Inspired by "it takes a strong hand and a sound mind" by Brentinator

When the portal from the Never Realm started to close, the ninja panicked, for their green clad friend was yet to come. But he managed to pop out right before it closed. Master Wu let out an audible sigh of relief. "Welcome back ninja, it's good to see you."

They all nodded in return, smiling tiredly at him. "Alright, I can tell you are all injured even without scanning. Everybody, please head to the medbay for a checkup."

The ninja just nodded and shuffled into the monastery. Pixal then turned to Zane, who had not followed the ninja and Master Wu inside. "Zane? Are you in need of repairs?" She asked the Nindroid. He shook his head. "I do not believe so, but, if you may, I am going to go to my room to rest."

Pixal nodded and watched as her boyfriend entered the building. She sighed, frowning. Something was definitely wrong.

Entering the medbay, calm chaos greeted her. Kai, being the overprotective older sibling, was trying to convince Lloyd to lay down on one of the cots, which the boy was refusing, saying he was fine. Jay and Nya had taken the small bench, both of them holding each other's hands while Cole sat next to them, staring off into space and seemingly unaware of everything that was going on around him. Pixal took a deep breath. "Alright, who wants to go first?"

That sent the five ninja into a spiral of telling her to take care of the others first. She sighed and turned to Cole. He and Jay seemed the most tired so she might as well send them to bed as quickly as she could. After a quick look, she deduced that Cole had a mild case frostbite, actually, everyone probably had mild frostbite. Along with that, he seemed to be somewhat concussed, along with large bruises on his body. She simply gave him some pain medication and sent him to bed, making sure he would promise to turn up the heat of his room. The next one was Jay.

He was in a similar situation, frostbite on his fingers and toes, but he seemed the least injured of the five. Once again, Pixal gave him some pain medication and told him to turn on the heat in his room. "Alright, Nya, may I see your injuries?"

The girl nodded. "From I could tell, I just have frostbite and some bruises." Nya spoke simply. Pixal just nodded. "Did you get your hands frozen to something?"

Nya blinked. "Uhm, I mean I held the Land Bounty's handles a bit too tight, but I don't think they froze together."

"Hmm, I appears your skin ripped a bit."

Pixal gently rubbed some healing salve on Nya's palms and sent her to her room with the same instructions she had given to Jay and Cole. Finally, it was Kai and Lloyd.

"Check on Kai first, I'm fine to wait." Lloyd spoke from his position on the cot, sitting on it. "No way! I'm not the one who ran into a tree after being in the Never Realm for less than 24 hours!" Kai shot back, but Pixal could see he was favoring his hands. So, she gently took them and looked at the red skin. "What happened?" She asked. Kai sighed. "I got my elemental powers back, but I'm guessing since I had gone so long without them, it burned me."

Pixal grimaced. "It appears that due to your frostbite, the heat made the ice burn your skin. I'm going to wrap them up, I'll try not to hurt you."

Pixal then rubbed on some burn cream on his palms and wrapped them up with some bandages, grimacing when the boy hissed out in pain. Then she sent him away with the instructions she had already told the other three. Finally, it was Lloyd's turn. He also had frostbite, a bit more severe than the others. His wrists were rubbed raw, and he had bruises dotting his body. His side had frozen blood on his gi, and his left arm was covered with a thin layer of ice. She grimaced. "Anything else?"

Lloyd then grabbed the top of his gi and took it off, the frozen bloody spot ripping slightly. All over his body there were shards of ice. But they weren't the natural ice she had seen until now. It was the blue elemental ice that was made by Zane. "What happened?" She asked, forcing her voice not to shake. "It's not my story to tell." Lloyd replied, his voice filled with tiredness. "Lloyd, I need to know."

The ninja sighed as Pixal started to bandage up his wounds, especially the deep bloody wound in his gut that looked like a large spike made it. "Zane wasn't himself. Someone manipulated him, erased his memories. He was there for decades. The Never Realm's time works differently." Lloyd trailed off and she knew that was all she was getting out of him. "Ok, thank you for telling me. I shall talk to Zane. He needs to know that what he did was not his fault."

Lloyd nodded. "Thanks, but you should give him some time to be alone."

Pixal just continued to fix up the boy's body until he finished and heading back to his room, pain medication in his system. Pixal just sighed as she started to clean up the first aid supplies. Placing the rolls of bandages in the cabinet and returning the pain medicine bottle back with the other medication bottles, deliberating moving slower than she usually did. Once she was finished, Pixal headed out. She peaked into each of the ninjas' rooms on her way to Zane's. Cole was fast asleep, under his blankets with his room at a mild temperature. Jay's room was empty, but when she opened Nya's door, she saw the two lovers cuddled together, a heater in the corner. Next was Kai, he was sleeping with his blankets off; a hot pad was on his back since he was sleeping on his stomach. His hands were held by his head so he wouldn't injure them even more. Finally, she checked in on Lloyd. He was already asleep, and his room was warm. He was also sleeping on his stomach, probably due to his back being covered with ice still. Closing the door, Pixal headed to Zane's room. She knew Lloyd had told her to leave him alone for a bit, but Pixal had to know if he was ok. Walking into the room, Zane was still awake and sitting at the edge of his bed, staring at the ground. "Zane?" She asked softly. Her boyfriend looked up at her. "Oh, Pixal, do you need anything?"

She just silently sat down next to him and took his hand in hers. "Everything will be ok Zane. I do not know what happened in the Never Realm, but I know that whatever you did was not your fault."

"I still did it though. I sent the Never Realm into a world of fear. I am no ninja."

Pixal then took both of his hands, and he looked at her. "Zane, you are a ninja. You were chosen to protect the green ninja. You defeated the Digital Overlord. You've done so much good." Pixal smiled softly at him. "You saved me. You gave me half your heart. You did not have to do that, but you did. You are a selfless person, you deserve to have the title as the Ice Ninja, as the Elemental Master of Ice."

Zane just stared at her and then let out a sad chuckle. She knew that if they were human, they would be crying right now. Pixal merely shifted herself so she could hug Zane, with his own arms returning the gesture. "I've missed you, Zane."

"Me too Pixal, me too."

They were silent for a moment until Zane moved so they were looking at each other once again. "I love you."

Then he kissed her. Yes, the Never Realm had taken her lover away from her. It hurt her friends. But she knew it would be ok, that her boyfriend would be ok. After all, they were compatible for a reason.