Salt: A Ninjago story

51: On Ice

The Temple came into view beyond layers of cloud. Usually a haven of beauty, the surface of the Island was now marred by the bright yellow of Emergency helicopters, their crews standing silent on the surface while the peaceful skies were broken by Dragons, their wings frantically beating the air, each vying to reach the surface as quickly as their riders pushed.

Before they could make contact the Ninja leapt from their dragons  to release them back to their Realm. Dropping to the ground they ran full out towards the Temple, towards a police official who ushered them up the steps and in to follow. They all ran behind as she guided them to where the tragic figures of Zane and Pixel had been discovered. As they came upon the windows of the lab, they could barely see through the frosted spiders web that covered the glass and their steps slowed, realising their haste was probably useless. The guide opened the door and they stepped into the frozen laboratory, a rough, jagged diamond, uncut yet beautiful stood solid in the space. Taken aback the team approached with a mixture of awe and fear and from within saw their friends suspended in a desperate embrace. The light of two hearts, blue and violet slowly pulsed in synchronicity.

'Zane, Pixal' Lloyd whispered; the steam from his breath the only thing indicating he spoke 'what happened? I should have followed, I knew something wasn't right... why didn't I follow?'

At his shoulder Nya spoke 'because we trust him, maybe too much to question him'

'We should have, this time we should have questioned him. It felt wrong' Lloyd rambled, remembering Zane's flight away from the House of Shadows.

'Don't Lloyd' Nya said 'we cant blame ourselves, we were on a mission and I still stand by what I said. If we could have helped him, he would have asked'

'Aaargh' Lloyd growled in frustration 'logic, reason and probability calculations are one thing but it's the unknown that can change the route of our destiny. We may have been able to help!'

'And we still may!' Nya implored Lloyd 'the unknown is driving our fears right now, but we may find an answer on the turn of a card' she grabbed his arms and stared defiantly at him 'Zane always has a good reason to do anything and what we see here is something we have yet to understand, don't write it off as a defeat before we know'

Lloyd nodded 'you're right' he said, his panic subsiding. His friends gathered to him in exploring the ice that held Zane and Pixal in their suspended state 'but how do we even begin to understand?'

'We start at the beginning' Cole said 'we ask questions. We use logic and reason and... yeah, even some probability calculations as Zane would. And when we've exhausted that, something unfathomable will guide us and we'll somehow figure it out'

Lloyd relented. As much as Zane would disagree, there were no hard and fast rules, not when presented with something like this. But they needed to find a logical route into this conundrum and he knew who would be the best person to help 'we need my Mother' he said and moved to leave, the team followed, but as he came upon their guide in the doorway, she presented a grave expression and a slowing hand to stop him leaving.

'These are not the only bodies we found'

The words were clear, but Lloyd refused to hear them. There were no other  bodies at the Temple 'It's a floating island, it's not possible for anyone else to be here... Not possible...' he said, a flat denial of what he refused to consider.

'The Quiet One was here...' the guide spoke softly as she attempted to break the awful news 'She escaped her cell... impossibly. Guards fell where they stood with no explanation. She just... walked free. An alert was sent to the Temple and your Night Watchman intercepted her...'