The Coldest Moment

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Type: ficlet

Setting/Timeline: set during and shortly after the events of "The Titanium Ninja" (episode 34)

Word count: 321

~~~

The first breath he took after climbing out into the cold almost froze him on the spot, as though the ice spread across buildings and streets stole it away.

No, it could have been a spring day, whispering sweet promises on a light breeze and hope from beds of flowers.  And nothing would have changed.

Jay's own heart paused at the screams when they tore through the blizzard (were they his?  Pixal's?  Zane's final cries as he gave every shred of power in his heart?), answering the call of a battle that was over long ago.

It fluttered haltingly, jarringly when Nya fell apart sobbing in Cole's arms, looking anywhere but the scrap of metal, an empty shell with a lingering smile and unmoving eyes.  When Pixal grieved silently next to her, unable to pour out the emotion never given to her to the one who gave her everything.

When they held the funeral, it slowed, steady and faint.  He ignored the ache as it grew tenfold, shifted his gaze back to the city skyline, or the numerous patches of flowers that cheerfully bloomed nearby.  The numbness came more easily than looking into the faces of other people; destroyed, lost, and so utterly defeated in the wake of renewed peace.

But as for when Jay was most sure that his heart had stopped?  That was after he went his own way, putting on makeup and costumes to cover every insecurity (and a grin to likewise smother the guilt, the helplessness, a legacy he had no right to carry on when he couldn't save his friend).  The moments he rubbed away streams of tears before they could stain the photo, until he couldn't keep them from falling down like a flurry of snow.  When he scarcely moved for fear of reality sinking in and weighing him down.

The coldest moment became the one in which he stopped believing, and a hundred heartbeats could not revive one so broken.


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