Chapter Text
It took a week for Jay to think that maybe, just maybe, he'd finally earned a little bit of peace.
It was a Tuesday morning and the weather was nice, and as he sat up in bed he could hear Cole snoring down the hall and the sizzling noises of Zane cooking breakfast.
Today marked a week since he'd rewound time (it was an accident, in his defense) to save Nya, as well as the end of his torture from Nadakhan.
His injuries were starting to heal, and so was the awkwardness surrounding the other ninja's questions about why he'd been beaten to a pulp without them noticing.
He still walked with a limp thanks to that vengestone shackle, and his vision in his left eye seemed to get worse with each passing day, but for now he'd enjoy the peace and quiet.
And the pretty girl next to him, who'd climbed into his bed overnight thanks to a nightmare of her own.
He couldn't quite choke down the guilt of knowing how much she'd suffered and how the situation had technically been his fault, but worrying himself sick wouldn't make it go away, as his mom would always tell him.
Instead, he took in the sunlight that was shining through his window, and Nya's soft, sleepy breaths against his arm.
“Hey Nya,” He said softly, nudging her shoulder with his hand. He contemplated leaning down to kiss her forehead, but he just wasn't sure if they were.. there yet. And he didn't feel like starting off his day by getting decked in the face. “Wake up, sleepy head.”
She slowly blinked her eyes open, the whole world bleary for a few moments. The first thing she noticed when her vision cleared was the prettiest pair of eyes she'd ever known, contrasting shades of blue and brown and full of love as they gazed down at her.
“Ugh.. good morning.” She grumbled, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. She straightened the tank top and shorts she was wearing, slowly taking in all the sensations that Jay had when he first woke up.
“How'd you sleep?” He asked, scooting closer to her. His hair was a mess, especially since he'd been trying to let his curls show a little more since he'd gotten off of Nadakhan's ship.
He knew this was probably some kind of subconscious attempt at coping, the overwhelming desire to change things about his appearance.
Especially considering all the new scars that were starting to set in all over his body and the cloudy look that was coming over his left eye, the brown one. Some part of him wanted a change that he was in control of, and this was probably better for his hair anyways.
“Pretty alright.. wow.” Nya snickered, glancing pointedly at his hair. “Nice hairdo, Jay.”
“Yeah yeah..” He giggled, trying to seem annoyed. He couldn't quite manage it though, not when it was her. “Wanna go get breakfast? I think I smell bacon.”
“Yes, I'm starving.” Nya grabbed his hand, tugging him out of the bedroom and to the kitchen.
Sure enough, Jay's sense of smell was right on point, and Zane was frying bacon at the stove. A plate of eggs was on the counter next to him, some scrambled and others hard boiled to accommodate differing preferences.
“Good morning, Jay and Nya.” Zane smiled, already dressed for the day and wearing a frilly, pink apron over his gi. “Would you like something to eat before we begin today's training?”
Both of them agreed, making themselves plates of what Zane had already cooked before sitting at their respective spots at the table between Kai and Lloyd, who were already eating.
Like Zane, Lloyd was already dressed, and almost finished with his plate of eggs and bacon. Kai, on the other hand, was still in his pajamas and looking particularly.. singed.
His face was covered in soot, like something had blown up in it. Not to mention his hair was standing up even straighter than usual.
“Uhhhh.. Kai?” Jay squinted, slowly raising a finger.
“Don't.” Kai shot him a half-hearted, as well as half asleep glare before taking a bite out of a piece of bacon.
“I hope everything is satisfactory.” Zane said as he finished frying food, turning the stove off and hanging his apron on its respective hook on the pantry door. “I will go and retrieve Cole.”
Soon, the snoring down the hall ceased, and Cole quickly joined the breakfast table, sitting across from Jay with an absolutely loaded plate.
Jay looked over the table that was full of people he loved, and couldn't help but smile a little. It was only breakfast, sure, but it was little things like these that he'd desperately longed for while aboard Nadakhan's ship.
It was only breakfast, but it was Zane's pink apron and Kai's grumpy morning attitude. It was Cole scarfing down scrambled eggs, and Nya holding hands with him under the table.
It was kind, it was home, and it was safe. He knew something horrific would come along soon enough, but for now he could revel in good food and waking up in soft pajamas instead of his gi.
He was happy, despite how broken down he felt.
The group got dressed and headed outside to begin training, which Jay couldn't quite lie and say he was excited for.
Sure, the feeling of normalcy was great, but everything hurt. He was still limping after all, and every kick, spin, or flip made his slowly healing ribs feel like they were cracking all over again.
Flipping through the hoops of the training course had never hurt like this, nor had his spinjitzu tornado ever made him so dizzy.
They didn't get very far into their training before Master Wu came out into the courtyard of the monastery, hands clasped behind his back.
“Ninja, there has been a break in reported at the bank,” Master Wu informed. “The commissioner has requested that you assist in dealing with the culprits.”
All of them nodded, pulling their hoods over their heads and taking off towards their vehicles.
“Alright, let's go team!” Lloyd said over the comms, leading the line of vehicles that Jay himself had helped build, as well as Pixal and Nya.
Alarms were blaring when they got to the bank, both from the bank's security system and the police sirens.
The robbers were clearly low level thugs, most of them dressed like escaped convicts and sporting the stereotypical burglar masks. Except for this one guy, who seemed to have combined his prison jumpsuit with.. was that a bird costume?
Whatever, Jay had seen weirder things. Right now he was focused on getting these guys dealt with so he could go home and try to squeeze a couple hours of gaming into his schedule.
Lloyd's spinjitzu tornado lit up in a wave of green light, knocking a few of the burglars into a wall. They wouldn’t take any critical damage from it, but it was enough to keep them down and out of the fight for a while.
Everyone else followed suit, spinning off in different directions to fight one or more of the burglars.
Jay stumbled a little as he came out of his tornado, very evidently favoring his injured ankle. Geez, this sucked.. maybe he should've taken Lloyd's advice to take it easy for a while and let himself heal.
It was too late for that now, though, and he'd just tough out the ‘I told you so' when they all got back to the monastery. He rocked back on his good leg, using it to jump up as well as spin around and kick the bandit in the chest, knocking them backwards.
He stuck the landing, putting most of his weight on his good leg. He held his hands out in front of himself, feeling sparks crackle on his fingertips as he zapped a few of the burglars.
He'd missed that feeling while he was chained up with that vengestone shackle. As much of a burden as elemental powers could be, Jay never quite felt like himself without electricity flowing through his veins.
The fight went well for a while. It was honestly pretty tame in comparison to alot of what they'd been through, and the burglars hardly stood a match for their elemental powers.
Or, it was going well, until a gunshot went off, immediately followed by a limp thud against the floor.
Everyone froze, and their eyes all went to the same place. The blue and grey gi on the floor that was slowly turning red as blood seeped into it.
“NYA!” Jay cried out, already at her side in an instant and cradling her head in his arms. “No no no! You can't do this to me, I need you!”
This couldn't be happening.. not again! He just got her back last week! He knew being a ninja was chaotic, but couldn't they catch just one break?!
Tears were already falling onto Nya's gi before he even registered them, and a flash of red danced across his vision on the other side of Nya. Not blood this time, but Kai's gi.
Jay could tell that Kai was saying something, but the words were hard to decipher. Whether it be from Kai stumbling over his words or his own daze, Jay wasn't sure.
And with a sharp, choked up gasp, Jay.. woke up in his bed?