Last chapter! I'd like to thank everyone who has read, followed, favorited, and reviewed on this story. It really means a lot to me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago or the lines from the episode Awakenings.

Chapter XXIV: Fire vs Ice

The ninja, Krag, and C.J. were currently hiding behind a pile of snow near the Ice Castle. All of the ninja were wondering what they should do about a certain small, blond boy.

"Maybe someone should stay out here with him," Jay suggested as he gestured towards the toddler. They had been discussing this for about fifteen minutes now.

No one liked that idea. They wanted to help Zane, but it was too dangerous to bring C.J. with them.

"What about Krag?" Jay suggested, although, he wasn't sure if that was even a remotely good idea.

"I'm not sure if that's the best idea," Cole said slowly, "but I don't think Krag should go in either."

"Huh?" Krag asked.

"No offense, but it'll be harder to sneak around with you there," Cole told him. He then turned to his friends and said, "I think it would be best if I stayed here with them."

"But-!" Jay began.

"Krag and I are staying with C.J." Cole said. Much firmer this time.

The ninja all smiled at Cole to show their approval before Kai said, "Alright. As long as you're sure."

"Positive," Cole responded.

It wasn't long before the three remaining ninja were making their way through the Ice Castle.

"Does anyone else find it weird that there are no guards here?" Kai asked.

"Yeah. It's kind of creepy," Jay replied.

"They must be guarding the throne room," Nya realized. "Zane has to be there."

The ninja ran through the castle until they heard the sound of marching footsteps. They halted to a stop and flattened themselves against the wall to avoid being seen by the samurai behind the corner. As they heard what the samurai warriors said, their hearts nearly stopped.

"Gather the prisoners for the execution," a sly voice said.

"Execution?" Jay asked quietly.

When the ninja peaked their heads around the corner, they could see that the warrior was holding a shard of ice that showed none other than Lloyd in his cell. There were two others, but the ninja did not recognize them. One was a girl with curly black hair while the other was a boy, who looked a lot like her.

Kai gasped. "That must be Vex," he said.

"But I thought the Emperor just wanted them as prisoners," a man with a gruff voice replied.

"The one in green seems to have clouded his judgment. If he wishes for his mind to become clear again, he will not hesitate to be rid of the rebel spy," Vex replied ruthlessly before leaving. Most likely to the throne room.

As soon as the other guards left, Nya began to follow the Ice Emperor's advisor.

"Come on," she told the others.

Lloyd was tired. In fact, he was exhausted. Ever since he had been locked up in this castle, he had been trying to use nearby ice particles to break free, tried to tap into his power, tried to pick the lock, to give his new formling friends hope, to kick the door down, to yell for help, or even just to train so he could kick Vex's icy butt the second he got out of there. He hadn't slept a wink, and he was pretty sure it had been at least two days. Part of him didn't care, but the other part of him knew that he needed to sleep eventually. Especially when Kataru, the biggest pessimist Lloyd had ever met, kept telling him to quit. But he couldn't quit. He had to save his friend.

Currently, Lloyd was punching one of the ice walls to his cell over and over and over again, hoping that his strength would free them, but he should've known that the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu's power was too strong to break by a mere green ninja.

"Will you ever stop, Brother?" Kataru asked, breaking Lloyd out of his thought process that consisted mostly of "Out, out, out!" Kataru's voice was softer than most times he pleaded with him to stop. It seemed to gentle and calm that Lloyd had to stop just to hear what he was saying.

Lloyd was about to reply to Kataru's question, but he continued speaking saying, "I was once like you. I knew of the troubles ahead, yet I thought I could handle them all. Akita has told me that you have dealt with many troubles yourself, and I am greatly sorry that you have had to deal with such hardships. You have made it through them because of your persistent nature, but you must realize that this is hopeless."

Lloyd rolled his eyes at yet another speech of hopelessness and continued with his fight against the wall.

"I do not wish to bring you down. I just wish you would stop hurting yourself trying to get out of here," Kataru continued.

Lloyd just ignored Kataru at first. He punched and he punched and he punched until the realization sunk in. His head was hurting from the insomnia, his lungs were burning from all of the exertion in this cold, his fists were bleeding from his senseless beating to the wall, and his arms had scratches all over him from the icicles he had been trying to use as a tool to break free. Kataru was right. He needed to stop.

Lloyd had gone the better part of his life knowing exactly what to do, having a way out, finding hope, but Kataru was right. This was hopeless and hurting himself trying to break free was senseless when deep in his heart, he knew it was impossible for him to do this alone.

"Alright, Kataru. I'll stop. But I'm not giving up hope. My friends are still coming," Lloyd told him.

"Oh. Thank you, Lloyd!" the formling exclaimed. "You do not know how relieved I am to hear that."

Suddenly, the rattling of chains and doors could be heard, followed by a guard yelling, "Wake up! The Emperor wishes to see you!"

The sound of Akita groaning slightly could be heard before she suddenly screamed out in pain.

"Akita!" Lloyd and Kataru yelled in unison as they ran up to the window of their cell doors. They couldn't see anything but a guard with the opposite end of his spear sticking out into her cell.

"There was no need for that!" Akita's voice could be heard, clearly very angry at the guard for whatever he had done.

"I must fulfill the Emperor's orders," the samurai replied as he unlocked Lloyd's cell, then Kataru's. He then chained the three together, and said, "Move!" before hitting Kataru in the back with his spear.

The three prisoners began walking, the samurai, who's name was Grimfax, following close behind.

"What do you think he wants us for?" Lloyd asked.

"I don't know. But whatever it is, it can't be good," Kataru answered as they walked past some ice statues.

Lloyd could barely believe his eyes. They were all of people, and none of them were at peace. How could Zane have done this?

Finally, the three made it to the throne room to see none other than the Ice Emperor sitting in his throne.

"My Emperor, I present to you the traitors of your kingdom," Grimfax said as he bowed to the Ice Emperor.

The ice elemental just sighed as he opened his eyes and looked upon the four with a stare as cold as ice. It was so terrifying that it chilled their very bones.

"What are they here for?" Zane asked. His voice sounded so much different than what Lloyd remembered. As if his voice box had been frozen to its core so that the only way he could talk was through rasps and hoarse whispers.

"Don't you remember, my lord?" Vex asked. "The shapeshifters are known for their barbarous nature. We gathered a surprise attack against their village after they violently attacked me and captured the bear."

"That is a lie!" Kataru yelled. "Our people have been nothing but peaceful towards you, Vex-Agh!"

"Kataru!" Akita screamed as the Ice Emperor used his scepter to freeze Kataru up all the way to his neck.

Vex just smirked as he continued. "And you remember when the traitor in green tried to steal your scepter."

"Yes," the Ice Emperor answered. He then stood up from his throne and began coming slowly towards the green ninja. Once he was on the final step, he asked, "Why have you come here?"

"I came here to rescue you, Zane," Lloyd replied.

"My name is not Zane."

"Yes, it is! We were all together, as a family, but then Aspheera ruined it all when she blasted you here. Please remember, Zane. I need you to remember. You need to come back home with us. With me."

Zane chose not to respond to this as he turned to Akita and said, "Vex told me you came here with the intent to kill me like the barbaric warmongers you are."

"I came to kill you because you took my people away from me! You ruined me!" Akita screamed as she took out her knife and ran at Zane.

"Akita, no!" Lloyd yelled.

"Please be the right way. Please be the right way. Please be the right way," Jay pleaded as they ran through yet another hallway in the Ice Castle. THey had lost Vex a while ago, and were now lost in the halls of the Castle of Ice.

Sure, enough. It was the right way, which was obvious because of all the guards in front of the door.

"Intruders!" they yelled when they noticed the ninja. "Capture them!"

The samurai began running at the ninja and the ninja did the same.

"Akita, no!" Lloyd yelled as he ran after her. Just as she was about to strike his friend, Lloyd tackled her off of the throne and back onto the ice-cold floor. "Don't hurt him!"

"I am not your's to command!" Akita yelled as she pushed against him.

"Your friend is lost, Lloyd!" Kataru yelled. "He has been manipulated by Vex! There is no coming back from that."

"You don't know that!" Lloyd replied.

Jay, Kai, and Nya charged at the samurai warriors. They kicked, they punched, and did spinjitzu to get through. Anything they could to help their friends.

A war broke out in the throne room. Lloyd was trying to take the scroll back from Zane so he could save him while also preventing Akita from killing Zane and defending himself from her, Zane, and the ice samurai at the same time; and the ice samurai were trying to apprehend all of the prisoners once again.

Finally, Jay, Kai, and Nya made it into the throne room, but they were too late. The first thing they felt as they bust open the door was the bitter coldness of freshly made ice from Zane's element. But much, much worse.

"No!" they screamed when they saw the scene before them. Lloyd, Akita, and Kataru were all frozen solid in blocks of ice.

"Oh, look, My Emperor, more rebel spies here to steal your scepter," Vex said. "Why don't you show them how to treat their emperor with the respect you deserve?"

Zane ran up to the friends he had forgotten and was about to strike them down with his scepter, but each ninja managed to dodge out of the way just in time.

"Zane?! What the heck are you doing?!" Jay screamed.

"My name is not Zane!" he screamed back.

He ran up to Jay and began attacking while Jay effectively blocked.

"They must have teamed up with the stranger in green in order to steal your scepter!" Vex warned.

Nya and Kai took the liberty of taking out the rest of the samurai surrounding them while Jay fought off his nindroid friend.

"You really believe everything he says?" Jay asked once Zane finally stopped with the spear.

"Why wouldn't I? He has been my trusted advisor for as long as I can remember," the Ice Emperor replied.

"You don't remember us? You don't remember me?!" Jay asked.

As a response, the Ice Emperor shot his icy blast at Jay, but the lightning ninja managed to jump out of the way just in time.

Just as the Emperor was about to try it again, Nya kicked him in the back so that he lost his balance and nearly fell.

"Shock him!" Nya yelled.

Jay's eyes went wide. He winced as he obeyed what Nya said and used his lightning to shock Zane. His helmet fell off and the ice covering his face gave way so that they could see Zane's face once again, but with all that anger in his heart from the scroll, he didn't look the same.

"I can't-It hardly did anything!" Jay said in surprise. Every time he had accidentally shocked Zane or if he electrocuted himself from work on the monastery lights, it had affected him greatly. Now he just stood where he was, staring at Jay with an angry expression that sent chills down Jay's spine.

Jay was so shocked; he couldn't even move out of the way when he saw another blast of ice coming directly at him.

The chill Jay felt when the ice hit him was numbing. He could feel the ice crawling up his spine, around his stomach, and across his chest. His chest seized up when the ice hit it. He had never had to focus on his breathing more than this moment. And the worst part was, he was still conscious to feel it all. The ice had only traveled as far as to his neck.

"Jay!" Nya yelled, but it wasn't long before she was frozen as well. Completely.

"Nya!" Kai screamed. "Oh, you're so gonna pay for that!"

Kai ran at Zane, determined to get whatever evil was in his brother out, even if that meant giving it to himself.

The fire ninja jumped at Zane and held onto the scroll in his hand tightly.

"My Emperor!" Vex tried to warn, but Kai's fire hit his chest before he knew it.

"Give me the scroll!" Kai yelled, his eyes as red as the fire he had just shot at Vex, his entire body was physically burning from his rage, his hair was now on fire from the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu.

"I thought I was the only one!" Zane exclaimed, his voice sounding very similar to what it once was but filled with so much anger. The ice around him was beginning to melt away as Kai let his power envelop him.

Kai didn't reply. He just focused his fire on melting the ice around Zane. He was losing his power, and Kai felt the warmth inside his fiery heart about to explode. He kicked Zane, causing him to fall backwards while Kai took the scroll for himself, but Zane wasn't done yet. He still had some power and anger leftover.

Zane screamed in rage as a load of ice shot out from his hands and to Kai. Kai did the same with his fire, but this came from the scroll. The two elements continued fighting for control. To be the one that stood tall at the end of battle, but neither could overpower the other.

"I don't want to hurt you, Zane. Don't force me to," Kai pleaded.

"All you want is my throne!" Zane replied.

"Who told you that? Vex? Who's the true emperor here?"

Zane seemed slightly taken aback by this. Was he truly the one on the throne?

Kai groaned suddenly as Vex pushed him right into Zane's line of fire, and he was frozen solid. Without Kai left to control it, the fire and ice erupted together in a humongous and very loud explosion. The water was nothing but icicles before it hit the floor in the same style as rain.

Back outside, Cole was trying to calm C.J. down. After hearing a very loud explosion coming from inside the castle, he became very scared for his family and wouldn't stop crying.

"Don't worry. I'm sure everything is fine," Cole told his son. "Noises like that are to be expected in a fight."

C.J. wouldn't stop crying, though.

"Hey. What is that?" a nearby voice suddenly asked.

"Oh, no!" Cole exclaimed quietly. "C.J.! Quiet! We're gonna get caught!"

The blond listened, but it was too late. They had already been found.

"I don't think we've ever had this many prisoners in a single day," one guard said as he smiled evilly at the three.

"We aren't your prisoners. Ninja go!" Cole exclaimed as he went into a spinjitzu tornado to take out the warriors, but they were ready for this. They whipped these chains over their heads and threw them at Cole and the yeti. Another then began making his way towards C.J., but Cole's legs were still free and he used them to trip the guard.

"Don't touch him!" Cole exclaimed.

Suddenly, everything for Cole went very dark as the samurai behind him hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of his spear. They then grabbed the very scared toddler and began making their way inside the Castle of Ice.

There were three guards that dragged an unconscious Cole, crying C.J., and sedated Krag into the Castle of Ice and to the throne room. Once they had made it, they began poking the two asleep prisoners with their spears, waking them up. Cole couldn't believe his eyes, though. There, surrounding him, were all of his friends, trapped in blocks of ice. C.J. began crying louder than ever when he saw this.

"You did this?" Cole asked who he hoped was still his friend.

The ice elemental looked at Cole as if he was losing patience, which was already unlike his friend.

"I'm getting tired of doing this today," Vex said before even giving his emperor a chance to speak. "Freeze him!"

Zane didn't hesitate, and Cole was frozen in an instant. C.J.'s cries growing louder by the second.

"Take that child to a cell. I can't bear to hear that racket any longer," Vex ordered the samurai.

The guards obeyed, but C.J. fought against them in a way that made it impossible to carry him.

"No! No! No! No!" he screamed.

Zane's anger had dwindled a little bit after the scroll was taken from him, but now that he held it again, it was back. Not towards the people who tried to take his throne, but to Vex.

Finally, the guards managed to drag C.J. out of the room, but Zane's eyes still lingered towards the door where the child had been dragged through, and he suddenly found that he did not understand. He found himself thinking that a lot, but he had to ask.

Vex was just about to move the new statutes out of the room when Zane said, "I do not feel right about this."

"Pardon?" Vex asked.

"This does not feel like what a rightful ruler would do. A ruler is supposed to protect, and that is not what I'm doing," Zane began.

Vex was confused. After sixty years of having this guy wrapped around his finger, why was he now starting to think about doing the right thing? So he thought of the lies he knew best.

"These people are rebel spies. They tried and nearly succeeded in stealing your scepter," Vex replied.

Zane accepted that answer for a time, but then he thought of something else.

"They are the only ones who were able to tell me my name. If it is even true."

"They are manipulating you, My Emperor. You should not listen to what they have to say. All of it is lies."

"But it-it's not l-l-lies," Jay struggled through his shallow breaths. "Y-your name is Z-Z-Zane. You're the master of i-ice, and you're our friend."

"Some friend to have. You can't even protect yourself nor your friends," Vex replied with a malicious grin and the tip of his spear pointing towards Jay.

"We-we're not used to Z-Zane not having our b-backs," the last word came out as mostly a slur, and he was asleep a second later.

Zane, however, noticed something all too familiar about everything being said. The name, the image, the faces, the way he felt when Jay had shocked him. "Jay," Zane said. The word coming out before he had time to know what it meant. "Kai," he said as he looked to the fire elemental. "Cole," as he looked to the black clad ninja. "Nya. Lloyd. C.J."

"My Emperor?" Vex asked.

"My name is Zane," the ice ninja yelled. He remembered. He remembered it all. He remembered Pixal and hanging out with his friends, finding Aspheera, fighting in the city, and getting blasted into the Never-Realm. He remembered finding Vex and how he lied to him, telling him that he was unwell and that he was the ruler of this realm just so that he would overthrow the true king for him. "And I am done listening to your lies!"

"Don't-!" Vex screamed as Zane jumped into the air and destroyed the staff as it hit the ground.

The eternal winter he had set on the land was finally over. There was a bit of green sprinkled here and there, the rivers were no longer frozen over, and most importantly, everyone he had frozen was now free.

"Zane!" everyone exclaimed happily as they were freed from the ice.

"You're back!" Lloyd exclaimed happily.

"Ah, Lloyd. It's good to be back," Zane replied. Suddenly, he remembered something. "Jay!" he exclaimed as he ran to his brother in blue.

"R-relax, Z-Zane. I'm okay," Jay replied as he sat up, thankful for the warmth he had previously been deprived of.

Zane sighed. "Good."

The sound of laughing could be heard from one of the doors. Everyone looked over to see C.J. had escaped the guards, who were now free of Zane's enchantment, and he was now giggling uncontrollably.

Zane turned around when he heard growling as Vex ran at him and his nearby friends with his spear, but Zane still had a bit of power left in him. He used his power to fully encompass Vex in a block of ice so that he couldn't move a muscle.

The Ice Emperor's reign was finally over, Akita and Kataru were reunited, and the original king, King Grimfax, was returned to his throne. Vex was banished from all known land in the realm. King Grimfax gave him some food, drink, and a cloak before they sent him on his way. Days and weeks passed, and the ninja decided that it was finally time to go home. They consulted Sorla and gave her the Traveler's tea and a berry from the tree, and she discovered how to send them home.

In the monastery, Wu was looking at an old picture of the ninja. He didn't know if it made him feel better or worse about them being gone with all these pictures, but he didn't have time to figure that out because Pixal came into the room looking very frantic saying, "Master Wu, come quickly!"

Wu didn't hesitate to get up. He chased her through the hallways and to the courtyard, wondering what could be going on when they came across what looked to be a portal. Three silhouettes the shape of the ninja began walking out, and for the first time in what felt like a very long time, Wu felt hope.

"It's them!" he exclaimed excitedly. "They're back! Nya! Kai! Zane!" Wu exclaimed as he hugged each and every one of them.

"Master Wu! It is good to see you," Zane exclaimed happily. Oh, how he missed his master.

"You too, Zane. You too," Wu replied as he began wiping tears from his eyes.

"Zane!" Pixal exclaimed as she ran past Master Wu and jumped into Zane's arms.

"Welcome home. All of you," Wu said happily.

Once Zane put Pixal back down, she realized something.

"Where are Cole, C.J., and Lloyd?" she asked.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Cole told Krag, who seemed very upset by the news. "Alright. Bring it in, Buddy. Give Cole a hug!"

Krag could hardly contain himself. He picked Cole up and squeezed the earth ninja with all his might.

"Okay, okay. Take it easy," Cole wheezed.

Krag gently put Cole down, and the earth ninja grabbed his son's hand and began walking towards the portal.

"Bye, bye," C.J. said right before they disappeared through the portal and back to their home.

While Cole and his son were saying goodbye to Krag, Lloyd and Akita were saying their goodbyes.

"Well, I guess this is-" Lloyd started, but he was too shocked to continue when Akita kissed him on the cheek.

The green ninja stared at Akita for a good few seconds, completely in shock. It wasn't until Sorla spoke that he could do anything else but just stare.

"Lloyd, you must hurry. The portal is closing," Sorla warned.

"Take care of yourself," Lloyd smiled at the formling that had helped him so much.

"You too," Akita replied with a smile.

Lloyd's smile grew bigger before he ran back to the portal and made it back home just in time.

It wasn't until the portal was gone that Akita's own smile disappeared. Everything seemed too quiet now that Lloyd wasn't there anymore.

"Come, Little Sister," Kataru said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "I know what will cheer you up."

The two ran through the woods in their animal forms, and ever since then, Akita had always held out hope that she would see Lloyd once again, and Lloyd did the same.

I hope you all liked that. Once again, thank you so much to everyone who has read, followed, favorited, and reviewed. It really means a lot. I hope to come out with a one-shot series consisting of stories with C.J., so if you're interested in that, give me a follow to get a notification when it comes out.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead