The Gargantuan Honggui bounds closer to the beach, lunging at Jongin quicker than ever before.  Jongin's known for his speed, but the eighteen story monster isn't.  Jongin's Jaeger is about a mile out in the sea and Jongin's eager to get back to it and his partner.  Surprised by the alien's celerity, Jongin jumps like he always does - through space.  

He means to teleport to his Jaeger; however, something feels different this time.  Jongin feels a snap of the invisible string that's always tied to Minseok - his partner who's currently all alone with their Jaeger.  A feeling akin to having the wind knocked out of his lungs makes Jongin wince in pain.  And in the next moment, when he blinks, he's surrounded by pure, unblighted snow.

At first, Jongin thinks he's just teleported too far.  He'd overshot his jumps before.  But the crisp air hits his lungs with a sharp, painful level of oxygen.  The surrounding forest don't look familiar at all.  And most importantly, the connection to Minseok is seemingly severed.

Jongin's down on his knees before he knows it, sinking into the snow covered ground, grasping at his chest and letting out a sob over the loss within his very being.  He's not safe like this, exposed and without his partner.  He doesn't want to think about having to be intimate with another just to heal, but he can feel the swirl of his powers coiling in the core of his soul like a viper ready to strike and he hasn't properly rested after manning the Jaeger for so long.

Jongin briefly wonders if he's on another planet.  But as he nearly coughs up a lung, heaving on all fours with his head hanging, he knows that's not true.  Even if Jongin were on another planet, he'd still feel the invisible connection with Minseok.  No, this was-

"Another dimension" Jongin whispers, closing his eyes and trying to hone in on Minseok's frequency.

When his lungs settle, Jongin ventures another look around him.  This is a strange place, not too different from the world he's used to but dissimilar in a disturbing way.  Jongin shudders before standing up.  He's on top of a hill overlooking something like a crater.  Instead of a gutted center, the crater seems to nest an opaque bubble made of ice, sending of ethereal waves of water vapor billowing into the sky.

Jongin frowns. The energy he feels from the area is familiar but it's hard to place.  Half in a trance, Jongin draws closer to the ring of solid ice.  The edges of the icy walls look as if someone had frozen the water splashing upward from a dropped pebble.  From the faint energy it's emitting, it also feels like the bubble is enclosing something in the center.  The snow merely falls on the edges; never does the falling snow settle on the icy globe.

Impatient, Jongin jumps through space and lands near the crater.  There's a faint blue glow coming from within that piques Jongin's interest.  Jongin's injuries feel a little numb as if someone has put a salve over them.  His lungs feel a lot more stable now and the air, though still freezing, doesn't make his throat prickle. 

Jongin's warily surveying the massive object when there's suddenly a whimpering sound that fills Jongin's ears.  The sound is coming from within the chamber of ice.

Jongin puts a hand on the ice wall and immediately draws back, hissing.  The cold is searing and nothing like Jongin's ever felt before.  He looks down at his finger tips, raw and red from the freeze burn.  He hears the crying noise again.  It sounds like a child.

Taking his outer shirt off, he wraps it around his fist.  Ignoring the cold that makes his bare arms scream, he bangs on the ice, searching for weak spots.  The more he smashes the wall, the more frantic he becomes.  Something tells him that he must save the life within.

[Who's there?]

It's a childish voice.  But it's not something Jongin hears with his ears.

[Are you going to hurt me?]

"No, of course not" Jongin replies to the voice in his head, aloud.  "I just want to save you."

Suddenly, a piece of the wall breaks free.  It clatters to the ground, making Jongin startle.

[Watch out.]  The young voice warns.

Jongin teleports a short distance away and from the distance, he sees the walls of ice shattering into a million sparkling pieces.  The ice shards seem to suspend in midair for a minute, before they all come crashing down.  Jongin tears his eyes away from the glistening particles in the air.  In the midst of the ruins, is a small pale boy, cheeks wet with tears.

[They all left me.]

Jongin jumps back to where the boy is, suspended in what looks like an icy pedestal.  The boy's eyes open wide.  His irises are glowing neon blue as he cries.

"They left me" the boy repeats aloud in a small voice.  "I'm all alone."

When Jongin reaches up his arms to embrace the boy; he does so unconsciously.  The icy pillar moves, lowering the boy down into Jongin's arms.  The young boy sobs into Jongin's shoulder, clinging onto Jongin's bare skin.  Jongin is suprised; he doesn't feel the cold any more, though something tells him that he should be a frost bitten mess.

"Are you a-"  Jongin starts to ask, but before he finishes, the boy nods.

"I'm an energy user" the boy explains.  "My name's Minseok."