A compilation of Ninjago one-shots, because only chaos can come out of the mix with the team rampaging through the city together.
Or, all the lost moments throughout the series, including completely random AU's made up by yours truly in the spur of...
A/N : This is written with the Opposite shipping, Zane x Kai
inspired by this post: https://fluffyk97.tumblr.com/post/667640409612271616/girl-help-im-thinking-of-oppositeshipping-angst
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The Never-Realm is bitterly cold, the kind of cold that sinks down into your bones and make your fingers achingly numb.
But the Ice Emperor makes it colder. So, so much colder. A raw, biting chill that settles into your chest and doesn't seem like it'll ever leave, however warm you get afterwards.
And the Ice Emperor doesn't remember anything else, he thinks. His soul's been frozen the day he entered this land, wintry as the arctic. There isn't anything else to feel in this realm. There's only ever been befalling white covering the horizons as far as the eye can see, and that's all there'll ever be. It's in his nature, and he doesn't ever really feel the cold unless he tries to.
But there's something else.
Sometimes, he's reminded of a distant curious sensation. Something that reminds him of the glazed frosty flowers decorating the land whoever he walks. The familiar glow of energy, the power, that he feels for a split second every time he lifts the staff. The dazzling gleam the earliest sunrise brings, reflecting off blank clear ice.
And the hint of golden warmth it brings, if any.
The feeling doesn't linger. Not really. It's washed away all too quickly with breaths of freezing wind out in the open, and the Ice Emperor finds himself sometimes longing for it to stay just a second longer.
He shouldn't. His job is to stay emperor and ruler of the Never-Realm, and everyday more rebels and fighters come up. Vex insists they attack, and put a end of the nonsense. But sometimes he can't bring himself to care.
He does find himself getting up earlier to watch the sunrise, though. Looking out the window for more glimpses of the sun, if only for a second, and grasping the flickers of warmth tight, like every time seeing it is his last.
But every time he sees the daisy yellow light spill over the mountains, he can't help but let himself bask in the feeling, the one highlight of his dreary days in the palace.
It seems colder than ever.
There are attacks against him. All the time, everywhere he goes. But only once do they get close to him.
They skid into the room hurriedly, and hardly has time to catch a breath before he disposes of the human himself with a cold glare, tilting the scepter and freezing the intruder instantaneously.
Their fingers twitch one last time, and a torch falls from their fingers, rolling to his feet silently.
Fire dances at the tip of it, red, orange, blue flames ignited on the glassy floor like a aurora across the sky. It lights a radiant light onto the wall opposite it, colors flickering up and down the faint blue wall glazed with ice.
It's warm, warmer than anything he's ever felt. And the most terrifying thing is that it feels familiar, a emotion he can't identify tugging at chest.
Without thinking, he leans down and touches it, hesitantly. His fingers catch a burst of heat, frost melting and dripping off his wrist.
The exquisite blazing flames melts down into the floor quickly, leaving a small heap of cinders to stain the melting ice. He closes his fist around the lingering warmth, and for the first time, his grip loosens ever so slightly on the staff. Ice splinters around his fingers, and cascades to the floor softly in a shower of frozen slivers.
He closes his eyes, shards of clear frost still falling from his fingers, and catches a inkling of a memory.
Soft hazel hair, and a bright, bright smile.
A flash of the ashy brown eyes, color like burning logs in a fireplace, and nothing at all like the icy blue of his guards. A whisper of a name he can't quite catch, but the sound is comforting like nothing he's ever remembered. Welcoming arms, and a fold of soft crimson cloth. The warmth of the sun, the beauty of the fire, all mixed into one.
A life before this one.
Someone from a place he can't remember, no matter how much he strains.
