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"I'm sorry to say this, but he's not coming back."
The she-wolf turned to throw a snarl behind her, immediately whipping back around to scan the wintry landscape. While far from the desolate ice-scape that covered the land during the Ice Emperor's reign, it still shrouded much of the usually clearly defined shapes of trees and other landmarks. The only clear advantage to this coloring was that her fur, normally a striking contrast against the lush forest, now offered camouflage.
"Akita, you need to listen to me. It's been two years. How could you possibly hope to see him again?"
"I have to believe." She forced the words to fall more slowly and calmly from her mouth, breathing quickly from her transformation back. What did not change was the way her teeth gritted in frustration. Frustration at what her brother could not understand.
Both of them paused when a huge clump of snow dropped from a tree. Akita used the opportunity to appear absorbed in the scenery. At least it wasn't as cold as the reality her brother seemed to believe.
Kataru sighed, warm breath instantly forming a cloud in front of his face as he spoke. "Alright. You can keep searching. But be back by the time the sun begins to set, alright?"
The girl nodded stiffly, head remaining turned away so he wouldn't see her face. Even as she sensed the usual tremor in the air as he shifted and heard the muffled thud of giant paws on the frozen earth. Even those sounds faded into the muted surroundings.
Good. Now might actually have a chance.
A chance at what exactly, she remained unsure. Only that morning sun had sent shivers across her skin, and deep down she sensed something had changed. Hopefully something to do with a certain green-clad hero from another realm.
Maybe Kataru is right. But I need to find out for myself, Akita decided.
Leaping off of the edge of the small bluff, she shifted, fur immediately whipping in the wind. Although the plunge would have been far too dangerous for any human to attempt, a large and powerful wolf could easily handle the descent, and the jarring landing. Powdery snow cushioning her paws and blurring the tracks, she continued to dash onward, ready to face whatever discoveries lay ahead.
~~~
The afternoon flew by and pulled towards the verge of evening, all without any sight of visitors to the realm, or even much change besides the growing drifts of snow.
I guess he was right after all, Akita grumbled, disappointment bordering on guilt. I should never have bothered coming out here for nothing. He'll never come back.
Snap!
The formling's muttering immediately ceased, instincts taking over as her ears strained to locate the sound's origin. A few strides away, within an especially thick cluster of bushes and brambles. All camouflaged in the same sparkling blur. The white wolf pushed her belly closer to the ground, hoping her own coloring would serve its purpose. The bush rustled at her approach, snow sliding off of it to reveal the bright green of leaves underneath. Akita stopped dead.
Green? That isn't right, I'm certain that kind of plant loses its leaves long before the snow comes...
"H-hello?"
Akita immediately turned to speed back towards the familiar voice, one she had missed for months. That voice let out a loud shout as the two of them collided in a mess of snow and spiky tangles of branches.
"Lloyd?"
"Oowww?"
"Lloyd! I'm so sorry!"
The Green Ninja's expression was nearly as dazed as her own as he stood. Both of them eyed each other in relative surprise as their breaths steadied enough to speak.
"Akita? I can't believe I found you already." He offered a polite smile. A smile that caused the other young adult's heart to sink.
Maybe this was a mistake. He does not appear as excited to see me as I am to see him.
She pushed away such thoughts and most of the lump in her throat with a scoff.
"Ha! I think I'm the one who found you, you were the one hiding in the bushes. Or were you stuck in them?" Her face reddened as she realized how harsh the words sounded.
Lloyd, however, laughed. A rich, genuine laugh.
"Alright, I guess that's fair. But does that mean you were looking for something already? Or someone?"
The redness in her face did not dissipate at those words, however casually they were delivered. As usual, her green-clad companion either did not notice or did not care. Instead he reverted to a habit that Akita was very familiar with, the habit of rambling on in some form of an energetic and heartfelt speech about recent goings-on.
Hmm. Last time, when we met, that seemed much more annoying. But now...
"Wait." Realization finally struck her. "How did you get here? I thought you required some sort of object of great power. At least, something besides your inferior travelers tea," she added, a toothy grin thrown in to make sure her words did not come across as poorly as her previous ones.
Lloyd, interestingly enough, was the one to panic.
"It's...um, no big deal. We just uncovered an artifact in Ninjago that allowed me to get through," he hurriedly told her, a sure blush on his own face.
Akita merely raised an eyebrow, unable to forget what havoc the last time such an object reached the Never-Realm. It had even earned its name, so the ninja told the realm's inhabitants, because of its infamous aptitude for danger and the near-impossibility of returning home. The realm from which you could never return.
"And I really wanted to see you, so I took the first chance I got to return here."
Wait. He wanted to find me too? Akita turned this over in her mind. Maybe... maybe I was right after all.
The sudden thrill of hope inside her heart was difficult to stamp down. From Lloyd's perspective, however, the girl had simply relaxed her more tense stance and suspicious gaze. The two of them caught each other's eyes once more, waiting for some idea of what to say to materialize. Then, a glint of brilliant yellow caused the Green Ninja to squint.
"Wow, it looks like it's getting late here. I think back home it was still early morning when I left, but here the sun's nearly set." He paused before adding, "I just arrived, by the way."
"Glad to know you weren't flailing around in the bramble for hours."
"Hey!" he spluttered, head remarkably empty of any witty response.
As Akita turned to gaze off into the brilliant light, her onyx hair was lit up with gold highlights. Her face, momentarily turned away, turned back, allowing the sunlight to illuminate each shade of brown and yellow in those wolf-like eyes. A faint smile curled her lips, on which the tip of a single fang could be seen poking out.
Lloyd gaped, his initial attempt at a comeback falling out of his mind. Instead he turned to face the sunset itself, somehow less brilliant than it had been when he looked moments before.
"Kataru!"
The unexpected shout caused the ninja to jump.
"Sorry," Akita told him, rapidly swiveling her head between him and the setting sun. "I had promised to return to the village by the time the sun began to set."
Lloyd raised an eyebrow. "It sounds almost as if you're not planning on keeping that promise."
"Eh. The sun has already nearly completely set, I'll get scolded if I return now anyways." She cleared her throat. "Besides, I have something I've wanted to show you, Lloyd."
The sun's tentative warmth had slipped away into the arms of another frigid night. Akita was sure to constantly check on her companion, although he held up quite well against the chill. Now she had shifted back into her wolf form for a while, finding it less awkward than to shuffle through thick snow. The night, too, accompanied her better as a wolf. By instincts and sense of smell alone, the wolf and the boy wandered through deep forested patches and past mountains pockmarked with caves and patches of ice.
~~~
Eventually, the previously even ground dropped away to reveal a shining lake, over arched by merging branches of stone stretched out from a cliff to the left of them. These "branches" were each as thick around as a tree, yet showed no signs of crumbling or wearing away. Immense icicles reached their spires towards the frozen sheet of water beneath them, lining much of the arching stone.
Minutes passed in silence, yet neither of them moved. In the expectant silence that followed, Lloyd jumped slightly when he noticed Akita's apparent transformation back. It took immense concentration for him to tear his eyes away from her wild black hair, which the moonlight rimmed much like the sun had.
"This is it," the Formling finally breathed. "And now we wait."
Lloyd did just that, although his thoughts certainly betrayed his curiosity and impatience.
This is already an amazing place, so what could she be waiting for? I certainly hope whatever it is happens soon—unlike her, I'm not really used to the cold here. He shivered at both the cold and unwanted memories of an entirely iced-over realm. I wonder what she would think of Ninjago.
Akita nudged him suddenly, jutting her chin towards the frozen structures below. Within a few heartbeats, the frozen pool of water was glowing with its own light. Before the ninja could open his mouth to ask how such a sight was unfolding, Akita silently pointed to the rock ceiling across from them. Along with the enormous shards of ice, a pale crystal which Lloyd had not noticed before was scattered between each icicle. Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the immovable branches to reflect off of and between the ice and crystals, casting a magnified glow of the original light deep into previous darkness of the pool.
"Wow," Lloyd murmured, breath crystallizing almost instantaneously again. "I knew whatever you wanted to show me would be amazing, but I never expected something as beautiful as this. It has to be just about the most beautiful sight I've ever seen."
Almost. Almost the most beautiful sight. But not in any way comparable, and not nearly as special.
Both of them remained entirely unaware that their thoughts mirrored each other much like the crystals they admired.
"Want to get a closer look?" Akita offered, the wolfish grin making its appearance. "Don't worry, it's completely safe. The ice there won't melt or crack for weeks now."
Albeit a few scrapes from traversing the steep hill down to the lake, the two dashed towards the glowing light, laughing. The moonlight had brightened, the few clouds above blown away. The snow closer to their destination crunched underfoot, in some patches containing more frozen earth than water. The water, instead, remained trapped below and within its clear prison.
With a bark of laughter, Akita outran Lloyd, unhesitating to step out onto the ice. She made it only a few steps across before the slippery material betrayed her footing and caused her to fall to her knees. Only when she looked back at Lloyd did her burst of laughter trail off.
"Come on! I told you already, it's safe!"
At that urging, the Green Ninja immediately stepped out as well. His method, despite being more cautious, apparently proved inefficient as he slipped every other step. The shapeshifter in front of him, however, succeeded in traversing far better than he did, even without the aid of her wolf form.
The girl had seen the moment Lloyd truly lost his footing as he slid forward too rapidly, and leapt forward to grab him. Then both of them came crashing down, Lloyd's weight throwing them even further from the shore.
Akita had braced herself for the pain of hitting the solid sheet of ice head on as soon as she spun around in the fall. Instead, she opened her eyes to discover that her landing had been on Lloyd. Dark brown eyes and green ones widened, and the Formling hastily jumped back to help her friend up.
"I'm so sorry!"
"Why are you sorry? I was the one being a klutz."
"Well, it was my fault, then, I should have helped you onto the ice."
"No, I was just too hesitant. The blame's on me."
Akita huffed in annoyance. "No, as it was obviously my fault."
The pair made faces of puzzlement and frustration, pausing in passing the blame long enough to catch their breath.
"I know whose fault it is."
A growl came from Akita's direction, and she glared stubbornly, challenging the young man in green to dispute her with the words he chose to speak next.
"It was obviously the ice's fault."
She stared at him for a beat, only to dissolve into laughter. Lloyd joined in, slowly edging his way along the ice back towards her. Unfortunately, this proved just as futile as before, and soon both were on their backs on the ice, howling with laughter all the more.
Lloyd was the first to sit up, a loved hand brushing tears from his eyes. "Thank you."
Akita went silent, contemplating his words. "For what?"
"For everything tonight. For seeing me show up in this place, and immediately welcoming me and helping me. For caring enough to share something like this," he gestured at the glowing scene all around, "with me, for no reason but to share that."
The Formling shivered at those words, before responding with her own. "I feel the same. And no matter how or why you came here, I'm going to enjoy it with you while it lasts." She stopped, shaking her head. "You know, I had just decided that you would never return here when I found you."
"Because you were looking for me."
It was not a question. Akita allowed a sheepish smile to creep onto her face.
"Yes."
"Well, you know what they say." Lloyd yawned, stretching out his arms. His fingers brushed against Akita's.
The girl closed her eyes as she intertwined them with his in response. "Oh? And what's that?"
"Never say never."