Chapter Text
"Cole no! Come back here! Jay don't follow him! Zane please don't bury yourself in the snow! "
The now-childish nindroid only looks at him as if probing his soul before nonchalantly continuing to cover himself with fresh snow.
Nya begins to sniffle slightly from the cold from her place firmly strapped to his back and Lloyd sneezes, snot covering his chest from where the blond baby is snuggled . Kai didn't even have the energy to look disgusted.
How did he get there?
He thought as he gently pulled Zane from the snow, fortunately the child didn't fight him.
He had been rudely awakened half-buried in the snow by the bawling cries of a 2-year-old Lloyd baby. Cole is probably between 7 and 8, Jay between 4 and 5, as is Nya, who is currently asleep on his back, and Zane physically between 6 and 7.
But he currently has more pressing problems. Like getting Cole down from the tree in which he's perched and the much smaller Jay, who's trying as best he can to keep up with the bigger boy. He grabs Jay, who struggles a little, before snuggling up to his left arm and side in search of warmth - sometimes running hotter than normal has some advantages.
"Come on Cole, can you please come down? "
The kid simply shakes his head in obvious fear.
"I'm not going to hurt you, but if you come down from that tree, I promise I'll help you find your way home, okay? Kai tries again; he can't risk climbing the tree with 3 small children on him and only one arm free, a badly bandaged thigh wound (he can't remember where this particular wound came from and that alone should be a cause for concern) and he can't drop them in the snow either; a quick glance behind him confirms that Zane has started his strange quest to be covered in snow again. FSM give him strength.
"Home?"
"Yes, yes! Home you can find your parents!"
It seemed the wrong thing to say as little Cole's face crumpled with grief.
"Mama! Mama ma-matat" The child sobs in Harabia. Kai doesn't know the language, but the first word is pretty explicit and he wants to bang his head against a tree. Why is he so stupid? Cole's mother died when he was younger. Well, take a deep breath Kai, you can blame yourself for your stupidity when everyone's safe.
"Come on, Cole, get down! I know you're hurting now, but your mom wouldn't want you up a tree alone, hm? Come on, let's go somewhere warm and make you some cocoa, okay?"
The child sniffs once more before wiping his face with one hand, while a determined look appears on his face.
"Yes, Mommy wants me to be strong" the mumble is barely inaudible, but Kai hears it all the same and smiles softly at the child as he begins to descend cautiously from the tree in which he's perched.
"That's good, Cole, watch out for the branch on your right and..." he continues to encourage him, giving him advice on which branches to put his weight on and which to avoid. And finally Cole makes it to the bottom.
"Well done Cole!" Kai smiles sincerely at little Cole, who smiles back, albeit more shyly, before snuggling up against his legs. Yeah, running hotter than normal has a certain advantage. That's when he realizes that Zane is no longer at his side.
"Ugh- Zane, please stop burying yourself in the snow" His brother only gives him a flat look back while only his face is visible under the snow. "Cole can you dig your brother out of the snow?" Cole buried his face between his legs before mumbling a soft 'okay'.
It takes a few minutes to convince Zane to come out from under the snow, Cole ends up just grabbing his hand and pulling him out from under the pile as if the nindroid weighed nothing, apparently all their powers haven't left them.
"Hold on to Zane's hand, Cole, okay?
"His hand is cold", the boy shivered as the wind picked up slightly and small snowflakes began to fall.
The 24-year-old looks up at the sky as a whispered "shit" escapes from between his lips.
Just what we needed, a bloody snowstorm.
He presses on, pulling little Cole and Zane along, their little legs struggling to make their way, Lloyd still sniffling against the warmth of his chest, Jay numbing his left arm as the little boy snuggles even closer to him, and Nya, firmly strapped to his back, begins to shiver slightly. The knife wound on his thigh throbbed as he forced himself to put one leg in front of the other.
They must get out of this forest and find some civilization before the storm gets worse. He can't risk trying to find shelter for the night, they're not equipped, they don't even have proper clothing on their backs, only their Gi which hasn't shrunk with his friends and his own on his back.
He doesn't know how long he's been walking before the soft snowflakes turn into a thick storm, the flakes get into his eyes preventing him from seeing where he's going, Cole and Zane become heavier to pull with every step.
"Cole" The name comes out hoarse and broken from his frozen throat. "Cole" he repeats, the kid tugs a little on his arm to let him know he can hear him.
"Take Zane, and mount him on my back, you're going to help me tie him securely, okay?"
He didn't wait for an answer as he set Jay down, who instantly snuggled up against his legs in search of warmth. Visibility not having improved, Kai groped more than he could see before two small frozen hands grabbed him, and he knew instantly that it was Zane.
Securing the little nindroid boy on his back next to from Nya even with Cole's help proves to be a challenge and takes precious minutes, but in the end, Nya and Zane are securely strapped to his back, protected from the worst of the wind by their torn and oversized Gi. This done, he takes Jay in one arm, covers him with another Gi against the worst of the storm and takes Cole in the other arm doing the same operation.
With 5 children loaded on his back, that's about 85 kilos on his back, a wound in his thigh and fighting every step of the way against a literal snowstorm, the adrenalin rises in his veins alongside a rage without origin and an overwhelming despair, his fire sings in his veins propelled by the determination to protect, Kai walks and he won't fall.
I can't, I mustn't fall. They're counting on me.
The wind whistles in his ears and the children shiver against him. He noticeably increases his heat in the hope of keeping them warm, of protecting them as much as possible.
Come on, Kai! Are you a ninja or not?! I can do it, this storm is neither the first nor the last.
Come on, Firebender. WALK!
A soft melody mixes with the howling of the wind and the tingling of snowflakes seeping everywhere, the bottom of his pants are frozen and his legs are numb.
The melody sounds comforting. He could just stay here for a while. The heaviness on his shoulders makes him slow down, the snow sticks to him, clinging to him, trying in vain to make him stay with her, embracing her gently until she dies.
Suddenly, this fate doesn't seem so bad. Stay here, curl up in the soft snow and let the mysterious melody lull him to sleep...
A soft sob echoed against his chest, a heavy little warmth beginning to sob, and Kai suddenly realized what he was about to do.
He was going to give up.
He was going to let his tiny siblings die with him.
Damn it, Kai! Pull yourself together. We can't die here! We mustn't!
The melody is closer, a renewed determination helps him force the pace. He can't fall, he risks crushing Lloyd, Jay and Cole. He can't stop, he risks killing all his brothers and sisters, and he simply can't do that!
He follows the music, it guides him through the white hell, standing out against the whistling wind around him.
Come on, we're almost there!
He suddenly stumbles over something, only his reflexes honed by years of practice preventing him from sprawling against the ground.
I can't fall.
He tries to put one foot in front of the other again, but something else blocks him. It takes him long seconds of reflection before the obvious becomes clear.
It's a staircase!
If a staircase is there, it means civilization is near! He rushed up, risking another stumble, but pulled himself together at the last moment. The bright light of a fire through a window made him realize he was on the porch of a house. As he approaches the door, new hope seizes him.
His hands are busy holding his two brothers, and even if he hadn't been holding them, he doubts he could have moved his arms. He knocks on the door with his forehead, once, twice, three times, before it swings open.
An old lady holding a cane in one hand and a sword in the other opens it for them, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, melting some of the ice that has formed between her lashes.
"Help us!"
His voice is even more broken and flayed since the last time he used it. Blackness engulfs his vision as adrenaline no longer sustains his legs.
His body collapses without his consent, as the fire near the fireplace sings in tune with the faint, pale one inside his chest.
He hears crying in the distance, and in a last gasp of consciousness catches himself on one arm, letting go of Jay and Cole and collapsing onto his side, curled around the precious bundle still clutched to his chest.
His eyes close and the next moment Kai is dead to the world.