Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago or the lines from the episode A Cold Goodbye.

Chapter XII: A Cold Goodbye

Again and again, Apsheera ordered her snakes to charge into the door. It was so forceful that it shook the entire building until they finally got in. It wasn't long before they had overpowered the ninja. She even took out the mech before one final shot at Master Wu! Zane pushed his master out of the way and took the blow himself, denigrating him!

Pixal shuddered in her sleep as she dreamed about the events only a week prior.

"Oh, no. Zane!" Nya had yelled.

"Uncle Zane?"

"Zane!"

Then, a whole new scene played in her head. She and Zane were above some kind of terrifying abyss. Pixal tried to hold onto him to keep him from falling, but she wasn't strong enough, and he fell.

"No!" Pixal yelled as she woke up, panting for breath.

She looked around the room and tried to tell herself it was just a dream, but it wasn't just a dream. He was really gone, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Pixal looked to her nightstand where her favorite picture was sitting. It was taken shortly after the oni's defeat, and Zane had insisted on taking a picture with Pixal under the cheery tree. Pixal didn't understand why it was so necessary, but she found herself enjoying every second of it. Now she finally understood.

Suddenly, Pixal's bedroom door opened and Nya, the other ninja, and C.J. came into the room. Within the past week, each of the ninja had their moments when they couldn't sleep, but tonight, Cole was the only one who tried and failed to sleep, and in turn, C.J. could not as well.

"Pixal? Are you okay?" Nya asked as her friend.

"I am fine. I was dreaming about the moment he-he..." Pixal couldn't even bring herself to say it.

"It's okay. I know," Nya said as she rubbed her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"I...find it difficult to accept that he is gone," Pixal said as she hugged the photograph.

"Me too," Lloyd said.

"We all do. It just...doesn't feel real," Jay said.

C.J. walked up to Pixal and put a hand on her leg to try to help when Wu ran into the room, and announced, "Zane's alive!"

"What?"

"Where?"

"How?"

"Yay!" C.J. yelled.

"Quiet, Everyone. Listen," Wu said. "I went to Kryptarium Prison to speak to Aspheera, and she said that she didn't destroy him but banished him."

"Banished him where?" Lloyd asked.

"The Never-Realm," Wu replied, though he seemed saddened by this.

"The Never-Realm?" Nya asked.

"I've never heard of it," Cole said.

"Not many have," Wu replied before he ran out of the room.

The other ninja, samurai, and toddler followed.

"Wait!" Lloyd called as he tried to catch up. "What's the Never-Realm?"

"According to legend, it is the most distant and remote of all realms. My father only spoke of it to me once," Wu said as he stopped in his tracks, causing all the ninja to bump into each other. Luckily, C.J. was walking behind Pixal in the back when this happened. "In warning."

"He told me out of all the realms of creation, it was the one I should never visit. He told me it was a cold and dangerous place. He forbade it," Wu explained.

"Um, forbade, as in absolutely never ever?" Jay tried to clarify.

"Why?" Kai asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong with it?" Cole questioned.

"I don't know," Wu replied. "He went there only once and said he nearly couldn't find his way home. He said it was unlike the other realms. He warned me that others would not be so fortunate."

"Well that's just great," Jay said as they entered Wu's room. "Creepy and vague."

Wu walked over to a cabinet in his room, grabbed a box, and said, "I will use Aspheera's staff to find Zane. It banished him there. It should work for me too. When I find him, I will use the Traveler's Tea to bring us both home," he said as he showed them the contents inside.

"You mean all eight of us," Lloyd corrected. "Because we're going with you."

"If you're all going, I should remain behind with C.J.," Pixal said.

"Thanks, Pix," Cole replied.

"No," Wu told them. "What happened to him is my fault and mine alone. It is my responsibility."

"Hey! No way!" Kai said.

"We can't just do nothing!" Lloyd protested.

"Zane's our brother!" Jay said.

"Enough! I will not risk any other lives. I have already caused enough damage. My decision is final," Wu told them.

Lloyd was about to protest again, but he got an idea.

"Okay. We understand, Master, but this feels a little rushed. Maybe you should just, you know, sleep on it...for a night and come up with a game plan," Lloyd suggested.

"A game plan?" Wu questioned.

"Yeah, you know, prepare. Think it all out," Lloyd said.

"Uh, yeah! Yeah, exactly. You're the one who's always telling us not to rush into stuff. Right?" Jay agreed.

Wu sighed as he placed the box down.

"Alright them," Wu relented. "I will meditate on it."

The other ninja seemed to be confused by what Jay and Lloyd were doing until Lloyd looked back and winked at his friends to tell them that he knew what he was doing.

After the ninja had left the room, they came up with a plan. Lloyd would sneak in, grab the Traveler's Tea, go down to their secret base, grab Aspheera's staff, get in the Land Bounty and zap it so they could go to the Never-Realm. Sure it would leave Wu out, but he seemed a little too hard on himself with talk like giving himself up to Aspheera and going to the Never-Realm without any help. They were just trying to protect him.

While the other ninja went to the game room and Lloyd went to get the Traveler's Tea, Cole went to his and C.J.'s room to put him to bed and say goodbye.

"Okay. I need you to go to sleep now. Okay?" Cole told C.J. as he put him in his crib. "I don't want you giving Pixal or Wu any trouble because you're too tired."

"I wanna go," C.J. told his dad in that adorable little voice of his. "I wanna hewp."

"I know you do, but you remember what happened with Aspheera? You're safer here," Cole replied.

C.J. began whimpering. He didn't want his dad to leave him. Who knew when he'd be back.

"Hey," Cole said as he picked C.J. back up out of the crib to give him a hug. "We have the Traveler's tea to get back. And, if it makes you feel better, I can grab some extra in case I need to come home to you early. What do you say?"

"Yeah," C.J. said as he wiped at his eyes furiously to get the tears to go away.

Cole was upset to see him so sad. He wanted to stay with C.J., but he wouldn't be able to do it knowing they might need him. He got this sick feeling in his stomach no matter what he tried to do, but he had to help Zane.

After a long while, C.J. began to try to get out of his dad's hug so Cole put him back in his crib.

"I oka' now," C.J. told him.

"You sure?" Cole asked.

"Yeah," C.J. replied as he laid down and hugged his bear to go to sleep.

Cole was kind of surprised with how okay he was with this now. Especially when he thought back to other experiences during the past six months, but he was okay.

"Good," Cole said before he began to walk out of the room. "That's great."

Meanwhile, Lloyd had sneaked through the monastery and into Wu's room by the supports near the roof. He looked down at the ground below to see Wu peacefully meditating. The box of Traveler's tea was right next to him.

Lloyd was careful when he jumped down to not make too many sounds. He then silently ran across the room and opened the box, but there were two bags inside. Lloyd grabbed the one to his right and sneaked out.

He then went back over to his friends in the game room to show them the prize, but all it was was a packed lunch.

Lloyd then made his way back, but before he could even go down, he was met by the chicken. Lloyd gestured desperately for the chicken not to hurt him, but it was no use. He started his electric element and jumped at Lloyd, knocking him off the roof of the monastery before hopping back down to Wu. The teenager was unaware of Lloyd's doing, though, and thought that his chicken just needed to be petted a little.

Lloyd then trudged back to the other ninja feeling very cross.

"Did you get it?" Kai asked.

Lloyd didn't say anything. He just spit out a feather from the chicken out of his mouth.

Unpleased with his results, they sent Lloyd back. This time when he looked down, he saw Wu pacing back and forth around the room before settling back down to meditate again.

After a few moments passed, Lloyd assumed it was safe but Wu suddenly opened his eyes again. When the master looked around, no one was there. He resumed his meditation while Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief from the support right above Wu's head! Lloyd then let go of the support and landed right behind Wu before he did a cartwheel to silently get to the box. This time when he opened it, he grabbed the Traveler's tea.

When Lloyd got back to the game room, he took his sword back from Nya and ran into the elevator without saying a word. The others followed, hoping this meant what they thought it meant.

"Did you get it this time?" Cole asked once everyone was safe inside the elevator.

Lloyd reached to his pocket and showed him the bag of tea, saying, "Got it."

"Great! We have our return ticket," Cole said happily and maybe a little relieved. "I wonder why Wu was so adamant about going alone. Sure, the Never-Realm sounds creepy, but how bad could it be?"

"Beats me," Lloyd replied. "Come on! Let's get the staff."

Nya responded to Lloyd by scanning her hand on the elevator to allow them to go down.

She then turned to Pixal, and asked, "What about the tracking device?"

"Right here," Pixal responded as she handed it to her.

"What's it keyed to?" Nya asked.

"The mech. Assuming Zane is still within a 500 mile radius, you will see it on this display."

Nya looked at the device a few moments to make sure it was working how it was supposed to before she put it in her bag on her back.

"Master Wu's gonna be pretty upset when he wakes up and finds us gone," Jay mentioned.

"But he is upset," Lloyd replied. "He's not thinking rationally."

"Yeah, he'll understand," Cole said as he turned around to get out of the now stopped elevator, but he was shocked to see who was waiting for them.

Master Wu was standing in the ninja's path, holding the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu!

"Master Wu!" Kai exclaimed in surprise.

"How'd you get down here?" Lloyd asked. "You were just upstairs."

"Give me the Traveler's tea, Lloyd," Wu told his nephew.

"I can't do that," Lloyd replied as his friends began getting ready to fight. "It's for your own good, Master."

"That is for me to judge," Wu replied. "Give me the Traveler's tea!"

"We stand a better chance at fighting Zane, and you know it," Lloyd told him. "There are more of us, and-and."

"We're not emotionally imbalanced," Nya ended.

"Give me the tea!" Wu yelled, energy and fire exploding from his body.

"You're holding the Forbidden Scroll, Master," Lloyd stated calmly. "Why don't you put it down?"

"You disobey me?" Wu asked.

"I'm sorry, but...yes," Lloyd replied.

Wu screamed in anger and jumped at Lloyd. He used the staff to knock Lloyd's sword out of his hand before attempting to strike to get the tea, but Lloyd dodged and threw the tea towards Kai.

Wu immediately went towards the red ninja and tried to strike, but Kai managed to block with his free hand before punting the tea away.

The ninja and Wu all ran forward to get it, and Nya jumped up to catch it right as Wu started using spinjitzu.

He left the tornado to face Nya, and said, "Give it to me, Nya. Just because I am young does not mean I should lose your respect. You should at least know that."

"I'm sorry, Master Wu," Nya replied.

"The tea is not the answer," Wu said as he tried to use the staff to take it from her, but she hopped out of the way and did spinjitzu to get a little farther before throwing it to Jay.

"Master, please!" Lloyd yelled as Wu ran towards Jay.

"Yeah, come on. Let's not...fight about this," Jay said as he dodged Wu's strikes before throwing it to Cole.

"Yeah, Wu. Try to understand," Cole said as he hit the tea back to Lloyd using his hammer.

Wu then ran up to Lloyd and hit him with the staff, knocking him over, but he still held the tea.

"It's the scroll, Master Wu. Don't you see what-" Lloyd said.

"I will not risk anyone else's life. Now do as I command and give me the Traveler's tea!" Wu ordered.

Lloyd began to sit back up. He placed the tea in his bag on his suit and took out a ninja star.

"Master, I'm really sorry about this, but you're not giving us any choice," Lloyd told him.

Jay saw what he was doing and got his rope at the ready.

"Get him!" Lloyd yelled as he threw the shuriken at the staff to knock it out of his hand.

Jay threw one end of the rope into the air, letting Cole catch it. The two friends then tied their master up and put a gag on him!

"Oh, boy," Jay realized what they had just done.

"Did we just tie up our own master?" Kai asked as Wu struggled for freedom.

"At least we know we're back in shape," Cole said, trying to find a positive in this. "Last time was just embarrassing."

"We didn't have a choice," Lloyd said. "I'm sorry, Master Wu, but you're not thinking very clearly. Just like you weren't before Zane disappeared, and that's just making it worse."

The green ninja picked up the staff with the Forbidden Scroll and threw it to Pixal.

"Pix, I need you to do the honors. Everyone else, on the Bounty!" Lloyd said.

As everyone left, Pixal noticed the power from the staff. Zane's heart must've been where his power lay because she could feel a comfortable coolness radiating in her. Not enough to let it out, but it was there, and with the scroll, it didn't feel right.

"Please hurry. I do not wish to hold this any longer than necessary. It feels...strange," Pixal said.

"I'm really sorry about this, Master Wu," Lloyd said as he picked up his sword. "I hope one day you can forgive me."

Although, it was a little hard to hear under the gag, Wu began to beg, "Please don't do this. Don't do this."

"We'll be back with Zane. I promise," Lloyd replied before he left.

Lloyd was the last one in the Land Bounty. Once he got his seat belt on, everyone was ready.

"Pixal, do you copy?" Nya asked into the radio.

"I read you. Are you ready?" Pixal asked.

"Anyone having second thoughts?" Lloyd asked. "It's now or never."

"Next stop, the Never-Realm!" Jay said.

"Let's get this show on the road!" Kai said.

"Cole?" Lloyd asked.

Cole looked out the window a moment before diverting his attention back to Lloyd and nodded stiffly. No one seemed to notice, though.

"We're ready," Nya told Pixal.

Pixal walked up to the front of the Land Bounty, scroll in hand and was about to shoot, but she began to remember what had happened to Zane. The pain it put everyone through. He must feel scared without anyone around him. But then Pixal remembered that she was doing this for him. To get him back. So they could be whole again, and so he could be with his family.

Pixal sighed before she used the scroll to shoot the Bounty, and it disappeared! She then threw the scroll away from her to get rid of that horrible feeling and went to untie Wu.

"I know you are angry, Master," she told him.

Wu scoffed angrily as he stood up.

"But, logically, Lloyd was correct. Their chances together outweigh your chances alone. They will return to us. They have the Traveler's tea," Pixal explained.

"That is what I was trying to warn you about," Wu told her. "Traveler's tea grown in Ninjago won't work in the Never-Realm. I lied so that I could go alone. Now they are lost there. Just like Zane."

Wu began to walk away as he said, "It is called the Never-Realm because they may never return."

Pixal sighed sadly to herself as she looked at where the Land Bounty used to be and was now gone because of her. She then noticed something else.

"Master Wu!" she called. "Look!"

Although he was still angry, the worry in Pixal's voice got him to come to her. She seemed to be looking at footprints leading to where the backdoor to the Bounty used to be, and they were very small.

"No!" Wu exclaimed before he ran off, Pixal close behind.

The two ran until they made it to C.J. and Cole's room, but no one was in there. In fact, C.J.'s crib had been knocked over!

"Not him too!" Pixal exclaimed.

Okay, so the next chapter should be out very soon. Please leave a review if you'd like.

Have a great day/night!

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