Unlike the Ninja who respectfully let the Nindroids have their moment, Akita could no longer contain the enraged howl within her. She unsheathed her dagger and rushed forward. "For Kataru!"

    "Akita, no!" Lloyd missed his grab for the Formling.

    Zane didn't have the wherewithal to stand and defend himself. All he did was break his embrace with Pixal so that she would not be caught up in the violence when the girl pounced on him.

    "My brother, my people. You killed them!" sobbed Akita. Her dagger dug into his titanium shell. 

    The pained expression of the Ice Emperor was not what she expected and nearly made her drop her guard. Why did it appear he mourned for her people almost as much as her?

    A large, shaggy figure loped forward and pulled Akita from Zane.

    She resisted at first, howling. "No! I will have my vengeance."

    "You cannot take vengeance for one who is not dead."

    Her breath caught in her chest as she registered the voice. She almost didn't dare to turn around in case this was all some cruel dream. Her voice cracked. "K–Kataru?"

    His emaciated bear form shifted into the brother she long thought was lost. He opened his arms, giving her a lopsided grin. "Akita."

    She leapt into his arms. Tears of joy streamed down her face.

    "What do we do with this one?" asked Cole.

    His gaze was soft as he observed the siblings reunite. However, his eyes hardened as he pointed over to Vex, pinned to the wall like a beetle, realizing that he was a slimy figure who contributed to this giant disaster.

    "Kill him. Kill them both." 

    Akita's immediate response was met with multiple protests from the honor-bound Ninja.

    A new voice joined in, "I should think not. No one dies without a fair trial."

    Pixal's eyes widened as she recognized the man who stepped into the throne room, the Blizzard Samurai who had freed her. He was flanked by two sentries.

    He smiled at her. "I remember myself now. It seems you corrected many things in this Realm. I am Grimfax. Emperor Grimfax. Thank you."

    Zane bowed deeply, touching his forehead to the ground. It was a wonder that he simply did not implode from the weight of the guilt pressing down on his soul. He dare not speak, only await his judgement.

    He was unsurprised when he was placed in irons alongside Vex.

    Once again, his friends protested on his behalf, but he quieted them with his low admittance. "Please. This is far more kindness than I deserve." His voice was grave and haunted, almost mechanical. It was so unlike the altruistic Nindroid they had come to rescue. "You do not know the full extent of the atrocities I committed."

    He kept his face trained shamefully on the ground as he was marched passed his friends. He heard Pixal call to him, to get him to look at her, but he couldn't bear to face her and see the heartbreak in her expression. His family had crossed Realms only to find a monster in their friend's place.

    The Ninja could only stand and stare as the events unfolded before them. Clearly, they had missed out on a whole lot. The Emperor was kind enough to offer the shell-shocked foreigners shelter in his palace as this whole mess was sorted through. A trial was set to take place a fortnight from that time to give the Emperor's scouts enough time to report back the state of the Realm.

    Pixal tried to rise from her spot on the ground, gasping as her injuries screamed at her. Lloyd and Nya rushed over to her, supporting her on either side to help her stand. She kept her gaze fixed on where Zane had been led away, failing to acknowledge her friends' many questions.

    After sending Jay out to scrounge up anything that could be of use to patch up Pixal, Nya could withhold her questions no longer as she assessed her damaged frame. The dents, the scratches, her leg. If Pixal had been human, Nya was pretty sure she would've passed out from her injuries. Even now, she was pretty sure she was in shock and her old mechanical habits were keeping her from displaying the full extent of the pain she was experiencing. There was no way they could fully patch up her busted leg with the supplies they currently had in the Never Realm.

    "Pixal, what happened? Did Zane do this?"

    The Samurai inhaled shakily and admitted in a quiet tone, "Yes." Unconsciously, her fingers ghosted across the indents over her throat. She seemed shrink into herself as she explained, "He was not himself."

    And just like that, the past events finally caught up to her and the proverbial dam broke.

    Nya moved into her field of vision, worry clear in her expression. Her lips were moving but Pixal did not pick up any sound. A hand hesitantly closed over trembling fingers. 

    Oh. She was shaking. Why was she shaking? Why did her mechanical lungs gasp for breath that they didn't need?

    Finally, she processed Nya's words. "Can I touch you?"

    She nodded numbly, letting herself fall against Nya. The girl rubbed soothing circles across her back. She reveled in the gentle touch, using it to remind herself that even though he had come so close to... She was still here. Alive and with her body. 

    Jay peeked in, his eyes widening at the sight of Pixal curled into his girlfriend's side and working through her panic. Ever so quietly, using every bit of his Ninja training, he deposited the supplies he had found and left. He understood his presence would not be needed for such a vulnerable moment.

    In bits and pieces, Nya managed to coax the story from Pixal as her trembling lessened. Unbidden, the Water Ninja's anger against Zane flared. Logically, even if it hadn't been his fault, he had still done this. He had a lot to answer for.

~~~~~~~

    In his cell, Zane spiraled. Meditation did him no good. His frostbitten processor painfully worked through his fragmented thoughts.

    Seconds. Minutes. Hours. Days.

    Alone. Always alone.

   Trapped.

    Cold. Ice. Death.

    Ice Emperor or Zane? 

    Every time he blinked, he could see flashes of red against the pure snow and hear the agonized screams of the dying as their lungs froze over.

    Was it mercy or punishment that the Emperor had cleared this section of the dungeon to keep him isolated. It was certainly cruel to place him in the same cell that he had locked Pixal in mere days ago. His analytical eyes could catch the dark flecks of oil staining the floor. Signs of her pain that he had let happen, that he had caused.

    His guilt and hate for himself surged once again. His hand clenched over the gaping wound in his chest. She deserved to do far worse to him. As much as he longed to see her, he couldn't blame her for keeping her distance over these past few days. If he could, he would crawl from his titanium shell just to escape from himself.

    The unsteady footfalls coming down the corridor alerted him to the fact that he had a visitor. His heart told him who it was. He also felt his brother's presence close by. Cole, stern and unyielding like his Element. Protective. 

    A part of him could almost throw his head back and laugh at this development. Protection from him. It appeared his family finally acknowledged how dangerous he was. He was proud of them for that even if their blatant mistrust cut like a knife.

    "Talk to me."

    Silence. He didn't think himself worthy to even be addressed by her, much less look at her. He resolutely faced the uneven walls of his cell.

    "Please."

    Pixal watched as Zane hunched his shoulders and bowed his head, refusing to turn and look at her. However, at her plea, he resigned to answering slowly, "I... owe a greater debt than I can ever repay."

    His words hung in the air for a long moment, no rebuttal was made. He didn't expect one.

    Pixal's voice was gentle as she assured him, "The Emperor has promised a fair trial. His scouts have begun bringing news of the state of the Realm. Many people are trapped within the ice, but they are alive. You did not kill them."

    Zane clenched his fists. Alive was but a small mercy. That didn't change the fact that he had still stolen years from their lives and had the intent to kill them. The ice formed from the scepter was not melting, which meant his rash move in destroying the Scrolls of Forbidden Spinjitzu may have sealed their fates, adding to the blood permanently staining his hands.

    "Then it seems a just trial will result in my end. If I die, they will be free," said Zane darkly.

    "Zane, it does not have—"

    "I have to do this, Pixal!" He hated cutting her off and raising his voice at her. For the longest time, though it appeared he was in control of himself again, he wasn't. He still couldn't get a grasp on himself. 

    Desperation and guilt drove his actions as he stood and turned sharply on his heel to face his love. The manacles around his wrists clanked as the chains tethering him to the wall were pulled taut as he lunged toward the cell door. His expression was twisted into an ugly snarl.

    "I have to! All those people. They deserve justice."

    His fast, aggressive movements startled Pixal and she reacted more strongly than she would've liked. His intense expression fell ever so slightly as he watched her stumble over her crutch in her haste to back away from the cell door. The flash of panic across her optics was almost too much for his heart to handle.

    Cole stepped in and helped to steady her. The glare he shot to Zane made his long-lost teammate flinch and back away, his gaze dropping shamefully to the ground. There was a reason he had been the one to accompany Pixal on her visit to Zane as Nya, Kai, and Jay were too volatile and Lloyd shouldn't have to witness this painful mess.

    Cole tilted his head and silently questioned if Pixal was okay. She nodded and he got the memo to step back and return to his post. It took a lot of effort to keep his stony expression in place. After the team had gotten more of the full story from Nya, there was no way they would've let Pixal go to him alone. It said a lot that Pixal had put up barely any argument when Cole insisted he go with her. After seeing this, Cole knew he still loved his brother deeply, but this Zane they had found was different to deal with and it showed. By the Master, it showed.

    "I mourned you... again." Pixal's voice took on a hardened edge as she composed herself. "I did not come all this way, I did not fight you, for you to sacrifice yourself." 

    She limped forward so that she was face to face with him through the cell bars and challenged his logic, "Your death might free those trapped in Ice. But what if it does not? What then? With no Master of Ice, they will be forever doomed to a dreamless imprisonment."

    "You have seen me and experienced the monster I have become. You are defending a murderer, a tyrant! I have killed hundreds of innocent people. I—" he choked on his words "—I hurt you. I let him hurt you."

    He retreated and clasped his arms around his middle, recoiling as far from Pixal as he could get and scraping his back to the cell wall. 

    "And I still love you." Her voice was soft but certain."I still love you because I know that was not my Zane. And I know you place too much blame on yourself."

    He had a pained expression. She could see he didn't want to let himself believe her. It hurt to come so far to only find the shattered pieces of her other half.

    "You and I, we are not so different, are we?"

     His brows pinched in question, the familiar words catching his interest. Currently, it felt as though they couldn't be more different. She the battered hero, and he the shackled villain. 

    "Are we not simple machines masquerading as humans?"

    He jerked, rebuttal on the tip of his tongue. Surely she realized she was so much more than a mere machine. She felt, she loved.

    Pixal saw him ready to argue and cracked a small, bittersweet smile. She pressed her point, "Isn't a machine all we become when stripped of our humanity and control? We become tools for the whims of people. One cannot place blame solely on the device for the atrocities committed by people with evil intentions. You forget, I was the one who created the Nindroid army that attacked Ninjago at the behest of the Overlord. If you can extend mercy to me for committing such an act, then please, extend the same kindness to yourself."

    A small glimmer returned to Zane's eyes as her logic sunk in.

    "You cannot quit and forfeit your life, and you cannot wallow in self-hatred. There is damage to be undone. As you said, these people deserve justice, so give them justice," urged Pixal.

    He pulled his gaze from the ground to meet her intense stare. His heart thrummed with renewed energy. If he could not bear to live for himself, then he would live for her and those he had wronged. Only she could make him feel such reinvigoration and a want to claw his way back from the depths of despair.

    "I will."

    And he kept his word. When he stood before the council, people representing those across the Never Realm, he chose to advocate for himself and did not remain silent, requesting that he be allowed to correct his actions as the Ice Emperor. However, at the end of it, he explained that he humbly accepted whatever their judgment be. By a slim margin, they elected to grant him clemency. 

    Even when faced with his end, Vex did not have the grace to accept his penalty and hurled insults at the council, going so far as to even slander Pixal, the one who had brought his kingdom crumbling to the ground. It took everything in Zane not too lunge across the room and wring his scrawny neck. This was the pitiful man who had manipulated him to enslave an entire Realm? As he would not choose decorum, Vex was shown no mercy. 

    His teammates hadn't the stomach for the display, but Zane watched with detached indifference he had learned in his decades in this Realm as the executioner's axe was raised and fell with a clean thunk. A traitorous part of him almost wished he could join Vex, whispering poison that he did not deserve a second chance. Yet, he had this second chance and he would not waste it. 

    The Formling village was the first place he was led to. Fitting as it had been the first to feel the eternal winter by his hand.

    The guard eyed him warily as he undid his shackles. As soon as they clicked loose, the guard shot off to what he assumed to be a safe distance like death itself was chasing after him.

    Zane watched as the other guards lowered their spears braced for attack should he snap. His friends, while not in battle stances, tensed cautiously but hoping for their brother to keep his word and fix his mistakes. He could not wash his hands of all the blood spilled but he was willing to offer whatever recompense he could.

    He was distinctly aware of their stares as he stepped over to pillars of frozen people. He touched the ice and lamented. How could he have gone against his most intrinsic programming, harming instead of protecting?

    His Element did not yield to him easily, especially without the scroll. He spent hours trying to figure out how to dispel the icy prisons. In the end, his first success came late in the night after repeatedly pummeling the glaciers. 

    The elderly man breathed out puffs of frozen air, shivering as he slowly came to. Without the mask obscuring most of his face, he didn't recognize Zane as the Ice Emperor. The Nindroid's core gave a pained jolt as the man hugged him thanking the very one who had imprisoned his entire village. The guards hurried over to help the elder, ushering him away from the stunned Master of Ice.

    If it was simply a matter of breaking the Ice, Cole would have freed everyone in half the time, but when he struck the Ice, the cracks immediately sealed themselves. Only a Master of Ice could truly undo the damage he had inflicted.

    When he rose to keep chipping away at the Ice, Pixal halted him. "Zane, you need rest. You can continue in the morning."

    "I—" Zane appeared conflicted, staring longingly at the jagged frozen peaks that stood out as haunting memorials in the shadows then back to Pixal who motioned toward the fires dotted around the camp. He followed her.

    Zane settled beside the fire with Pixal. He stared into the flames and felt their warmth wash over him. It had been a long time since he had felt the warmth of a fire. His heart went cold again as the shadows cast by the fire's light made Pixal's marks from their battle more pronounced. 

    Pixal noticed him observing her remorsefully. She self-consciously moved her hand to cover the hand-shaped dent over the front of her neck, which only served to make his expression fall more. She quietly said, "It is okay."

    He shook his head vehemently. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

    "Zane, you were not in control. You could not help it."

    She could see him withdraw into himself, undoubtedly heaping an inordinate amount of blame on himself. She noted the marks on him, some from the years of wear in this Realm and some from herself. The joints in his hands were particularly worn from striking the Ice nonstop.

    She gestured towards his hands and reached for them, halting halfway as if fearful to touch him. Logically, she knew this to be ridiculous but still, she paused. He too paused in his move to automatically place his hands in hers. For a pair that was usually so tactile with each other, the hesitation to reach for each other stung.

    Summoning what little courage he could, Zane outstretched his hands fully toward her. Not to harm her but to let her heal him. She wordlessly began winding strips of cloth around his fingers to reinforce them.

    A heavy silence hung between them. Before she could pull away when she was done, he gently gripped her hands, pulling them to his face and placing a soft kiss to each. Sorrowful blue eyes met her pitying green ones. They were both hurt, too hurt to take on the pains of the other, but they could share in the pain. 

    Weeks later, everyone who had been frozen by the Ice Emperor were finally freed. During his tireless effort, Zane had had little time to spend anytime with his family. Relief was apparent on everyone's face as their adventure was drawing to a close. With the solemn promise that Zane would never set foot again in the Never Realm, the Ninja were sent on their way courtesy of a berry from the creature called Krag.

    Wu greeted the team in the monastery courtyard, relief outweighing his fury at their foolhardiness. They had succeeded and they had found Zane, but the longer he took in the details of his students, the more it became clear that there was a heavy darkness that hung about Zane. 

    He got the rundown of the adventure from his nephew. As the wise, old and often foolish master he was, he didn't outwardly show how sick to his stomach he was, but he was. One of his most selfless students had once again sacrificed himself and paid a steep price for it.

    In the following days, he allowed ample downtime for them to all heal from their wounds, though he knew many ran deeper than the surface of the skin. Zane made himself scarce from all. His family struggled to find the appropriate balance of checking up on him but also allowing him space.

    There was a moment of panic when the Ninja realized they had lost track of both their Nindroids. Jay panicked that Zane had relapsed into his Ice Emperor persona and was terrorizing the citizens of Ninjago.

    Turned out, the Ninja needn't search very far. 

    "Oh," sighed Nya as the Ninja were all piled on top of each other and peering around the gates of the monastery. "That's the most relaxed I've seen them in forever."

    Nestled beneath the monastery's cherry blossom tree were Zane and Pixal, dozing peacefully. He had Pixal pulled lose to him with his arms encircling her shoulders while she had her head tucked beneath his chin. One of her hands rested on Zane's chest where his power core was, the wound she dealt him long since repaired. Things were not all right, they still wouldn't be for some time, but just for a moment they were. No Samurai, no Ice Emperor, just two lovers holding each other.