look who's talking," she replied, turning back to give Cole a teasing smile as she gestured for him to enter the monastery first.

"Haha," Cole said sarcastically, his dark brown eyes alight with amusement as he began leading the way inside. "I guess I deserved that."

"Yes, you did," Lyla replied, not missing a beat. She closed the doors behind them, shivering at the sudden rush of cold air, before rejoining her brother in the hallway.

"Let's go eat," she suggested, to which Cole immediately agreed.

Once the meal was over (without any mishaps, thankfully) and the clean-up was almost finished, it was quite obvious that the three teens, especially the youngest two, were extremely excited by the thought of going outside in the snow, as evident by their constant glances at or out of the windows.

They'd wasted no time both in preparing and in eating their breakfast, and begun clean-up up directly afterward, while Sensei Wu remained at the table, sipping his tea as he looked on in amusement.

"That's the last of the dishes!" Jay announced with a smile, tossing the towel that he'd been using to dry said dishes over the side of the sink.

"Great!" Lyla replied, peeking out from around the door of the fridge as she offered the auburn-haired teen a smile of her own. "I think that's everything, then, there's nothing left to clean up that I can see."

She shut the fridge door and came over to inspect the dishes sitting beside the sink, pleased to find that they were actually dry.

Cole, who had insisted on washing the dishes this time, not trusting Jay to clean them well enough in his overly excited state, dried his hands and straightened up, glancing around the kitchen once.

"You're right, everything looks pretty good. I'd say we're done here."

"Sweet!" Jay exclaimed, his electric blue eyes shining with energy and excitement. "Let's go and get ready!" He would have raced out to do just that, had not Sensei Wu then cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention.

"I know you are all anxious to get out for a bit, and I'm more than happy to enjoy the quiet back here, but even though I may have pardoned the training this morning, that doesn't mean that you will be without responsibilities."

Here he paused for a moment, looking first at Cole, and then at Jay, who he was mainly speaking to. "Sometime today, I expect you to at least shovel out the courtyard, and to still be willing to train for a short time later today. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sensei!" The two boys replied in unison, smiles still present on both of their faces despite the threat of training now looming over their heads.

The ninja master did his best to conceal his amused smile, taking another sip of tea before he nodded to them both, setting his cup back down beside him on the table. "Very well, have fun."

"Thanks, Sensei! You too!" Jay exclaimed, quickly running off to put on some warmer clothes and leaving the others behind in the kitchen.

Lyla smiled as she watched the auburn-haired teen disappear, shaking her head. "Well, I guess we should start getting ready now."

Cole, who was chuckling to himself, nodded as she spoke, managing a serious expression. "Good idea. Meet you outside?"

"Sounds good, though you'll probably be the one meeting me outside, with how long you take to get ready, and all," Lyla teased, quickly stepping out of the way to avoid a playful punch to the arm from Cole. She gave him an innocent smile, hastily made her exit before he could even reply.

Once she had retreated to the safety of her room, Lyla changed into some warmer clothes and braided her hair to keep it out of her face, then paused in her preparations to glance out the window. The snow was still falling down hard, covering everything with a thick white blanket as far as she could see.

The sight brought a smile to young girl's face, and she turned away from the window, hurrying to pull out the box of snow clothes from underneath her bed, where it had been waiting since they had first arrived here at the monastery several weeks ago.

Worn, black snow pants, hand-me-downs from Cole, went on first, followed by simple black snow boots, also from her brother, then her favorite coral-colored beanie. A pair of faded grey gloves were tucked into Lyla's pocket, then she carefully placed the box back under her bed before she left the room.

On the way outside she pulled on her coat, zipping it up as she shut the monastery doors behind her and stepped out into the cold, crisp air. To her amusement, a quick glance around the courtyard revealed that there was no sign of Cole, though Jay was already there.

The auburn-haired teen was in the middle of making a snow angel, but when he noticed Lyla, he quickly sat up, waving to her in greeting with a wide grin on his face, to which she responded by waving back, a smile forming on her own face as she crossed the courtyard to join him.

"What do you think? Isn't it great!" Jay exclaimed, his freckled cheeks flushed both from the cold and his excitement, half-melting snowflakes sprinkled throughout his wavy auburn hair.

Lyla smiled brightly, nodding in agreement as she pulled on her gloves. "It really is! I can't believe how much snow we've gotten already!"

"I know, right!" Jay laid back down in the snow to finish his snow angel, and Lyla joined him by making one of her own, her eyes drawn to the blue-grey sky above them, and to the snowflakes swirling all around them.

The sight was breathtaking, and as Lyla gazed up at the sky for several heartbeats, she suddenly felt so small and insignificant compared to the rest of the world, and couldn't help but wonder what, if any, part that she would have in it.

Lyla was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even realize she'd zoned out, that is until she noticed Jay sitting close beside her, gazing down at her with a rather expectant smile.

"So? What do you think?" He asked, his voice a mixture of amusement and teasing, like he knew full well that she had been lost in her own little world for the last minute or two.

Lyla quickly sat up as he spoke, her pale cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Um... can you repeat that? I think I may have zoned out for a minute..."

Jay laughed as he shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of a few stubborn snowflakes, a soft grin settling on his face. "It's alright, you didn't miss much. I was just saying that it might be fun to go and get our Christmas tree today."

Lyla perked up at this, also smiling now. "That's a great idea! Do you think Sensei Wu would let us do it?"

"Let us do what?" Cole's voice came from across the courtyard, catching the attention of the two teens sitting in the snow.

"Oh, hey Cole!" Jay greeted, waving to the taller male as he crossed the courtyard to join them. "We were just talking about how we could go and get our Christmas tree later today. This would be a perfect day for it!"

Cole glanced up at the sky with a skeptical expression, then back down at Jay. "You sure you want to go out in all this snow and drag a tree all the way back up the monastery steps?"

"Why not!" The auburn-haired teen replied cheerfully, his words bringing a smile to Cole's face. "I'm sure it won't be that bad, and it would be a lot of fun too!"

Cole chuckled as Jay spoke, a grin settling on his face. "Alright then. I guess you're right, it could be fun, and today might not be the worst day to get our tree. We'll just have to ask Sensei, then."

"Yes!" Jay exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. "This is gonna be so much fun!" He then sank back into the snow with a contented sigh, before declaring: "I love snow days."

"Me too," Lyla murmured in agreement, gazing up at the snowflake filled sky once more. "Everything's so pretty, and they're so much fun."

"Ooo! You know what else is fun?" Jay asked all of a sudden, sitting up again with newfound excitement. "Sledding! Do you think we could try it?"

Lyla smiled brightly, her own eyes sparkling with excitement now. "That would be fun! Do you think there are any sleds in the monastery we could use?"

"Even if we had sleds, there really isn't anywhere to go sledding around here anyway." Cole, ever the voice of reason, was looking skeptical again. Lyla's excitement deflated as her brother spoke, realizing that he was right, but Jay on the other hand, was not deterred.

He took a quick glance around at the courtyard before looking back at Cole with a smile that was somehow both incredibly innocent, yet full of mischief. It was a look that Lyla had come to know all too well, and whatever he was thinking about probably involved some plan that would quickly go downhill.

Cole noticed the look too, but unwisely disregarded their inevitable doom and had the great idea to ask Jay what he was thinking about after a moment of silence had passed.

Jay just smiled knowingly, and without missing a beat he replied: "Well, I do know one place where we could go sledding..."

Both Lyla and Cole just stared at him in confusion and curiosity, neither of them having any idea as to what he could be implying, but after a rather pointed glance in the direction of the monastery doors from Jay, everything clicked into place for Cole.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, absolutely not!" The raven-haired teen exclaimed, his voice rising a bit with urgency. "That's crazy! There's no way you're going to do something stupid like that, I won't let you!"

"Won't let him do what?" Lyla asked her brother anxiously, still feeling very confused and having no idea what they were talking about.

"Go sledding down the monastery steps, that's what!" Cole replied, suddenly sounding very distressed. "It's incredibly reckless, and stupid! There is no way on Ninjago Island that that will work! You're going to get us all killed!"

Jay actually laughed, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Aw, come on, Cole! Where's your sense of adventure! Besides, it can't be any more dangerous than sledding down junkpiles in the junkyard!"

That was the wrong thing to say. Lyla wished that she could have taken a picture of Cole's face just then, as his expression became one of shock that rivaled anything that she'd seen before. It was rather comical.

"I'm sorry, what did you say? You did what?" Cole exclaimed, struggling to compose himself after Jay's newest revelation, while Lyla just looked on with an expression of both amazement and shock.

Jay was unfazed by their reactions, perhaps even amused by them. "It was fine, no harm done!" He said cheerfully. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

"By some miracle, yes," Cole muttered under his breath.

"Plus, the only injuries that I ever got were a broken ankle, and a broken arm or two," Jay continued, attempting to sound reassuring. His words just had the opposite effect on Cole, however.

"Then I also got a couple of broken ribs, and plenty of cuts and bruises. Oh, and there was this one time-"

"Jay!" Cole interrupted, his tone conveying just how done he was with this conversation. "We get it. You've had plenty of unfortunate sledding experiences."

The auburn-haired teen smiled brightly, fidgeting with his long orange scarf. "Okay, so maybe I was exaggerating just a little bit. Everything was a lie expect for the broken ankle and the cuts and the bruises. And the time that I got tetanus after I slid face first into my dad's rusty truck."

There was a moment of stunned silence. Cole blinked owlishly, his mouth hanging open in shock, while Lyla had a similar expression on her own face, and Jay clapped a hand over his mouth, trying in vain to conceal his snickering.

"How are you still alive?" Lyla asked in an awed voice, unsure whether to be amused or terrified by the whole thing.

Jay just smiled, dropping his hands into his lap once more as he shrugged one shoulder absentmindedly. "To be completely honest, I have no idea sometimes," he admitted.

"Let's... change the subject," Cole suggested hesitantly, his mind still reeling. "I think we've come to conclusion that sledding really isn't a good idea. Maybe we can go out and look for a tree now?"

Lyla brightened at this, nodding as her brother spoke. "Good idea! Let's go and ask Sensei Wu about it now!"

"Yes!" Jay exclaimed, hopping up with a wide grin. He offered Lyla a hand, helping her up, before the two of them followed Cole across the courtyard.

"Sensei?" Lyla called as they stepped inside the monastery and closed the doors behind them. There was no response at first, so she waited a few more seconds before calling again.

"I'm here," came the ninja master's reply at last, as he appeared in the hallway in front of them. He studied the three happy, but rather wet teens before him, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"I was just about to come and find you, actually. With all of this snow, I doubt that we will be getting any mail today. Since I have several important packages that I would prefer not to leave there overnight, and also simply because I wish to get out for a bit, I will be making the trip down to the village to collect the mail and to gather some groceries before this storm gets any worse."

Cole tilted his head as the ninja master spoke, looking thoughtful. "Are you sure that you don't want any of us to go with you and help carry stuff back? Or at least to keep you company?"

Sensei Wu smiled softly, shaking his head in response. "I appreciate the offer, Cole, but I'm sure that I will be fine on my own. You three can just stay here and enjoy the snow."

"Ooo! Which reminds me, Sensei, we were going to ask you if we could go out and look for our Christmas tree today!" Jay exclaimed, looking at the ninja master hopefully. "Can we? Please?"

"You may," Wu replied, his smile widening slightly as he spoke. "Just be careful. Be sure to dress warmly, and pack something to eat if you think you'll need it. Don't stay out for too long, I don't want to have to come looking for you tonight. And most importantly, don't forget that I still expect you to at least shovel the courtyard sometime today."

"We won't, thank you Sensei!" Jay replied, practically hopping up and down in excitement. He turned back to Cole and Lyla, who were also excited, though perhaps visibly less so, and exclaimed: "This is gonna be so much fun!"

"This is horrible," Jay complained, dragging his feet through the powdery snow as he rubbed his arms in an attempt to keep warm, shivering violently and with chattering teeth every time the wind blew, which was often.

"All I can see is trees, but of course not the kind that we're looking for, haha, that would be too easy. And snow, then some more snow, and what's that over there? Still more snow! Then on top of that, it's windy now, and I'm hungry, and it's freezing cold! And after all of this, it's been three hours of endless wandering, and we still haven't found a stupid Christmas tree!"

"Are you done complaining, Jay?" Cole asked from the head of the group, sounding both vaguely annoyed and also incredibly amused by the auburn-haired teen's complaints.

"Yeah," Jay sighed, his irritation fading a bit now that he had finished his rant.

"Good, 'cause it was your idea in the first place to come down here, remember Bolt Brain?" Cole said matter-of-factly. "Plus, it's only been a little over an hour since we left the monastery, not three hours like you claimed."

"I know," Jay mumbled, crossing his arms in annoyance. "It just feels like it's been three hours. Or like, a lot more than that."

"It's not that bad, Jay," Lyla replied softly, giving him an encouraging smile. "Besides, I think the snow looks really pretty. We don't normally get this much anyway, might as well enjoy it while it lasts."

"I suppose so," Jay agreed with some reluctance, picking up his pace so that he was no longer at the back of the group, but walking beside Lyla like he had been earlier.

A comfortable silence settled between the three teens, if you could call it that. No words were spoken for the next several moments, but the sounds of boots crunching through the snow and the soft wind that was blowing were far from silent.

The quiet was nice, though Jay soon began to feel a little bit restless, longing for something exciting to do, or something interesting to see.

Cole and Lyla both seemed perfectly content with the way things were, which bothered Jay for some reason, perhaps because it forced him to confront his own boredom, as well as his discontent with their current situation.

Like Cole had said earlier, it had indeed only been an hour at the most since they'd left, and Jay was already longing for something else to do instead of trudging around in the snow, searching for a simple, small evergreen tree that probably, with their luck, didn't even grow anywhere near here.

Jay was so occupied with his thoughts that he wasn't really watching where he was going and tripped over a bush or something, narrowly avoiding an embarrassing faceplant in the snow.

Lyla stopped walking to look back at Jay, having seen him stumble out of the corner of her eye. "Are you alright?" She asked softly, her voice laced with concern.

"Yep, never better!" Jay declared, giving the blonde-haired girl a wide smile as he dusted himself off for good measure. She smiled back at him, looking relieved, and they continued walking once more. As they did, Jay happened to glance back over his shoulder at whatever he'd tripped on.

Ironically, it was a very small evergreen tree. Jay's face twisted into an irritated scowl as his head snapped back around, his gaze fixed straight ahead once more. Fine! I guess they do grow around here! He thought, not at all bitter.

For the next few minutes, he was content just to be quiet, his mind wandering in many different directions. The three teens continued walking, though there was still no sign of any acceptably sized trees that they could bring back home.

All of the ones that they came across were either way too big or way too small, and after a while, their Christmas tree hunt was growing quite tiresome.

"I don't think we're ever going to find a tree at this rate," Jay declared, trying his best not to sound as annoyed as he felt. "Besides, it's getting late, and we really should eat soon."

Cole glanced back in his direction, a soft frown on his face. "You're right, but I do think that we should wait until we find a tree to eat. Then at least we'll be done looking and we can rest for a bit."

"You know, we might have found a tree a long time ago if you weren't so picky," Lyla replied, earning a snicker from Jay.

"She's right. We could have been done a long time ago," he agreed, a smile settling on his face once more. He was just poking fun at Cole, since there really wasn't much else to do at the moment, and they could do with a bit of lively discussion.

The raven-haired teen just sighed in exasperation, clearly not sharing the same sentiment. "I'm not trying to be picky. We've been over this already, we can't bring any back that are too big. Plus, don't forget, we still have to bring the tree back to the monastery once we find it, which includes getting it up all of those steps."

"Oh yeah," Jay mumbled, his excitement deflating once more. "Why does the monastery have so many steps anyway? Why not like, an elevator, or a stair lift or something?"

Cole snorted. "I don't know, maybe because they didn't have the technology for that kind of stuff when that thing was built however many, many years ago? Plus, can you imagine the First Spinjitzu Master riding a stair lift down from the monastery every time he had to go somewhere?"

That set both Jay and Lyla off into hysterical laughter, and Cole soon found himself joining in. There wasn't even anything particularly funny about that, but it felt good to laugh.

Jay laughed until he almost cried, and it was a long time before all three of them had calmed down completely. Every time they'd get close, one of them would just glance in the others' direction, and that would set them all off again. But eventually, they managed to compose themselves. Just in time too, for by some miracle, the next evergreen tree that they found turned out to be just the right size.

Or at least that's what Cole said. Jay was pretty sure that the raven-haired teen was just as tired and hungry as he was, and had chosen to pick this tree for that reason, rather than having to continue searching for another one. Sure, it was a little smaller than Jay would have liked, but to be fair, they did still have to get it back to the monastery at some point.

"So, what now?" The auburn-haired teen asked, studying the tree for several moments before he looked back over at Cole with a rather hopeful expression. "Now that we've found the tree, does this mean that we get to eat lunch now?"

"Ooh, can we?" Lyla chimed in, perking up at the mention of food. "I'm starving!"

Cole tilted his head a little, his brow knitted thoughtfully as he too studied their small tree, fidgeting with the axe in his hands. His expression softened as he looked in the direction of the two younger teens, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Sounds like a good idea to me. Let's eat."

"Yippee!" Jay exclaimed, grabbing the picnic basket from Lyla and taking it over to a fallen tree he'd spotted nearby, which would make a perfect bench. Now they wouldn't have to sit down in the snow to eat, not that he would have cared at this point, anyway. He was so hungry that he would have gladly eaten in the snow, or even eaten off of the snow if it came to that.

As soon as he was seated, the auburn-haired teen placed the picnic basket in his lap and began pulling things out of it, setting the premade sandwiches on paper plates and grabbing the oranges and chips from the bottom of the basket. He wrinkled his nose at the sight of a bag of carrots, Lyla must have packed those, and tucked them back into the basket underneath all of the remaining stuff in hopes that they wouldn't be found again. He was just pulling out the thermos of tea and the cups when Cole and Lyla joined him, also sitting down on the fallen tree.

"Do you need any help?" Lyla asked, reaching into the basket to grab several napkins and passing one to each of them, while Cole took care of pouring the steaming hot tea into their mugs and opening the chip bag, sneaking a few when he was sure that his sister wasn't looking, even though she actually was, and just pretending not to.

"I think everything is ready now," Jay replied, giving the blonde-haired girl a smile as he opened his sandwich, then reached over to snag some chips from Cole before he got swatted away, honestly not even caring if Lyla saw him or not. She didn't notice, of course, since she was too busy hunting around in the basket for something, presumably the carrots. Much to Jay's disappointment, she did find the small bag, and grabbed some of the orange vegetables for herself before passing them on to both him and Cole.

The raven-haired teen just raised an eyebrow and took a very small amount, while Jay did the same. When he was positive that neither of the Brookstone siblings were looking, since they were both too busy eating their sandwiches now, he popped one of the carrots in his mouth while discreetly depositing the others in the snow behind him. Hopefully, some animal would come along and eat them later.

Jay yelped softly as an elbow to the ribs startled him out of his thoughts, turning to give Cole an irritated glare as he rubbed his side. He was surprised by the mischievous smirk on the raven-haired teen's face, which could only mean one thing: he'd been caught. Jay's eyes grew wide as he opened his mouth to blurt out some excuse, but Cole just held a finger to his lips and shook his head, gesturing to the patch of snow behind them, where it appeared that he had dropped his own carrots sometime earlier.

The sight brought an amused grin to Jay's face as he turned to look back at the raven-haired teen, who just winked at him happily. He winked back while resisting the urge to laugh, pleased to have a shared secret with Cole. The two teens then picked up their sandwiches again and continued eating like nothing had happened, though they did give each other a small smile every now and then as the meal continued.

Lyla never did find out about the carrots in the snow behind the fallen tree, at least not until they told her about it years later.

Throughout his lifetime, Cole had heard the saying "so close, yet so far away" multiple times, but he had never before fully felt the gravity of those words or understood exactly what that felt like until this moment.

The monastery loomed above the three weary travelers like a distant and unclimbable mountaintop, a cruel reminder of just how close they were to finally returning home, yet the seemingly endless stone steps in front of them were also a reminder of a different kind, this one of just how much distance there was between them and their final destination.

Every muscle in Cole's body ached, which was unusual for him. He was so tired, and so cold. They'd been out here for almost three hours, much longer than he would have liked, and on the way back they'd gotten just a little bit lost.

By some miracle, they'd managed to find their way back to the monastery, but why in the world he had agreed to this ridiculous adventure in the first place, Cole had no idea.

Even Jay and Lyla had lost any spark of the excitement that they'd had earlier, which was both amusing and depressing. They were all just so done with this whole experience, eagerly awaiting the moment when they could lay down and rest, maybe with a hot drink and a warm blanket.

"How much further?" Jay asked softly, startling Cole out of his thoughts. Even though the poor teen was trying to sound hopeful, it did little to mask just how completely and utterly exhausted he was.

Cole sighed quietly and glanced back over his shoulder at the auburn-haired teen, mustering what he hoped was an encouraging smile. "We're almost there. Just a few more steps, and we'll finally be home again."

Jay didn't even say anything in response, just nodded and glanced back down at the ground as they continued to drag their little tree all the way up those endless stone steps. By the time they finally did reach the top, Cole was convinced that he'd never been quite so happy to see those silly monastery gates as he was today.

As they stepped into the courtyard the raven-haired teen was surprised by the sudden final burst of energy that he felt, which gave him the strength to make that last stretch to the porch.

"Come on! We're almost there!" He urged the others, both excited and relieved to find that they too seemed to have been given a newfound strength. Together they crossed the courtyard, made it onto the porch, and were able to step into the monastery at last, Christmas tree and all.

"We're finally home!" Jay exclaimed with a grim, dropping his end of the tree unceremoniously onto the floor. Neither of the others reprimanded him for doing so, but instead did the same, leaving their Christmas tree down right there on the front rug as they began to take off their snow clothes.

Before they'd finished removing all of their snow gear, Sensei Wu appeared in the hallway once more, a rather relived look on his face.

"There you three are." The ninja master greeted them with a smile, his voice soft. "I was beginning to get worried. You may hang your clothes on the porch for the time being, then come in and get warm. There's plenty of water in the kitchen for hot chocolate."

"Awesome, thank you Sensei," Cole replied, giving Wu a smile in return as both Jay and Lyla echoed his thanks. The ninja master just smiled a little more and nodded once, before retreating to the kitchen to resume whatever he had been doing previously.

No other words were spoken between the three teens as they worked together first to hang their wet snow clothes to dry, then to take the tree into the other room and stand it up carefully.

"Well, I think we're finally done," Cole announced, stepping back to admire their work. "The tree is here, and it's up, I'd say that's good for now. We can decorate it some other time."

Jay nodded in agreement, smiling once more. "Sounds good to me!"

"It looks like Sensei Wu did find some decorations for us to use," Lyla said thoughtfully, gesturing to the two small cardboard boxes labeled 'decorations' that were sitting on the floor not too far away from where they had placed the tree.

Cole turned to study the boxes, a small smile beginning to form on his face. "Awesome. Those should be fun to set up later. I'm going to change into some dry clothes, want to meet back in the kitchen and grab some hot chocolate after that?"

Jay perked up at this, nodding eagerly. "That's a good idea. Then we can just sit down on the couch with a blanket for a while, doesn't that sound cozy?"

"That does sound nice," Cole murmured in agreement, a soft chuckle escaping his lips as he spoke. "So I guess it's settled, then. Meet you guys back in the kitchen."

The three teens then parted ways, each of them heading off to do whatever they needed to do. Once Cole had gotten changed into dry clothes, he made his way back to the kitchen, where he found Sensei Wu pulling out several mugs, spoons, and packages of hot chocolate.

The ninja master didn't notice Cole at first, he was too busy setting things out on the counter, but after a moment he turned to face the raven-haired teen with a gentle smile. "So, how was your Christmas tree expedition?" He asked.

Cole let out an awkward chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "It was... eventful. Took us a while to find the tree, then we had lunch, and then on the way back we kind of got a little bit... turned around."

"We got lost," Lyla explained helpfully, giving Cole a mischievous smile as she entered the room. The raven-haired teen just sighed and shook his head, having hoped to avoid telling Sensei Wu about their getting lost. Well, it was too late for that now.

"Ah, I see." The ninja master smiled, nodding in understanding as he began to pour hot water into the mugs of hot chocolate.

Hoping to preserve their reputation, or at least his reputation as the leader of the group, Cole quickly spoke up. "By the time we started back, between the snowfall and the wind, most of our tracks were covered up. It took us a bit, but we were able to find our way back without too much trouble."

"That's good to hear," Wu replied, offering Cole a small smile. The ninja master said nothing more, just picked up a spoon and began to stir the contents of one of the mugs.

"So, how was your trip, Sensei?" Cole asked, his gaze suddenly drawn to the envelopes and several small packages on one of the nearby counters.

"It went quite well, thank you," Sensei Wu replied, a look of realization crossing his face as he spoke. "Which reminds me..."

The ninja master walked over to grab a carton of milk out of the fridge, and on his way back he also grabbed one of the envelopes, placing it on the table in front of the Brookstone siblings. "This is for both of you."

Cole glanced at Lyla as Wu finished speaking, suddenly feeling worried. Who could the letter be from? Their father? His sister had a similar expression, likely sharing the same worries.

For a moment, neither of them moved to grab the envelope, scared of what they might find, until at last, Cole gathered the courage to pick it up and read what was printed on the front.

He immediately relaxed upon noticing both of their names written in a familiar cursive print, a relieved smile spreading across his face as he turned to look back at his sister once more. "It's from Bri," Cole explained softly, his surprise at receiving the letter evident in his voice.

"Really!" Lyla's face lit up as she accepted the letter from her brother, studying it carefully. "I can't believe it! How'd she find us all the way out here? We didn't even get to tell her where we were going!"

Cole just shrugged one shoulder, a happy grin settling on his face. "I have no idea. Christmas miracle?" He suggested in a joking tone.

"Who are you talking about?" Jay asked all of a sudden, sounding quite curious. Cole jumped, startled as the auburn-haired teen spoke, having not even noticed him enter the room only moments ago.

"Oh, hey Jay!" Lyla greeted, not at all bothered by the auburn-haired teen's arrival, just giving him a smile before she launched into an explanation for his question.

"We were just talking about a friend we made back at Performing Arts School: Brianna. I think we might have mentioned her before- she was one of the only people we really got to know well enough and actually miss when we left."

Jay tilted his head just a bit, chewed on his bottom lip with a thoughtful expression before he straightened up with a small smile. "Oh yeah! I think you guys mentioned her at least once before- is she the one who was really good at dancing?"

"Yep, that's her!" Lyla replied, pausing to thank Sensei Wu for the mug that he had given her before she continued speaking. "We didn't get to say goodbye to her when we left the school, since she was back at home due to a family emergency, but we did leave her a note. It's been a couple weeks now, but up until today, we haven't heard anything from her."

"Well, it's nice that she sent you a letter. Though- how it eventually got here, I have no idea." Jay took a sip of hot chocolate, then placed his mug down on the table and hopped up from his chair, licking away the chocolate mustache above his upper lip. "Well, I'll leave you two to read your letter in peace, I'm going to go and sit down for a while."

Cole smiled a little and stood up as well, glancing over in his sister's direction. "We can always read it later on. I did kind of want to sit down on the couch myself, maybe put my feet up for a bit. If that's okay with you, Lya."

"That's a good idea," Lyla agreed, giving her brother a smile as she also hopped up from her chair. She placed Brianna's letter back on the counter where it wouldn't get dirty, then collected her mug and some napkins before she followed Cole and Jay out of the kitchen.

It took the three teens several minutes to get all of the pillows and blankets organized just the way they wanted them, but finally, they were able to sit down on the couch with a blanket and what remained of their hot chocolate, warm and cozy (and finally dry) at last. The snow was still falling outside, which made the whole thing seem like the perfect way to end their snowy day.

"Ah... isn't this great?" Cole sighed, snuggling deeper into his warm blanket as he stretched out and placed his feet on the coffee table.

Lyla smiled a tiny bit, her blue eyes fluttering closed as she cuddled into Cole's side. "It really is..." She murmured, before a soft yawn escaped her lips.

Cole gently wrapped an arm around his sister, pulling her blanket a little bit tighter around her shoulders as he too let out a yawn, suddenly feeling quite tired. It had been a really long day.

Jay yawned noisily from the other end of the couch, flopping over onto his side and rocking the whole thing in the process. "Man..." He paused, interrupted by another yawn of his own, before continuing. "I'm tired."

Cole chuckled and tried his best to keep his eyes open, all the while feeling the embrace of sleep drawing ever closer. "Same here," he mumbled, finally making the decision to just give in and fall asleep. He sure could use the rest.

No one said anything for the next few minutes, since they were all beginning to doze off, exhausted from the day's events. However, there was something at the back of Cole's mind that prevented him from falling asleep, though he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

But just as he was beginning to drift off to sleep, that's when it finally came back to him. A soft groan escaped Cole's lips as he opened his eyes again, looking over at the other end of the couch. "Hey Jay?"

"What?" The auburn-haired teen grumbled; his voice partially muffled by one of the pillows. He did not sound happy to be startled out of his sleepy state, and neither was Cole for that matter. Still, there was an urgent matter at hand.

"I think we forgot to shovel."