#but Jay asked Nya to be his yang

[riptidesblog]

Headcanon:

In Yin-Yang proposal it's always the person asking their partner to be their yang regardless of gender or any other factors,because it's asking to not only be their second half,but their better half(yang means good).

[nyasyang]

those jaya fanfics that have kai as the "really overprotective older brother" piss me off sm

like that's not the same kai that helped jay ask nya to be his yang or the same kai that covered his ass eyes to give jay and nya privacy when he walked in on them about to kiss in s7

[oppositeslut]

You guys I never realized Jays hand was shaking was he was trying to ask Nya to be his yang 🥺

[rosewalkersjayaforever]

⚡The Lightning Choice⚡

(Sorry if my English is bad. I am Russian myself, and so I used a translator. Unid and Mina Allison helped me, thanks to them for that. If you liked it, put the like button, it will be very pleasant for me and them)

AU, where Jay merges with his element / lightning instead of Nya in season 14. Possible ❗❗spoilers⚠️

Nya fought with Kalmaar and Wojira, but was defeated, the water master was struck by the Merlopian trident, which caused her to lose consciousness and fly into the water. Jay was the only one who saw what happened to the brunette, the lightning master jumps after her, hopes that he will save her, hopes that she is still alive.

The ninja pulls her out of the water on her hands, climbing higher on the roof, the brown-haired man began to check her pulse:

— No... Nya... please... don't leave me again!.. — almost crying, the lightning master pleaded, the rest of the team, noticing the loss of friends, begin to search, but when they find them, their gaze falls on Nya lying on the roof and Jay mourning her.

— Jay, what happened?! — Kai slowly approaches them, his heartbeat accelerates, his breathing slows down, it becomes harder and harder to speak, fear comes to the fore. — Jay, don't be silent! Please! — Kai wants to hear joyful words, which makes him shake his friend by the shoulders.

— Nya... — with a heavy pain in his heart, Jay begins to speak. — She fought Kalmaar, but lost to him… She was hit by a trident..." — speech slowed down, Jay could not speak calmly.

— Well, don't be silent! Tell me what's wrong with her! — The fire ninja shook him by the shoulders again.

— Nya fell into the water! Jay shouted at him. — I rushed after her and pulled her out... — the voice became quieter.

— Take her inside! Hurry up! Hide the transport! — Wu ordered, running up to the team, without hesitating for a second, the teacher took control of the whole situation. Everyone nodded in agreement, Jay took his Yang in his arms and carefully carried her inside, accompanied by the master, Pixal and Bentho.

— Nya! You can't hide from me! This world doesn't belong to you anymore! He's mine! — Kalmaar shouted from Wojira, tracking them down.

— «How he pisses me off» — Jay's gaze fell on Nya lying on the couch, Benthomaar was looking out the window nearby, the master and Pixal were discussing something aside, only briefly Jay heard his and Nya's name.

***

— How is she? — The fire master asked, approaching Zane.

The nindroid was running diagnostics.

— The condition is serious, but she is stable, now she is unconscious, it is possible that she will wake up soon. — the ice master replied.

That bastard almost killed my sister! He's going to pay for this! — a fire was lit in his hands — I'll kill him myself! — Smith said.

— Hush, Kai, don't get excited, we'll figure out how to deal with Kalmaar, but first we need to help Nya. — Lloyd tried to reason sensibly until Kai lay down next to her.

Looking out the window, Jay saw Benthomaar standing on guard, releasing the girl's hand, he approached him.

— Benthomaar, how did Nyad defeat Wojira? Do you remember what you told us? The brown — haired man asked, which distracted the Prince of Merlopia for a second.

— She sacrificed her body and merged with the sea — the Merlopian replied, sighing heavily, he was not looking at the sea or even Jay, who did not ask a question, his gaze was directed at Nya.

— Merged? But how exactly? — The blue ninja continued to ask with insistence.

— She absorbed all the power of the ocean, she became a part of it, and he became hers! — the brunette also replied coldly, already looking at him. Jay thought about it, Benthomaar quickly figured it out. — Don't even think about it! Although Nyad defeated Wojira, she eventually died… It was a one-way ticket… She disappeared… Forever! — The Merlopian threatened the lightning master, but Jay didn't take it as a threat, it was a challenge.

— «Nyad could not cope with the power of the received force, but I will cope, I will do everything for Nya, for the sake of our future with her!» — Jay no longer listened to Bento, his thoughts were occupied only with a plan that will bring peace to everyone. — «None of my friends are going to die today, only Wojira is going to die!»

— Benthomaar! Zane is calling you — Cole has disrupted their completed dialogue. Nodding, the Merlopian left the boys alone. Seeing the displeased look from his friends, Jay stepped back a little.

— Uh..Is something wrong, guys?.. — The lightning ninja asked them, smiling stupidly, occasionally a chuckle slipped through.

— Jay, we heard about your conversation with Benthomaar... — the second brown-haired man replied.

— And we won't let you do that! — The lightning master's face changed at the same moment. — Don't even think about it! — The brunette continued. Jay became serious.

— You can't stop me from doing that! Perhaps this is the only way to help her! — the winner of the «Prime Empire» rebelled.

— Jay — was just about to start Lloyd.

— What's Jay?! — The lightning ninja was no longer panicking, he was taking out all the pain on his friends.

— Zane said that Nya is stable, she will wake up soon — the blond man slowly approached him.

— Yeah? — Walker said without emotion. — I was there too, if you haven't forgotten, I also heard these predictions ... — the ninja took a pause, gathering his thoughts. — And you know what? These may be her last breaths, I already tried to start her heart, I tried to revive her before you came — the team started listening even more attentively from that moment on. — But I couldn't! She didn't take a single breath, nor did she open her eyes! Nothing happened! Do you understand, Lloyd? She needs to go to the hospital, but they are all flooded, and the only way to revive her without a doctor is to defeat Wojira and Kalmaar! — Jay pointed to the sea outside the window.

— Jay, but this is not the only way! — The master of energy did not believe in these words himself, and Jay only looked at him sadly, nodding.

— You heard what Benthomaar said, didn't you? When Nyad merged with the sea and defeated Wojira, she died! If you do the same, you could die too, Jay! Do you understand that?! — almost shouting ninja fire supported the leader.

— What would you suggest? Do nothing?! And wait for Kalmaar and Wojira to notice us and destroy us?! —Freckles asked.

— Of course not! But maybe there is still another way to defeat them? — The earth ninja asked anxiously.

— I'm listening to your suggestions — Jay said calmly.

— Vania — it dawned on Cole. — She said if we ever needed help, she'd call the whole army to our rescue, and — Zane interrupted him.

— We can't contact Shintaro, not with our situation — the ice ninja looked at his friends with sympathy, Cole just sighed heavily.

— Maybe.. — Lloyd wanted to suggest another option, but was interrupted by Jay.

— Lloyd, admit it... we're powerless here, the only way out is for someone to sacrifice themselves for all of us... — Jay looked around at everyone present. — For the Nya ... — the last words sounded in a barely audible voice that not many people caught. — Nya would have done the same if anyone else had been in her place, each of us can do it — Jay approached Wu. — Master Wu, you taught us to protect Ninjago, to protect those we love — the gaze fell on Zane, who drooped, remembering his self-sacrifice during the time of the Golden Master. — Who we value — my gaze fell on Nya and Kai, who also became sad, remembering how he rescued her from the captivity of skeletons, and then saved Lloyd from a volcano. — You prepared us for this, taught us to look fear in the eye, overcome barriers, be ready for anything — The Master drooped.

— I hoped that this would never happen ... never ... — the master hesitated, lowering his head, realizing that Jay was right a thousand times.

— I understand you, Jay. You're worried about her, just like me, because she's my sister... — Kai stopped, the words touched him to the core. — Maybe you're right, but please don't do this! And in this form, you're not going anywhere, you're tired, it's not you who's talking, but fatigue, why don't you rest? — Kai suggested, hoping to postpone this dialogue at least until tomorrow, to come up with arguments in opposition to this. — After all, tomorrow we will have a hard day — the elder Smith sighed. He nodded in agreement, exchanged glances, Kai and Cole smiled and left, leaving Jay alone.

— «We may not live to see this tomorrow, Kai, it needs to be done today» — Jay replied to himself, clenching his hand into a fist, looking after them. — «Everything will be decided today, and tomorrow we will celebrate another victory and rebuild the city» — his intentions were as unshakeable as his zeal for victory. — «I'll be back, Nya, wait for me» — the ninja headed in a direction known only to him.

The brown-haired man sneaks onto the roof while his friends are considering a plan without self-sacrifice.

— «I hope they won't bother me, forgive me for that» — Jay mentally said goodbye to his friends, jumping into his Sub car, the lightning master turned on full speed and sped off into the depths, leaving friends was a difficult but right decision, but not harder than what awaits him after.

Floating near the city center, Jay climbs a multi-storey building and looks around the city.

Everything was covered with water, but Kalmaar's voice could not be heard, and Wojira herself was nowhere to be found.

— «It's too late to retreat, too much is at stake» — emotions and excitement overwhelmed the lightning master, his heart was fluttering faster and faster, there was a desire to retreat inside, and in his eyes there was a determination to end this once and for all. Gathering his thoughts, Jay began to put his plan into action — Kalmaar! Wojira! I'm here! — the blue ninja shouted with all his might, and at the same moment a bright blue lightning flashed in the sky, followed by another flash, after which Jay took out his nunchucks and prepared for battle. — «Did they really not notice me?!» — panic appeared in his eyes. — «What if he's already found Nya and the others and they're in danger now, what if I'm late and Lloyd and the team are in trouble now, and I'm on the other side of Ninjago City?!» — eyes darted from side to side, looking for answers, Jay listened to every rustle around.

Suddenly, a glow appeared from under the water, and Jay froze in place. There was a splash in the water, after which a huge sea serpent climbed out of the water, towering over the ninja — it was she, the queen of the Endless Sea — Wojira, two amulets were on her forehead: Waves and Storms, and near one of the amulets stood the Self—proclaimed King of Merlopia - Kalmaar.

Jay's face changed in an instant, fear faded into the background, his hands involuntarily tightened on the weapon, the ninja got into a fighting position.

— Where is that stupid girl?! — Kalmaar was angry, looking around to see if this was a trap, although what kind of girl could we be talking about when you control the most powerful being alive in this world.

— Nya is not here, I will be your opponent instead! — Jay declared, taking a step forward.

— You?! — Kalmaar chuckled.— You are a nobody, a weakling, a pathetic and worthless hero who is looking for his death. — What can you do against me? — The King of Merlopia laughed.

— What can I do? — Jay began to play along, pointedly thinking about his question. — I challenge you to a fight! One on one! — The lightning ninja spoke loudly and clearly in a confident tone, Kalmaar was very surprised and laughed.

— You?! Are you calling me?! Who are you to fight the king?! You're nothing, just a land dweller, and I'm the ruler of all Ninjago! — King Kalmaar laughed. — Wojira, destroy the insolent man! — The King's trident was pointed at Jay.

— Do not rush to conclusions, Kalmaar — Walker decided to dare to say goodbye. — Yes, I am a resident of the land, I am an ordinary guy from a landfill, but that's not all. — Jay put on a mask. — I'm a ninja! I'm a lightning master! — Jay braced himself for the impact.

The sky darkened, it began to rain, thunderclaps sounded and lightning broke out among them, striking the brown-haired man, the first blow was the most powerful, it was he who served as the impetus for the counterattack.

At the moment of lightning hitting him, Jay felt it in every limb, in every place in his body, he did not fall, he stood up, the force that hit him began a metamorphosis:

Jay's body sparkled like lightning on the body of an electric eel, his eyes changed color to blue. His whole body began to transform, his skin turned purple, Jay rose into the sky, and Kalmaar rejoiced, seeing only some sparks of lightning, but when the smoke from the lightning strike dissipated, the sparkling lightning ninja appears before the villain.

— WHAT?! — Kalmaar's face was stricken with surprise, but soon changed to the usual displeasure.

— Did you want the lightning? So get it! — Jay concentrated a fireball in front of him and released it directly into the creature's face, the flash blinded Kalmaar for a short period of time, while Kalmaar was unaware, the ninja took advantage of this and rose into the sky, releasing a new discharge, but at Kalmaar himself. The King could barely resist.

The blow with the trident forced the beast to obey again, Wojira used her breath and a powerful wave was released at Jay, the ninja moved to the creature's forehead.

— Do you think that merging with the force will give you an advantage?! I'm driving a Wojira! The most powerful beast in the world! — The King was rising again.

— Then I'll take it away from you — Kalmaar fired several shots at Jay, but he didn't even try to dodge them, the elements simply dispelled the physical attack. — You wanted to know what a simple inhabitant of the land can do? — Jay came up close to the king. — We can do a lot, and now I'm not fighting on my own behalf, now I'm going to defeat you on behalf of all the inhabitants of the surface, and bring back dry land and peace to the world! — Jay released the force, the Merlopian tried to block the attack with his father's trident, but he could not withstand the onslaught and was broken in two. Wojira immediately freed herself from Kalmaar's control and rebelled against him, once the former king became a snack for her, Jay was more lucky, he managed to teleport from there with the help of the elements, Wojira, having lost control, began to rampage that even all the Merlopians fled to the sides, high-rise buildings that were not absorbed by water, the sea serpent simply destroyed them and their fragments fell into the water.

The ninja flew to a safe distance and saw what his decision to avenge Nya had led to.

— «My actions only made it worse, it seems that to stop all this, you need to destroy the amulets on her forehead, the only way to stop her, the only way to save Ninjago» — Jay fired several powerful lightning bolts into her neck, attracting the creature's attention to himself. — Wojira! I'm here! — The next blow was right in her face, but her breath swallowed him up, just a little more and he would have reached him, water and lightning are incompatible, especially if they are two pure forces.

Jay dodged her attacks and released his own, the sea snake did what it dodged or attacked from under the water, where Walker could not descend or approach.

At the main moment, the lightning master is transferred to her forehead and inhabits the amulet of the Storm, destroying it, because of this, Wojira roared and leaned out of the water at full height, lightning flashed, and she disappeared, and the Boundless waters began to leave the lands of Ninjago, returning to their former borders, the team that already I have been watching this for a long time, fighting with the Merlopians, covering their friend's back, after defeating Wojira, they climbed onto the roof, where Jay was already hanging in his elemental form.

The elemental ninja turns to his friends and looks at Nya lying in Kai's arms, Jay flies up to her and touches her chest, a light current passes through her body, after which Nya opens her eyes and begins to breathe, clearing her throat, greedily gulping air.

— Nya! — A joyful Kai hugged his sister.

— Well done, Jay! You did it! — the earth ninja wanted to hug his friend, but the lightning strike did not give, the earth master quickly moved away.

— Jay, you can be yourself again now — Master Wu said politely.

— Jay?! — The ninja didn't understand. — Who is this guy?! — the question baffled the ninja.

— That's your name — Cole said hesitantly.

Wu looked at him sadly.

— Do you recognize us? — the question is pretty stupid for the team, but the answer was the most unusual.

— I do not know you, but I know that you are good ... — the ninja said slowly.

— What does this mean?! Jay, stop fooling around! — friends did not understand what Wu had already realized.

— Jay — Nya called him softly, leaning on Kai, she came up to him.

— I'm glad you're alive — Jay said, and in a moment looked up at the sky, where lightning was flashing.

— Do you hear that? — Jay asked them, looking at the lightning.

— What are you talking about, Jay? — the brunette did not understand what her Ying meant.

— The Lightning… It's so fast… Such a formidable...— the lightning master answers her, mesmerized.

— It's calling him. — The Prince of Merlopia replied sadly.

— I have to go — Jay suddenly said, walking somewhere.

— Wait, buddy. Let it be you — Cole wanted to put his hand on his best friend's shoulder, but she passed through him like a ghost, electrocuting him. From this, the black ninja gasped, looking at his hand, like everyone else.

— Jay, wait! Where are you going?! Jay! You have to come to your senses, you have to come back to us! — standing in front of Walker, the ninja of the water said, but her beloved did not seem to listen to her and also went through. The girl hissed in pain, turning around, she saw that Jay was already at the edge of the roof.

— Jay, I don't understand what's going on, but I only know one thing: We will find a way and we will definitely bring you back to normal, just please don't leave — the fire ninja said proudly.

— My time in this world is running out, maybe one day we will meet again. — The elemental ninja said with a smile.

— What does it mean in this world?! — Kai approached his friend.

— Jay, Ninjago is your home, our home — Lloyd also joined the conversation.

— Your home, but not mine, flaws are calling me, I have to go, it's hard enough to be in this shell, goodbye! — a flash flashed in front of friends.

— I’m sorry, my friends, but it’s useless... If a person merges with his element together, over time he begins to lose himself: Who is he, does he have friends, family, acquaintances — all this, he will seemingly forget this never happened and is unlikely to ever remember it — Benthomaar spoke with pain in his voice and soul

Realizing this, Nya was speechless, tears involuntarily ran down the girl’s face, falling to the ground.

— Jay, I beg you, so that you don’t hear, so that you don’t experience. Fight it, Jay. Remember who you are, remember this always! — the master’s last instruction was hope for their friend’s return to life. Wu sincerely wished and hoped that Jay would overcome himself and stay, but unfortunately for him, this did not happen.

— I am Jay. I am The Lightning. We are one — turning to his master and friends, the guy says, smiling.

— Jay... I... I love you...— the brunette said sadly, deep down she hoped that he would wake up, remember why he did it, remember everything, in response to this Jay only smiled sweetly at her.

— Farewell, heroes — these were the last words of the savior, the ninja froze, at that very second each of them wanted to take off and rush and stop by force, but the body seemed to refuse them this, they could only watch him rise into the sky , and then disappeared, with the last lightning appearing in the sky before the clouds completely dissolved.

— JAY! NO!!! COME BACK!!! — Nya exclaimed, jumping up and running to the edge of the roof, but it was too late, Jay flew away, and the clouds became ordinary white clouds, as before.

Everyone looked at the sky where Jay was, even after he was gone, no one began to move or say anything, everything was clear without words.

***

— Today we honor the memory of Ninja Jay, who saved our city by sacrificing himself. — Master Wu, like the whole team, stood at the porch of the monastery, where residents from all over Ninjago, all their friends and acquaintances, all fans of ninja and Jay, gathered. — This day will be a day of mourning. — Wu finished his long and sad speech. — And now I give my word to Nya — the water master came forward.

— Jay… He... — It was difficult to start talking, especially about someone who was no longer there, all the residents were looking at her right now, but it was not this that worried her more, but the fact that his parents were among them and not somewhere, but in the very first row, closest of all, Ed — Jay's adoptive father, comforted his adoptive mother, Edna, who cried so bitterly over the loss of their son, they, like Nya, know the truth that Jay is not their own son, but the pain of his loss only increases. — Jay was a joker, it was his thing, he tried to look for nothing, but to put it in everything and everywhere, he could cheer everyone up, and even if sometimes his jokes could offend, but everything he did, including his act today, he wished for you, for us, I had never met such a thing before like Jay, he always helped and supported anyone who needed help, he was not just our friend, not just a ninja, he was something big for everyone here, and I would like to tell you all that despite the fact that he is no longer there, we will continue that what he gave his life for, we will continue to fight for Jay, for everyone who needs help, and let every resident of Ninjago sleep peacefully today! — Nya finished her speech with difficulty, returning to the others.

During her performance, she endured, endured the pain that was inside, held back tears and pain, pain turning into a tsunami that covered her head.

Upon completion, Nya returned to the monastery, and stood near the frame with their joint picture with Jay, only after making sure that she was alone, she let all the pain out, falling to her knees, allowing emotions to take over. Maya and Ray came to her.

— Nya, are you okay?.. — Maya carefully approached her daughter, and when she heard her mother's voice, she quickly removed her tears, getting up from her knees.

— Oh, hi, Mom, I'm just dusting, I think I got dust in my eyes...— the water ninja replied with a smile.

— It's all right. — The elder Smith said, putting her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

— I didn't even have time to say goodbye to him... — Nya tried to hold back her tears.

— Nya, I'm sure Jay will remember you and the others. You and Kai and your friends will save him and you will be together again — the elder Smith tried to comfort.

— I hope so, Mom.… I hope Jay comes back.… I hope that we will definitely bring him back to normal. — Maya's daughter could hardly hold back her tears, trying not to cry again, but her mother silently hugged her, and the water master did not respond with a hug from her mother, but she was not going to push her away.

— It's the time. Are you coming, Nya? — the father asked, Nya only nodded, Ray understood how much she was in pain, they felt the same pain when Krux threatened them with violence against their children.

When the Smiths went outside, the girl looked up at the sky, it was already dark, there was no moon or stars in the sky, just blackness, candles were lit all over the training hall, it was very quiet, as if the monastery was empty or extinct. Each of the residents, the ninja, and Jay's parents had lanterns in their hands.

Ray gave the lanterns to his daughter and wife, and he lit them for each of those present, Kai also took part in this.

And when the last lantern was lit, it was clear the number of those who went out to say goodbye to the hero who fell in battle, only now did Nya realize that the whole of Ninjago City went out into the street with only one single purpose — to say goodbye to the one who gave them peace and hope for a happy and peaceful future. Very soon, all the lanterns one by one were released into the sky, someone was letting out of the windows, someone from the top of the roofs, even the lantern from the Borg building was visible in the sky, this sad and dark night was covered with bright light in an instant, Nya looked at her lantern for a long time, she was the only one who still he did not launch it into the sky, but soon she decided and let it out of her hands, looking at him with a sad sight. Kai was by her side all this time, there was no one closer to him, seeing Nya's condition, with sadness on his face and pain in his heart, he looked at her ... The Fire Ninja hugged his sister.

It was so warm... The brunette remembered how her brother supported her if she couldn't cope and Jay... Remembering her beloved, Nya cried again and cried into her older brother's shoulder, the fire master calmed his sister, sharing her heartache, stroking her back and whispering in her ear that this was not the end yet and they will definitely save him, find a solution, find a way, sooner or later it will happen, and when Jay remembers them and returns, he will start joking and telling different history again, even if sometimes they are not always so funny. Soon, the water master calmed down, she was grateful to Kai and everyone who went outside to support her lover and honor his memory:

— Thank you for being with me this day, thank you to everyone who is next to me now — the brunette whispered, Kai only smiled in response, hugging her again, and Nya only snuggled closer into him.

Kai and Nya's parents looked at their children with a smile, their friends came to the Smiths, everyone looked up at the sky with a smile, illuminated by lanterns, watching as they moved further and further away, flew higher and higher, imperceptibly disappearing one after another.

They will definitely bring their friend back, they hope that they will find a way to return him to his former shape, they hope that Jay will return to them soon... But until that happens, the team had to go through personal problems, as they did before, on the day of Zane's death.

[kindaasrikal]

So like i came across a post a bit ago (can’t be bothered to find it but GOD did it put me in the feels) about how Nya would automatically think Jay is dead in the tournament when Agent walker (in mask) uses lightning because she thinks it couldn’t be Jay fighting her. And like, I made it worse.

Imagine she’s instead asking “Jay? Jay is that you? Please, Jay, tell me that’s you.” Because she cannot comprehend a world where Jay isn’t with her in it. A world without her yin is like a world without her other half, what completes her, her beginning and end. And she’s already deep in grief because her mind is already telling her thats not Jay, it couldn’t be Jay fighting her. It doesn’t feel right, thinking Jay would ever truly fight against her, truly try and harm her.

But her heart, her soul, is telling her it has to be Jay, that Jay couldn’t have just died without her ever knowing. She needs to know if it’s actually Jay or not or she’ll fall into an endless spiral trying to figure out who they are, she needs to find out how long they had the element to know how long she’s lost her yin and how long she should’ve been grieving, she needs to know if the other knows how he died. Did he suffer? Was he all alone? Did he die heroically, or did he die begging for his yang, for his brothers, for his parents and sensei until his very last breath? Did she let him die all on his own?

She’s burdened by grief and guilt in a span of a few seconds, and it drops her into a deep hole of desperation when she’s already lost her brother, don’t tell her she lost her yin too.

[ghostscrown]

Jay telling Kai before anyone he was going to ask Nya to be his yang and asking for his help, and Kai actually helping him was just so cute

They pretend to hate each other but they're actually the brothers in law ever

[totallynotobsessedwithfandoms]

Rewatching Ninjago Season 6: Skybound is such a different experience now that I’m older.

Because when I was a kid it was just like “awww, Jay and Nya need to be together, don’t trust Nadakhan, yay Jay is the main character I love him!!!” and yes, it’s still that, but god I love Nya and Jay’s character arcs.

Because just…they are two halves of a whole and it’s brilliant.

Jay in the previous seasons is the comedic relief, he’s the coward, he’s the one kind of unwilling to make the sacrifice. He is still a hero, sure, but he has so many flaws. Jay’s arc in this season is just everything to me because he learns so much and grows so much as a character.

Particularly in regards to Jaya.

He starts the season out as the regular Jay character, but now he has this secret. The knowledge that he and Nya might end up together and yeah, he does some very stupid things because of it. He acts pushy and refuses to give up to the point that Nya has to ask him to stop. It doesn’t click for him, however, that his actions are causing harm, until the tiger widow venom episode. Until he’s captured and it seems to sink in that following this wish, that refusing to give up on this future is hurting Nya, it’s hurting his friends, and it’s hurting himself. And so he stops! He takes a step back, he tells Nadakhan that Nya will choose for herself.

He stops.

He finally understands her.

And he learns how to work on his own. He learns to be tough and to not give in, when Jay is normally the first to search for the easy way out, the first to be the “coward” of the team. Jay never loses his comedy, he never stops being the comedic relief, but he is also the main character. He is braver and his dad talks sense into him, telling him that “Everytime you’re in over your head, you make a joke and try to laugh it off.”

WHICH IS LITERALLY THE ENTIRE ANALYSIS OF JAY’S CHARACTER!

He tries to pretend like he doesn’t care, like it’s all a joke, but he tries so hard and he finally learns, he attacks, he fights, he leads the charge, he realizes that he has allies and he can be a leader! He even goes into the Jade Blade, scared, sure, but he goes in and he saves them!

He leads the ninja.

Jay is street smarts in a nutshell.

And Nya, oh Nya’s storyline.

I relate so much more to her now. Nya, the girl ninja. Nya, the newest member of the team. Nya, always being told who she is. Nya, never being given a choice.

Nya has always been tough and desperate to help the ninja. Desperate to join the “boys club” as she called it. She starts out this season struggling with being the newest member of the team and struggling with feeling inferior. She feels like she has to push the other ninja away and desperately try to stand on her own feet. She refuses to accept Jay’s help in the beginning of the storyline, even when she needed the help. She confirms that she always had feelings for Jay but she buries them, trying to stand on her own two feet—as she should—not realizing that it’s not weak to love him and to ask for help. And then she gets mad at Jay in the tiger widow venom episode and rightfully so! He was an absolute idiot, thinking he could wish for her to start to fall in love him and then not telling the others how Nadakhan’s wishes worked! His silence ends up putting them in danger and she is rightfully angry with him.

And then he learns! And she realizes that he learns and is respecting her. And she realizes that she doesn’t have to be alone. He is giving her the choice, he is respecting her and letting her make her decision. She decides who she is and she realizes that she doesn’t have to do it alone.

Jay learns that he can be strong on his own, that he can lead, and Nya learns that she doesn’t have to do everything on her own.

They learn to compliment each other.

They are each others yin and yang and they respect each other. They learn and they love each other and they are probably the healthiest couple in the whole show.

I’m not doing an amazing job of describing it but they are perfect for each other and they learn from each other and they respect each other!!

Couple goals and character arcs!!!!

Let’s go ninjago!!!!

[skierisa]

Ninjago 90 AU headcanons - part 1(?)

Yeah idk, just an important detail: this would be like the og series, but they're regular teens in the 90s. Dragons Rising would be around early to mid 2000s in this AU, so the ninja are teens

OC'S ARE INCLUDED! 100% IGNORABLE IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEM

-------

Lloyd

- 2nd year of high school (to Americans it would be junior year, i guess)

- works part time in Doomsday Comix store

- plays electric guitar

- hides when seeing Harumi in public

- got arrested TWICE (first at 15, second time a few days before turning 16)

- the first time was because he stole something from Hot Topic, did community service and then was free. Never told anyone (besides Morro and of course his family) about the second time

- reads comics all the time while working

- favourite place to hang out is the skatepark, but also likes the arcade

- can skateboard, just doesn't do it as much anymore

- Starfarer collector

- spends too much money with this comics and the merch and the collector's stuff

- sometimes skip school with Jay and Kai just to play videogames

- has a crush on my OC, Valerie, but only knows her as "the girl from the music store on the other side of the road"

- randomly makes desserts at night

- is in the top 10 best students in school

Kai

- 3rd year of highschool (to Americans it would be senior year)

- tutor's kids after school, mostly history tutoring

- can not and refuses to use or learn how to use a computer

- likes Britney Spears, but hides it at all costs

- in a situationship with Skylor

- has a bunch of nirvana shirts

- knows Lloyd was arrested the first time because he was there too, but for drunk driving

- "party guy"

- drinks. a. lot.

- favourite food is Kahlua pig

- part of school's basketball team

- cuts his own hair (sometimes makes a bit extra cash by cutting his friends hair as well)

Nya

- 2nd year of highschool

- works as a lifeguard at a public pool

- robotics club member

- knows about Kai's love for Britney Spears, constantly blackmails him with it if he doesn't do what she wants

- favourite places to hang out are the skatepark and the theater

- favourite music genres are late 70s to late 80s pop and riot grrrl

- joan jett's biggest fan

- still prefers to listen to indie bands

- knows Lloyd was arrested because Kai told her

- of course she scolded him, like "i'm mad that you did this but im glad you're okay", like some sort of older sister

- LOVES bracelets, has both the beads bracelets and the slap bracelets

- has a yang necklace (to match Jay's yin necklace)

- has a bead bracelet done with all her friends' favourite colour (red for Kai, dark blue for Jay, navy blue with glitter for Valerie (OC), pink for Vanessa (OC), purple for Pixal, orange for Skylor, black for Cole, green for Lloyd, white for Zane and light blue for her)

- regrets her bob-cut phase, but wants to cut it short again

Jay

- 2nd year of highschool

- the unemployed friend that seems to be unable to find work (because no one hires him)

- at least once a day complains about not having a job, and knows he'd definitely still complain if he had one

- robotics club member

- listens Spice Girls, and is no longer afraid of demonstrating his love for the group once everyone made fun of him for liking it for two weeks straight

- knows Lloyd was arrested because Nya told him

- "how was it like?" first question he asked right after discovering it because he just doesn't know what to say

- spends too much of his free time in the arcades and sometimes brings Lloyd and Kai with him

- has dates at home with Nya, where they usually watch trashy horror movies and old dramas (sometimes anime)

- also collects Starfare merch and comics

- constantly visits Lloyd at his job just so he can read comic's while he works and for free

- has a yin necklace (to match Nya's yang necklace)

- wants to pierce his ear, but it's too afraid to do so

- his knees are always scratched due to skating, so he does have a few scars because of this

Cole

- 3rd year of highschool

- works at a vynil store

- when they can't go to watch movies at Lloyd's house, Cole's house is the second best place for their Friday movie nights that turn into sleepovers

- is dating Geo, but doesn't tell his name to his friends just to mess with them, so they're always trying to guess "who the hell" he's dating

- openly bisexual (preference for guys)

- knows Lloyd was arrested because Jay told him

- also scolded him, being mostly glad Lloyd was okay

- has been playing the drums since he was a kid, because his dad wanted him to play the piano and drums aren't piano

- his favourite music genre, surprisingly, is bossa nova (followed by metal and punk)

- he's a painter and participates in art competitions, meeting my OC, Vanessa, in one of those. They are friends with a healthy and friendly artistic rivalry, encouraging each other to try new things with their art

- smokes pot (mostly at parties and also with Kai and Lloyd)

- trying to get into art school after high school

Zane

- 3rd year of highschool

- volunteers in a animal rescue center

- into a one year relationship with Pixal

- knows Lloyd was arrested because Lloyd told him

- his pet falcon is a rescue, since it damaged it's wing so hard that it barely functions well, making it impossible for it to survive in nature again. Zane then took it with him after his shift;

- he really just calls it Falcon, like Marie Antoinette naming her pug Pug

- since Pixal is some sort of "celebrity" she was his celebrity crush

- 15 year old Zane: "so... we're dating her?"

18 year old Zane: "yes, she fell in love with you at first sight!"

15 year old Zane: *Zane.exe has stopped working, please, restart*

- quite too much of a fan of noir movies and noir books

- (once on college in the 2000s he'd 100% collect the Blacksad comics, I mean, it's his two favourite things together, animals and noir!)

- likes to wear a slightly more vintage style, but at school wears regular clothing as he recognizes that vintage clothing is somewhat more fragile and needs to be taken care of, and school isn't the best place to wear those

- was in the robotics club in middle school and changed to computer science club in highschool

- wants to be a veterinarian

Morro

- second year of college

- nobody knows his major and gets comically interrupted every time he tries telling someone what he does

- got fired from his previous work as a bartender

- now works with Wu in his tea shop

- adopted by Wu, btw

- taught Lloyd how to play guitar (he can play bass and mostly plays it, but borrowed a guitar from a friend as a teen)

- knows about Lloyd's second time in jail and helps him to hide it from everyone else

- constantly exchanging insults with Lloyd, but in a rather playful way

- alcoholic, but trying to quit

- best student in his class, surprisingly

- likes pachinko games and other gambling games, but not addicted to it. Sometimes brings Lloyd with him to play a bit, and sometimes Lloyd brings his friends, making Morro look like a babysitter sometimes

- likes hanging out with Lloyd, but usually they hang out in the middle of the night

Harumi

- second year of highschool

- part time Hot Topic cashier

- 100% stole a bracelet or two WHILE WORKING THERE

- knows Lloyd hides from her in public

- hangs out with the other girls just fine, but constantly complains about whatever they're doing (secretly loves to be with them and refuses to admit it out loud)

- she has a bunch of journals under her bed and they all read very entertaining reads

- the reason why Lloyd was arrested the first time (was stealing from hot topic, asked him to help her, but unlike him, she managed to escape from security)

- had a super crush on Morro when she was 15

- actually likes Friends TV show

- thinks Chandler is a mood, but her favorite character would be Phoebe in the later seasons

- goth clubs are her second home

- can't stand cigarette's smell

Skylor

- third year of highschool

- works as a part time waitress at Chen's Noodle House

- constantly gives her friends discounts

- lab partners with Kai

- almost exploded the lab with him once

- they still laugh about it

- knows about Kai's love for Brittney Spears, but pretends she doesn't

- loves karaoke hangouts

- still has an anacondrai tattoo (slightly angsty fact)

- heiress to Chen's mafia

- considers Nya a little sister, so they're basically BFF's and hang out together the most among the girls

- likes thrifting, usually looks for anything 70s related

- usually goes to roller discos to skate or goes to the skatepark with headphones

- sometimes meets there with Nya so they can chat while skating

- that's also where she likes to celebrate her birthdays

- knows about Lloyd being arrested because Kai told her

- treats Lloyd like some sort of little brother so actually got worried when she heard about him getting arrested

- "if you ever need it, i know a lawyer who helps my dad's gang member to get out of jail" Skylor to Lloyd once she meets him after hearing about his arrest

- only invites Harumi to the girls hangouts because she knows she will be upset if she's not at least invited

Pixal

- second year of high school

- part time job as her father's (aka Cyrus Borg) assistant

- goes to the same school as my OC's (see below) so she wears a school uniform

- Skylor's childhood friend, since they went to the same elementary school

- there's a conspiracy theory going around that Pixal is actually a robot and she knows very well about these rumors

- likes to scare people making a very impressive impersonation of a robot just for the funsies

- was in love with Zane at first sight (they met at Skylor's birthday party)

- her idea of a "perfect date" with him is both watching noir movies and studying together

- once threw a noir themed Halloween (or day of the departed?) party because of him

- loves to go thrifting with Skylor, and knows where to find the best pieces

- robotics club leader

OCs!

Valerie

- works at a CD and music store

- second year of highschool

- attends a different school than the main cast

- never wears school uniforms appropriately (always customizes it)

- constantly in the principal's office for arguing with teachers

- was part of school choral until highschool where she just didn't want to do it anymore

- wants to become a music teacher

- has a band named The Pin-Punks and does concerts in a music venue called Supernova Apex every weekend

-Valerie cut bangs after Vanessa was accidentally sent to detention in her place

- Kai and Nya's childhood friend and neighbor

- eventually would meet Lloyd when buying a comic

- doesn't dislike him, but thinks he's a dork

Vanessa

- second year of highschool

- also customizes her uniform, adding lots of chains to it

- trying to become a model

- has a massive crush on Harumi

- not only is a goth, but has a thing for goth girls

- art club member

- goes to Hot Topic quite often just to chat with Harumi

- won a few art competitions she was in

- knows Cole from a few of those competitions and is actually friends with him

- always goes to goth clubs on the weekend

-also always yelling at the DJ asking "what band is this?"

- once was sent to detention in Valerie's place because they were wearing the same hairstyle

- works as a nanny

- was the "responsible" kid in her childhood friend group (Kai, her, Valerie and Nya)

- not exactly openly lesbian, but doesn't exactly hide it

[serenthest4r]

Head-canons for Dragons Rising!Jay

- The merge dropped him into an ocean near the realm of madness which he stayed by for a month hoping that Nya would be able to find him via her connection to the sea. When he realized it wasn't working he started walking through the realm of madness to find her.

- He slowly lost his memories while wandering the realm of madness, he was keeping a diary for the first year but one day he went to get food and left it (and the rest of his stuff) in the shelter he was staying in and never came back because he forgot about that as well.

- By the time the administration found him he had no memories or tokens of his past except the Ying medal and his name (which he only knew because it was written on his gi by Edna)

- All of his stuff is buried in a pile in the land of lost things.

- For a time there was a teen in the administration who he had a father daughter relationship with but one day she went to retrieve an artifact with her partner and neither returned. Jay didn't get attached to anyone after that

- He was originally in charge of the destruction of powerful objects but asked to move to realm reassignment when he realized that there was a possibility his Yang could come through and recognize him.

- In his dreams he often finds himself floating in the middle of the ocean accompanied by someone humming but his dreams always end with the peace breaking and him drowning.

- He's mistakenly called one of the people who work in damage control 'Cole' multiple times and he doesn't know why.

- When he first discovered he could control lightning he still has no knowledge of other elemental master and saw himself as an anomaly which is why he has hidden it from the rest of the administration.

- Because he hasn't used his element in years (except in short, accidental zaps) he can't properly control and has basically been reverted back to before he reached his true potential in terms of control and knowledge, if he wanted to he would be able to kill someone.

- He hates having to hurt people in order to arrest them to the point that it sometimes makes him sick.

- He hates mirrors.

- More recently, after his encounter with the spirit orb, he has been having dreams of people wearing different colored gi's, specifically a woman who he thinks is the most beautiful person he's ever seen.

- He has a goldfish named Fritz

[writing-hat]

Hey I have a theory, and you don't need to respond if I'm right or wrong.

But Day of the Departed, does Delara comeback and fight jay instead of Samukai? And when Cole deghostafies does he remember some parts of the erased timeline?

Also random question, will Ava ever meet the other ninja? (cause all of them need therapy)

Hiiiii!!! Thanks for the ask :D

Okay so, for the Day of the Departed, this is not how it's gonna go, because I actually thought about it before realizing that this wouldn't make too much sense since Delara resents both Jay and Nya. That, and there is no statue whatsoever of Delara in the museum, so it doesn't work. Plus, Yang isn't aware of her existence, though he's definitely remembering the djinn. I can't tell you how it's gonna go, though :3 I'm sorry :'3

Cole I can't say anything. You will seeeee ehe (halp)

Ava will meet some of the ninjas! But not through therapy and uh none of them are going to know she's his therapist rip. At least that's what i'm going for rn. it can change! especially since I kinda write on the flow of things

thanks again for the ask!! see you around <3

[dragonform]

Favorite ninjago duo among the OG four?

Wow, our first ask! Thanks so much Anon! 😁

My personal favorite is, no surprise, Jay and Cole. They not only claim to be best friends, they walk the talk, too (at least in the earlier seasons... it seems to have fallen off a bit lately, sadly).

Anyway, now that you've given me a soapbox to talk about it:

I love that they're such polar opposites on the surface (the responsible, grounded one vs the lightning quick, loud one - and their elements are literally foils for each other), but still found commonalities to build their friendship on.

Once you look past the surface differences, they do have a lot in common, from their love for gaming to their anxiety (highkey for Jay, lowkey for Cole)

Love their insults for each other ("dirt clod", "zap trap")

And I especially love the episode in Skybound when Jay was trying to handwave the entire Cliff Gordon mansion as something he saved up for, and Cole saw right through it. And Jay trusted him enough to tell him the truth.

Bonus: asked Ry for his opinion too, and he came up with a pretty good one: Kai and Jay. He says he likes the scene where they practiced asking Nya to be Jay's yang. And you know, they do have a very nice dynamic, where Kai considers Jay his brother ninja, but also his future brother-in-law. I feel that Jay could be a little more considerate of Kai sometimes though - he does kind of act like he's the only one who cares for Nya sometimes.

Anyway, great ask, so thanks again! Had fun answering! :D

[the-ninjago-historian]

Ninjago Remastered Designs!

THEY'RE DONE! After months of work!!! They are DOOOOOOOOOOONE. WOOOOOOOOOOO! Lol! Welp, these are my Ninjago designs! Basically, this is my take on the Ninja if they were in a 2d animated cartoon! And yes! I will be drawing more characters. Tumblr butchered the quality, so close ups and design notes are below the cut. They're pretty detailed, so I highly recommend checking them out. Feel free to ask questions about the designs! ⬇️⬇️⬇️ - ✒️🐉

When designing these outfits, I tried to take inspiration from the ones in the show. And in terms of art style, drew inspiration from early 2000s cartoons, (Action Adventure ones specifically,) Anime inspired shows, and even a hint of traditional Disney animation. And while I designed them with a 2d cartoon in mind, most of the designs would most likely have to be simplified for them to be used in animation. So let's get started!

Kai: Kai was a pretty fun to work with. I actually didn't plan on giving him a sleeveless outfit. But it happened! And I like it! If you'll notice, the flame pattern on his vest mirrors the pattern on his sister Nya's outfit. I thought that would be a cool detail to include. It was inspired by their March of The Oni outfits. I also made sure to include his scar and bandaid. And gave him reddish brown eyes to signify his elemental power. Him and sister I imagine being Brazilian/Taiwanese. So I hope I captured their ethnicity properly. I'm pretty happy with this design. Especially his hair, which was hard to replicate.

Jay: Jay was a hard one for sure. I wasn't too sure how to vamp up his outfit. So I started by giving him some lightning patterns on his Gi. (At least I think that's what it's called?) And I decided to make it look a little baggy and soft. It just seemed to suit him. I tried something a little more form fitting and didn't look right. Also! A fun detail I included was his half the Yin Yang pendent around his neck! And of course Nya has her half. I imagine him having Irish ancestry, so I gave him pale, freckled skin. And gorgeous curly red hair. (As a fellow red head, I'm very proud.) Overall, I think he turned out pretty adorable. And his face is spot on.

Nya: Nya I pretty much got right on the first try! I just had a really clear vision of her in my head. I gave her a grey outfit with bright, vibrant blue details. The pattern on her Gi is inspired by Koi Scales. And she has her half of the Yin Yang pendent around her neck. I really like this one, because while it is simple, it's beautiful. And I think it reflects her element nicely. The only thing I missed was to give her a symbol like the rest. But overall, I love it! One more thing is that I wanted to give her and Pixal different hair. So when I finally release my Pixal design, you'll see that while they both have ponytails, I gave them different cut and styled ones. Should be neat!

Zane: Zane was the first one of the Ninjas I redesigned! I love how he turned out. I tried to give him a splintered ice effect on his outfit inspired by his Core minifigure and gave him his faithful falcon companion. Falcon has his old greyish purple feathers, but blue icy eyes to match his owner. I also wanted to give Zane flowing sleeves, that would look very majestic waving about in a blizzard wind. He is also incredibly tall. Taller than Cole even! I was inspired by the giant humanoid robots I'd seen in movies. In his cloaking disguise, I imagine him looking German. With blond hair, blue eyes, and light skin. I also like to think Dr Julian was German. (Was this influenced by my German ancestry? Who knows?)

Cole: You would not believe how many times I had to redraw this man's face. Haha! I just could find that sweet spot! That face that perfectly encapsulated his strong, but gentle personality. But I think I did it! His outfit is based on his Oni Trilogy Gi, with orange detailing. And he has his Island ponytail and bandana. I absolutely loved that hair style on him. So I had to use it! And if you'll notice, he has a beautiful tattoo on his right arm, with his symbol in the center. I imagine him being half Maori, from his mother's side. And the tattoo was inspired by Maori tattoos I saw pictures of. I'm not too sure how accurate those images were. But hopefully I hit the mark.

Lloyd: Finally! Our green Ninja Lloyd! His outfit was inspired by two things. Dragons, and his outfit from the Secrets of Forbidden Spinjitsu seasons. I gave him a beautiful golden dragon and cloud pattern on his clothes, a leather arm guard, and shoulder pads. If you look closer, you'll also see he has cat-like dragon eyes which pays homage to his dragon and Oni heritage. I like to think that depending on his emotions, his eyes will go from slits, to big and wide. So they are good indicators for his mood. I also imagine him being Japanese. But his powers give him his classic blond hair and green eyes. I'm very happy with this design. His hair, eyes, and face all look exactly how I see him in my head.

Well, that's all. I hope you enjoyed these designs and notes! I assure you, you will see more of the them.

Bye! - ✒️🐉

[qiangweirosa]

a talk

" As Nya and Jay finally start planning their wedding, Nya is haunted by memories of darker times. Ironically enough, Jay is the only person who could possibly understand what she's going through.

or, ninjago writers dont bring up their skybound trauma enough so im taking matters into my own hands. "

relationships: jay/nya, nya & kai, cole & jay tws: hurt/comfort, flashbacks, skybound trauma wc: 1821 extra: set sometime between the end of crystallized and the merge!

read on ao3!

Kai sat down on the bed.

“Come on, spit it out.”

Nya glanced at him, barely turning her head. She laid on her bed in the monastery, and had been staring at the ceiling for quite some time before Kai came in. He looked at her expectantly, an eyebrow raised and his head tilted towards her. She sighed.

“What are you talking about?”

She asked only half heartedly; she knew more than enough that Kai wouldn’t take her avoidance as an answer. Nya sat up, and stared at her own hands, fidgeting in her lap.

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Of course she knew. With another sigh, she looked back at Kai and took his expression in: behind the surface-level annoyance, she could see worry. Of course he’d be worried about her, she thought, especially since she’d been acting unusually in the past few days, if not weeks.

Nya glanced back down before speaking up.

“I don’t think you’d be able to help. Don’t worry about me too m-”

“Does it have to do with your and Jay’s secret?”

Nya froze. Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open for a few moments. She looked at Kai, her eyebrows furrowing in silent confusion. Perhaps her expression was what prompted him to speak up again, elaborating on his statement.

“You know, the thing you two keep trying to be secretive about?? When you exchange glances, giggle together, and whatever.”

She blinked.

“You noticed??”

“Uh, I think we all noticed, Nya.”

“Oh.”

This was unexpected. Nya sighed again and shook her head, leaning her head back against the board of her bed.

“Yeah, it is.”

Kai nodded. He seemed to take it better than Nya had imagined; though maybe that was because he’d already known she was hiding something from him. Well, it wasn’t like it had been the first time she kept secrets from Kai, or the rest of the team. But he certainly had reacted better than he did when he found out she was Samurai X. She was somewhat thankful.

She felt a hand rest on top of hers, and looked back at Kai to see him looking directly at her. His face had become much more caring; but Nya knew him. She could tell he wasn’t entirely enjoying the fact that she wouldn’t talk to him. Nonetheless, he still tried to put those feelings aside and give her advice.

“Then maybe you should talk to him, if it’s bothering you this much. Sulking over it on your own isn’t gonna solve anything.” He shrugged.

Nya smiled. She knew he was right, it wasn’t like she hadn’t thought about doing it. It just wasn’t an easy topic to bring up, for either of them. In all the years that had passed since then, they had only really talked about it twice; and only because they had been having worries about it.

Which, technically, was the case here too.

She nodded at Kai, thanking him and intertwining her hands with his. He smiled back, pulling her in for a hug, or the closest thing to a hug they could manage in their current position, leaving them both laughing about it. Soon enough, he left her room, leaving Nya alone once again to her thoughts. 

She looked down at her necklace. Although she didn’t like to wear it when fighting or practicing - jewelry during a fight is practically a direct ticket to choking, she wore it almost every other time. Which wasn’t a lot, now that she thought about it, but it was still enough to be significant to her. The necklace had her yang pendant on it, the one Jay had given her when he proposed to her a few years back. She gazed at it fondly, playing with it with her hands.

A few moments later, she had made up her mind. She would talk to Jay about this entire situation, and hopefully they would get past it. Finally. She knew deep down that, obviously, a talk wasn’t going to make their shared trauma disappear, but hopefully it would make her feel better, for now at the very least.

Today was an off day for the ninja; meaning Jay was most likely to be found either on the couch playing video games, or in the kitchen snacking on something. As soon as Nya walked into the living room, a smile crept onto her face and she chuckled to herself. It seems living with the same people for so many years really makes you aware of their daily habits, she thought.

She approached the couch, leaning her hip against as she crossed her arms to look over the scene in front of her. Cole and Jay were going at it, intensely focused on whatever game they were playing - looks like Prime Empire , she thought - to the point they hadn’t even noticed she was here. A bit further away, sitting at the table, was Lloyd, absentmindedly fiddling with his phone. He however, seemed to notice Nya, acknowledging her presence with a short glance. 

Nya glanced back at the screen as she heard shouts, seeing the “LEVEL PASSED” screen she had expected. She watched Jay and Cole high five each other, before Jay raised his head and seemed to finally notice her presence. His face beamed, and he grinned at her. His excitement must have been visible to Cole too; since the older man decided to turn around, and smiled as well upon seeing her.

They invited her to play; she shook her head no, before looking back to Jay and calling him to get his attention.

“Do you mind if we have a talk?”

Nya could feel time stop as she spoke, watching Jay gulp and anxiety flash in his eyes. She quickly added:

“I’m not mad at you, I just wanna discuss something. It can wait though, if you’re busy.”

Nya gestured at Cole and the TV vaguely. Jay nodded and put his controller down, standing up and walking towards her.

“It’s fine! I can play later.”

Before Nya could drag him away though, he turned back to Cole and shouted, an accusatory tone lacing his voice.

“You better not play any more levels before I’m back!!”

Nya laughed at their antics. She could vaguely hear Cole respond something as she made her way down the hall, back to her room. She stood in the doorway until Jay appeared in front of her, and dragged him inside. She pushed the door closed behind them, sighing.

“Is something the matter?”

Jay was the first to speak up. He tilted his head to the side, moving to grab Nya’s hands in his.

“You’ve been acting weird for a few days… Did something happen?”

Nya stared at him for a few moments. She stared deep into his beautiful ocean eyes, her lips pursed. Jay’s eyebrows had furrowed, concern etched all over his face. Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke up.

“It’s about Nadakhan.”

She could see Jay’s breath catch in his throat, and his eyes widen. He took a deep breath as well, and squeezed her hands in his. His face looked a lot more serious than a few seconds ago as he urged her to continue.

“Okay.”

“Kai told me to talk with you about it. Well, about my worries, more precisely, but they’re about what happened with him.”

Jay nodded, a sign for Nya to keep talking.

“I’ve been getting… flashbacks. Of when I was with him. Especially since we’ve been talking about actually organizing our wedding, and all, I just… I keep seeing myself in Delara’s dress again, and getting nightmares about it over and over and it’s just-” She stopped herself to sigh. “That’s… about it.”

Sometime through her rant, Nya started looking at the floor with a frown on her face. Her hands held Jay’s tightly, and he could tell that she would be clenching her fists, had he not been holding them. 

He released one of her hands to cup her face, a shaky smile forming on his face to try and comfort her.

“I mean, it’s pretty understandable, you know? I’d be scared too if I had been forcibly married to a thousand year old djinn at 13 and then possessed by his dead girlfriend.”

Nya laughed. Jay’s smile widened.

“And like, if you want, you don’t have to wear a dress. We don’t even have to get married yet!! I mean we’ve been waiting for both of us to be ready for it, so if you’re not ready yet then I’ll wait more!”

Nya looked back at him with a smile. She felt tears well up in her eyes. Jay was right; there was no reason for them to rush things, after all. 

“You’re right. Thanks. And I do wanna get married, don’t get me wrong… I guess I’d forgotten I can just not wear a dress.”

Her hands moved up to wipe her eyes, and she felt Jay grab her face with his own. He looked at her, his eyes shining, and his thumbs gently caressing her cheeks. 

“Can I kiss you?”

She nodded, and he leaned in to crash his lips on hers. Nya felt Jay grin into their kiss, and she could see his face growing pink. After they pulled away from each other, Jay rested his hands on her shoulders and looked away, coughing to try and regain his composure. After he failed, as he usually did - for some reason, even after being together for half a decade, he was still a nervous wreck everytime they kissed -, he spoke up once more.

“You’re not alone in this. I’m here for you and, uh, I’ll do my best to support you through all this.” He gestured vaguely with his hand. “Be it related to him or related to our wedding, or, you know, anything else.”

Nya smiled at him, tilting her head up to press a kiss to Jay’s forehead.

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Hey, don’t thank me for this, come on! It’s not even the bare minimum!”

Nya laughed as he protested, Jay’s arms stretching at his sides as he kept repeating himself.

Eventually, the two of them ended up going back to the living room and joining Cole on the couch, picking up two controllers and playing with him. After a few levels, Jay seemed to have a realization and turned to Nya in shock.

“Wait, did you say Kai told you to talk to me?? Does he know?!” 

Nya stared at him in confusion for a moment.

“Oh, that! Apparently, they all know?? Well, not about what happened, but that we’re hiding something.”

Cole chimed in.

“Yeah, dude, you’re not exactly discreet about it…”

Nya chose to not listen to the rest of the conversation, already knowing the two best friends would start bickering. She simply giggled and mindlessly stared at Jay. She loved him so much.

[mairitess]

ebbs and flows pt. 1 // jaya

a/n: i wrote this bc i got back into ninjago and i needed to write something for them bc i'm not caught up enough to be able to read the current fics + also on ao3 in capital letters

words: 1.5k

tags: angst, fluff, post-skybound, post s10 ninjago: masters of spinjitzu, jaya, no beta we die like kings, they r so traumatized after nadakhan, minor violence mentions from skybound, kiss kiss rated t just in case

preview:

she might’ve missed it, if she weren’t so keyed up already. “you’re my yang, nya.”

memory was clever in a cruel way. sometimes nya practically forgot what she and jay had endured, had survived. other times, though it had been years since, nadakhan’s grip was still around her wrist. memory was kind when it ebbed, cruel when it flowed. and the master of water, unfortunately, was far too familiar with ebbs and flows.

it started when she and jay were on a date downtown, a rare luxury given their line of work. they’d compulsively started window shopping, ducking into quirky stores, stealing kisses in the alleyways between. ninjago city hadn’t been quiet in so long.

“has this shop always been here?” jay asked, pointing at the large antiques sign hanging from the side of the building. “i feel like we’re always around here. why haven’t i seen it?”

nya smirked and nodded towards the restaurant next door. “maybe because you’ve been too focused on downing chen’s hand-pulled noodles to pay attention to anything else around here.”

“hey!” jay reached for her in fun, and nya twisted away, bolting to the antiques store. her laughter echoed down the street, and jay’s breath caught in his throat. no one laughed as brightly, as freely as her. his soft smile grew. no one made her laugh as brightly, as freely as him.

he was grinning wildly when he walked into the shop, nya waiting for him inside. “what?”

jay enveloped her into a hug, his arms snug around her. “i love you.”

“i love you too, jay. now look around with me! i wanna see if there’s anything interesting.” jay caught a quick kiss before pulling away, and nya’s cheeks were warm as they wandered through the store, hand in hand.

—

she saw the lamp first — not the same one, but far too close for comfort. it was rusted and dented like it had been thrown around in the wash, but the lamp’s handle curved at the bottom, whereas nadakhan’s stayed flush to the rest of the body. still, nya froze.

“nya? did you find anything?”

jay’s voice felt so distant and hazy, as if she was hearing him underwater. “honey?”

she felt his hands on either side of her face, and nya realized he was standing right in front of her. “you’re crying, nya.” he leaned in closer to look at her more directly as he wiped the tears from her cheeks. “what’s wrong?”

he followed her gaze to the shelf behind him, to the lamp sitting all on its lonesome. jay sighed then turned back to nya, resting his forehead against hers.

“look at me, nya.”

she felt like she was ripping her vigilance away as she did.

“that’s not his, i promise. and neither of us are going to touch it. we’re safe, okay? he’s gone.” 

nya didn’t remember leaving the antiques shop, or going home, or anything else that happened between seeing the lamp and ending up in jay’s bed. she was spooned against him, so jay couldn’t see she was keeping her eyes open for as long as she could — every time she blinked, she saw nadakhan and that lamp. she could feel herself dying in jay’s arms again, on the floor of nadakhan’s stolen makeshift palace. she could feel her last words trying to snake their way out, but her energy draining before jay could hear them.

jay’s arms tightened around her waist, and she jerked away from them, tearing out from his grasp. she turned, and he was staring at her, worry lines stretching across his forehead.

“do you want to talk about it?” he asked. nya was quiet, though she cuddled closer to fit her head under his chin. jay slowed his breathing, taking deeper breaths in and out — he hoped she’d match him, even if subconsciously.

he was starting to fall asleep when he heard her mumble into his chest. “you couldn’t say his name.”

—

everyone else knew about nadakhan from the murals on the wall in the courtyard, but they would never remember him, especially not the way jay and nya did. but honestly, that made it somewhat easier for nya. she could pretend everything was okay with them.

but jay was there. and it felt so careless and insensitive for him to pretend, too, when he was with her. a small part of her knew it wasn’t fair to be upset at him for that — while she was dying, he watched, and maybe that was worse. but still.

nya hadn’t spoken to jay when they were alone in days. she still came to his bed each night, but they would lie in silence, and every evening she would get further and further away from him in sleep. at this point, they were on opposite sides of the bed, and her back was to him. if he just reached out, he could hold her, but he was scared she’d jerk away again if he did, and that would hurt more than anything before. when they woke up each morning, he’d ask her if she wanted to talk about it. she’d stay silent, though sometimes she’d shake her head. then jay would say he’d talk about it whenever she was ready. it was their new routine.

she started to have nightmares the day after they’d first seen the lamp. he tried to hold her close, whisper “i love you” to her over and over again as she shook and sobbed, but she’d end up pushing him away as soon as she got up. one night, he tried not touching her at all, and her nightmare subsided easily. so he opted to just lie awake until it went away, waiting for her to still. then she’d wake up in the morning, and they’d do their routine all over again.

weeks passed, and nya had caught a cold. jay would’ve stayed home with her, but their recent villain needed all hands on deck. misako and wu promised to take care of her while jay was away, though they figured some sort of fight had transpired between the two lovers. 

usually when they had to split the team, jay and nya would kiss each other good luck. but jay stood in the doorway, quietly watching her sleep. he toyed with the yin symbol hanging around his neck. his partner, his love, was starting to feel more distant than a stranger, and every day more like a ghost. but he needed her to go to him. he was nervous about touching her and making any nightmares worse, so he opted to leave a note instead.

nya, my yang, i’ll be back soon. i love you.

—

nya could not tell him — she would not tell him. guilt slashed at her chest every morning she woke up, her throat dry and caked tears streaking from the corners of her eyes. but she had to tell misako and wu when she woke them up screaming in the middle of the night, the first time anyone else had heard her nightmares.

“nya?” misako rushed in first to see nya shot up in bed, gasping for air. misako put the back of her hand on nya’s forehead. “you’re burning.”

there was a small tub of water and a washcloth on the side table next to her bed, and misako wet and wrung the towel before leaning nya back gently and placing the rag on her forehead. nya’s eyes were still wide open, and she didn’t have to look to ask —

“where’s jay?”

wu walked in, staff in hand. “jay is with the other ninjas. they needed more help. i thought you knew…” he trailed off, seeing the note next to her. nya grabbed it, and as she read it, started crying harder.

“i’ve been so horrible to jay,” she said, stuttering. “and i can’t even tell him what’s wrong.”

misako held nya’s hand, squeezing it lightly. “then maybe it’ll help if you tell us first.”

—

every time nya fell asleep, she’d find herself in her almost-wedding to nadakhan. then she would get shot, and she’d lie on the floor. when she was first getting these nightmares, she could feel jay holding her again, just as he did the first time. but that made the dreams a little too real — she needed some sense they were just dreams. she would kick him away, and he’d disappear, and she could breathe again. eventually, she stopped imagining jay holding her, and as she lay on the floor, she knew it wasn’t real because it was playing out differently from what was real, and she was able to move on.

but how could she tell jay, that now, whenever he hugged her, she felt like she was dying?

xx

part 2 here

[iamabigweirdo]

Am I the only one or is jay and nya so cute together! They are a perfect match for each other. Plus when he asked her to be his Yang..I mean come on if that wasn’t adorable enough then I don’t know what is. Such a great couple. The art is by gmlth1249 on twitter.

[razzle-zazzle]

would you still love me if i was a corpse?

7361 Words; Cleaved AU (Show)

TW for discussions of death and allusions to corpsehood, brief moment of self-harm and tiny mention of blood

AO3 ver

Silence.

Only moments before, the night had been a riot of light and noise. The humming vibrations of the Rift of Return, the howling winds, the screaming light dancing across the sky—the ninja could feel the magic in the air vibrating in their bones, the Destiny’s Bounty shuddering against winds too powerful to cross over.

All of that was gone now. Silence reigned, and even the moonlight itself seemed to have been snuffed now that the Rift had closed. Only moments before the Bounty had been groaning and shivering with the impending crash against the floating island, and now—

Silence.

Silence, as Zane picked himself up and Pixal ran a systems diagnostic in the background. Silence, as the ninja disembarked from the Bounty onto the island. Silence, as the now-human former students of Yang milled about in the yard in confusion.

Silence, as Cole failed to appear.

Despite having the memory of a computer, Zane still had the heart of a human. Metaphorically speaking, of course—his physical heart was made of metals and wires. But his emotions were fully human, something the nindroid took pride in. Right now, as he replayed his memory of the night up to the point where the Rift’s closing had made everything fuzzy, those emotions were a chaotic riot of worry. Was everyone okay? What had happened to Yang? Was Cole okay?

“Where’s Cole?” Jay was the first to speak, the first to voice the fear everyone was feeling. He looked around at the Temple’s former students as though Cole would be standing among them—but Pixal had already run facial recognition. Cole was not there.

“He can’t be gone.” Kai argued softly. “It’s—it’s Cole. He’s gotta be around here somewhere.” He unsheathed his sword and squeezed the handle tightly. Zane could at least assuage his worry regarding the safety of the others—a quick scan revealed that nobody was the worse for wear despite being thrown about the Bounty.

“Guys, the temple!” Lloyd pointed, as the previously run-down Temple of Airjitsu suddenly revitalized. Withered trees grew full leaves, cracks mended over, and any debris covering the temple walls or roof seemed to melt away.

“It’s been restored to its former glory.” Wu commented, stroking his beard.

“If the temple’s back, then Cole—Cole had to have made it through, right?” Jay asked, leaning against Nya for support. “Even though he went through at the last second, and the RIFT CLOSING could have CUT HIM IN HALF OR OR—” Jay cut off as Nya grabbed his arm. He swallowed.

“This island’s not that big,” Nya started, “Cole’s probably on the other side of the temple, just fine.” Despite her words, Zane noted that her face was creased with worry.

“Yeah!” Kai added, already walking towards the temple, “Less talking, more searching! Cole’s gotta be around here somewhere.” And with that, the whole group spread out, making their way around the temple while calling out for Cole. Despite Nya’s words, the floating island was still large enough to house the Temple of Airjitsu and a sizable chunk of surrounding land—the addition of leaves to the flora didn’t help, either. Still, it would not take long to cover the whole island, and indeed, Pixal picked up on a heartbeat just past a copse of bushes. Zane walked around the foliage—

And there was Cole, sitting down in the dirt, hands cupped around the petals of a flower rooted before him. Zane called out to the others—not that they were very far away. Jay was the first to get there, falling to his knees and flinging his arms over Cole’s shoulders as he exclaimed wordlessly.

Cole blinked. The rest of the group was quick to crowd around him. Zane found himself pressed up against Cole’s side, helping him to stand. Relief flooded his circuits, even as some small part of him in the back of his mind stung with bitterness at once again being the only unaging ninja. He shoved that part down—it was more important that Cole was here and alive again, heartbeat and breathing steady and present.

Crushed flower petals fluttered to the ground as Cole stumbled forwards. Pixal made a noise at the detail, but otherwise said nothing. Zane pressed his face into Cole’s shoulder, amazed at how solid it was. Cole was alive!

Zane supposed it should have been obvious, then and there—but crushed petals fluttering to the ground were as easily brushed off as the blank look in Cole’s eyes, any and all notice swept under the rug of relief over his return to corporeality. Cole was quiet all the way to Destiny’s Bounty—surely, going through the Rift of Return after everything else had simply left him exhausted, and he would have all the energy he’d need to regale them with the animated tale of his victory the coming morning.

In the corner of Zane’s vision, Pixal frowned slightly.

+=+=+=+=+

“Now that you are finally able to taste again,” Zane started as he monitored the pancakes cooking before him. “I believe a celebration is in order. It’s no cake, but,” Zane paused to flip the pancakes, pleased to see they were at the perfect shade of golden-brown, “I know how much you’ve missed chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes!” With more syrup and whipped cream than Zane would ever recommend, but this was hardly the time to grudge Cole’s sweet tooth.

“Fuck yeah!” Lloyd cheered from where he was sitting beside Cole at the table. He nudged Cole with his arm, grinning widely. “I bet I can eat more cakes than you.” He teased. Zane fought to keep a chuckle escaping his throat as Kai and Jay immediately turned it into a full-fledged bet and then picked sides, while Nya laughed and declared them all idiots.

Cole grunted, staring straight ahead.

Jay chuckled uneasily. “Guess you’re still tired, huh?”

Any further conversation was halted as Zane flipped the pancakes out of the pan and onto plates for everyone. Fluffy golden-brown deliciousness dotted with blueberries and chocolate chips, two on each plate. Zane set them out before taking the seat across from Cole. Zane beamed; Cole stared.

Lloyd snatched the syrup and whipped cream, wasting no time in rendering his plate a sugar-covered mess. Jay grabbed the whipped cream next while Kai reached for the syrup—Nya didn’t reach for either, instead opting to draw the very syrup that Kai was attempting to drizzle onto his plate over to hers with her powers. Wu took a sip of his tea as the usual breakfast chatter started to emerge.

Except… “Cole, is something wrong?” He hadn’t moved to grab the syrup or whipped cream—in fact, Cole had barely moved at all, just… sitting there.

“‘M fine.” Cole mumbled, lifting his arm. Everyone leaned in as Cole reached for the syrup. Zane was particularly anxious for Cole’s approval—the loss of taste had led to Cole withdrawing from meals, and was a large sore spot for him. It would be so nice to see him indulging his sweet tooth again, to see Cole at the table with the rest of them instead of his empty seat.

The bottle slipped from Cole’s fingers. He moved to grab it again—it wobbled dangerously before tipping over, and Cole stared at it in what might have been mortification.

“Here, lemme just—” Lloyd grabbed the syrup and all but drowned Cole’s plate in it—just the way Cole used to like it. Cole’s hand landed on his fork as Lloyd applied the whipped cream until their plates matched in unholy sweetness. “Go ahead,” Lloyd nudged Cole, “enjoy being human again!”

Cole picked up the fork. With some difficulty, he lifted a piece of pancake, soaked with syrup and crowned with whipped cream. Everyone watched as Cole took that first bite, eager to see his reaction.

Cole dropped the fork. His face pinched—he swallowed.

Zane froze. Did—he didn’t mess up on the pancakes, did he? He made them the same as he always did—he took a bite from his own to confirm, and indeed, they tasted the same as always—

But Cole looked like he had just swallowed poison. He stared down at his plate like—like it had personally offended him—something Zane had never, in any memory he or Pixal could pull up, seen Cole do.

“Buddy, you okay?” Kai asked, placing a hand on Cole’s shoulder.

Cole jerked at the unexpected touch. He stood, pushing the plate away. “Sweet.” He mumbled, turning around and leaving. Zane watched as he left—it almost looked like Cole stumbled before he was out of view.

Ice crept across the table. Zane sat still as a statue, frost clinging to his fingers. He hadn’t made the pancakes wrong. What had just—Cole had never, in any of Zane’s memory banks—never ever—reacted like that to food. Being the Master of Earth allowed Cole to eat near anything with no problem—Zane had seen him eating peanuts, shells and all, biting through utensils on accident—and though he hadn’t been there, he had at least heard of Cole eating an explosive fortune cookie. Cole did not shy away from food of any description. The only time he had ever avoided eating was when—

Was when he was a ghost.

“—was that?” Zane came back into awareness to the sound of Jay speaking. Kai was blowing fire onto the table in precise streams—Zane realized, with some mortification, that he had coated nearly the entire table top in frost. He had let his emotions get the better of him, it seemed.

Wu hummed, stroking his beard. “It’s possible that after so long without taste, such a strong flavor would be overwhelming.” He suggested. “Perhaps Cole simply needs more time to adjust.”

That… would make sense. Zane couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that.

Of course none of you thought of that. Pixal said. Your excitement at Cole’s newfound humanity overrode any concerns at the adjustment. You really do care for Cole.

Zane chuckled internally. It was true, he had been excited. It had been too long since Cole had enjoyed Zane’s cooking.

Zane frowned as he looked back at the door. It seemed he would have to wait a little longer for that. He looked at Cole’s plate, almost entirely untouched, then at his own.

Zane didn’t feel hungry anymore.

+=+=+=+=+

Lloyd pushed the door open as gently as he could manage. He had kind of knocked, but also not really—not that it mattered, since Cole was just lying flat on his bunk staring at the ceiling.

“Heyyy,” Lloyd greeted, pausing awkwardly in the threshold. “You, uh, doing okay?” Ohhh, he was not good at this. This was something Kai should be doing, not Lloyd. But it was Kai’s turn to handle dishes today, and that always took him forever because he’d spend at least half an hour trying to get Nya or Zane to help. So Lloyd figured he could be the responsible leader that destiny wanted him to be, for once, and check in on Cole.

Lloyd closed the door behind him and leaned against it. “Sorry about earlier.” He said, for lack of anything else to start the conversation with. “Guess we should have realized that much sugar would be pretty intense for you after so long without…” He chuckled weakly.

Cole’s head lifted to peer at Lloyd. He was lying supine on his bunk, arms uncharacteristically straight at his sides. It wasn’t at all what Lloyd expected—Cole had always been more of a face-down or on-his-side guy when he was moping. Lloyd was pretty familiar with it, seeing how prone Cole was to depressive spells—especially as a ghost.

Like this, Cole looked stiff. Lifeless, even—wait, no, scratch that, that was an awful word to use.

The point is that it didn’t look natural. Cole’s head fell back onto the comforter—he wasn’t even using the pillow, what was going on—and he sighed.

“It’s Kai’s turn on dishes today.” Lloyd tried, slowly walking over towards the bed. “I bet he’s still begging Nya to use her powers to help him.” Any other chore, Kai could and would do, but dishes were like, his mortal enemy chore or something. Lloyd got it, though—dishes sucked. He brightened as he sat down on the edge, just inches from Cole. “Hey, now that you’re human again, you’ll probably have to do dishes soon!”

…Why did Lloyd say that? Was he stupid? Way to go, Garmadon, master of conversations here. Lloyd buried his face in his hands with a groan. “Shit, sorry, that was stupid—”

“I’ll probably break them.” Cole muttered.

Lloyd lifted his head to look at Cole. His expression had not changed, he hadn’t moved—Lloyd wasn’t entirely sure he had spoken at all. That uncertainty must have shown on his face, though, because moments later Cole clarified, “The dishes.”

“Oh.” Lloyd nodded. “‘Cause you’d try too hard to grab ‘em?” He asked, before pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. What a stupid question.

“Hmmm.” Cole responded.

Lloyd winced. Wow, this was going great (it wasn’t)!

They sat there in silence, Cole staring at the ceiling while Lloyd marveled at the complete and utter lack of green across his skin. No more glowing in the dark for Cole, it seemed—good.

“We really are glad to have you back—not that you ever really left us in the first place!” Lloyd hastily added. “But I mean it—it’s great that you’re human again.” He placed a hand on Cole’s, smiling at the solidity of it. “That you’re you again.”

Cole jerked his hand away, face pinched. He rolled over onto his side, his back to Lloyd.

“Yeah.” Lloyd’s shoulders hunched. “Good talk.” He stood as Cole scooted further away, fighting to keep his voice from cracking. “Look, whenever—if you ever need—if—” He growled, nails digging into his palms. “We’re here for you no matter what, okay?” His words felt so hollow. Lloyd felt hollow, a pale imitation of everything he was supposed to be. He couldn’t even comfort his friend without somehow screwing it all up. What a joke.

He wondered if that was how Cole had felt as a ghost.

“Sounds like Jay’s starting up a video game.” Lloyd tried, ears twitching. “Wanna come backseat game him?”

Cole didn’t respond.

“Okay.” Lloyd opened the door slowly, casting one last look back at Cole. “Whenever you’re ready, we’ll be there for you.” Readjusting to being human must be way harder than they were all expecting. That, or Lloyd really did suck at comforting. There was no way Cole wasn’t devastated by his reaction to breakfast, Lloyd knew—ugh, if only it was Kai coming in here doing the comforting. He’d have had Cole sitting up and laughing again in a heartbeat.

Lloyd closed the door behind him with a grimace. Maybe Cole just needed some time. Lloyd couldn’t really imagine how devastated he’d be if he finally got the ability to taste again only for his first bite of something sweet to be too much. Yeah, Cole probably just needed some time. Kai would probably go in there if Cole was still moping at lunch time, and Cole would come back to the table to eat lunch and it’d all be fine. Yeah.

Yeah. Just fine.

+=+=+=+=+

“Dude, just go left!”

“No way!” Jay protested, continuing to move his character across the parkour. “I know what I’m doing!” His character then proceeded to miss the jump and fall onto the spikes. Kai and Lloyd shared a look.

“Suuuuure.” Kai’s doubt was palpable. “Just know that when you die for a stupid gold brick I will be saying I told you so.” And taking the controller, too—they didn’t play on “til death” rules regarding turns that often, since someone—Kai—tended to end up with shorter turns that way. But Zane was busy meditating with Wu after what happened at breakfast, and Nya was out training in the yard, and none of the boys assembled before the tv wanted to set up the timer themselves. They could have been playing a co-op game, or even just any old multiplayer, but Jay had gotten there first and this was the game he’d chosen.

If he was making more mistakes than usual because of stress or whatever, neither Kai nor Lloyd commented on it. Which was all the better, because Jay was not making stupid mistakes, not at all. This game was just unusually hard today. For some reason.

“You don’t need to get every gold brick.” Kai was saying, proving why he wasn’t the gamer of the group. “Just go left!”

“Absolutely not.” Jay said, finally making the parkour necessary to reach the hidden area. “Look at that! Badges! It’s totally worth it to explore.” He grabbed the collectibles, including the gold brick, and maneuvered his character back onto the main path. “Besides,” he added, “There’s no way I’m taking advice from the guy who always loses at Brawl.”

“He’s got you there.” Lloyd poked Kai in the side, prompting Kai to shove him away with a hand on his face. Lloyd retaliated by blowing a raspberry into Kai’s hand, and Kai gasped in disgust while yanking his hand away and it was getting really hard for Jay to concentrate with those two play fighting in the background, could they just let him game in peace—

“Hey.”

Jay yelped, nearly dropping the controller. He recovered, narrowly avoiding an onscreen enemy and hitting the pause button. Kai and Lloyd had gone quiet behind him.

Cole stood in the doorway before stepping forwards. He stumbled, caught himself, and grabbed the arm of the couch as though he might fall over. Kai scooted over, and Cole lowered himself down onto the couch.

“Cole!” Okay, near in-game loss aside, Jay was happy to see Cole up and about. “You feeling better?” Jay really hoped that Cole didn’t have any other problems adjusting to being human again—adjusting to being a ghost had been bad enough, and Jay felt the universe owed them all a win at this point.

“Not really.” Cole grunted, eyes fixated on the screen.

“Oh.” An awkward silence descended upon the room. Jay turned back to the game and unpaused it, letting the music and sound effects fill the silence. Cole became a weirdly looming presence behind him, prompting Jay to turn around several times. But nothing changed in Cole’s posture or expression, no matter how many times Jay glanced back at him. It was… weird.

“Soooo,” Lloyd said, more to fill the silence than anything, “Gaming! That’s fun, right? This is fun!” But the energy from earlier was already lost, and Jay felt like a jerk for it. Cole was human again. They should all be able to go back to annoying each other with backseat gaming and play fighting on the couch. Just because Cole was acting way off—

“I’m pretty sure I’m dead.”

Jay almost dropped his controller, fumbling to catch it and navigating back to the menu in the process.

Cole’s expression did not change, despite the ominous statement. Everyone was staring at him now, ranging from confusion to concern.

“Uh,” Kai started, “What gave you that idea, buddy?” He leaned forwards, placing a hand on Cole’s arm. Lloyd noticed—with some bitterness—that Cole didn’t jerk away from the contact.

Cole said nothing.

The silence stretched on.

“Ha,” Jay started, grasping for a change in subject, “Remember when we were fighting over Nya? Man, those were the days. We were both being so stupid over it…” He swallowed, and looked Cole dead in the eyes. “I’m just glad to have you back.”

Cole stared blankly. “I don’t remember that.” He said, with all the energy of a sloth.

“Oh.” Jay gripped the controller a little more tightly than necessary as his character took an unnecessary hit. “Like, not even a little?” They had joked about wanting to put the whole incident behind and forget it, but—no, surely Jay was just misreading an attempt at a joke.

“Well,” Kai interjected, “I know you remember winning the Ninjago Talent Show with the Triple Tiger Sashay to get the Fang Blade. Right?” He cast a hopeful look Cole’s way—surely, he had to remember the day he got his true potential.

Cole blinked. “I did that?” He barely even sounded interested.

Jay stared at the screen—in his distraction, he’d hit a game over. Kai and Lloyd’s faces fell.

“Cole…” Lloyd began, “What do you remember?” He knew how to walk and talk, so he clearly hadn’t forgotten everything—

“Dying.” Cole was staring up at the ceiling, now. “Dropping the scroll.” His expression didn’t change. “Last night.” He added, after a moment’s thought. “This morning, too.”

“And that’s… all you remember?” Jay asked. C’mon, this wasn’t funny!

Cole’s blank stare was answer enough. Jay broke the eye contact first, staring down at his controller. The game’s menu theme buzzed against his skull. It felt like an omen.

“Hey, isn’t it Kai’s turn?” Lloyd asked. It was, because Jay had hit a game over, but—

“I think Cole’s memory loss is more important.” Kai sounded pained. “What do you mean, you only remember dying?” He grabbed Cole’s shoulders. “You’re not dead.”

Jay nearly threw the controller to the floor. “Yeah! You—you went through the Rift of Return!” He was kneeling before Cole, who looked like a deer in headlights under everyone’s attention, Kai’s hands on his shoulder and Jay’s hands on his knees and Lloyd leaning in from the other side of Kai. “You’re alive! You’re here!” No, no, this wasn’t—Cole was gonna be okay. He would.

Cole blinked.

“Uh…” Nya’s voice broke the tension. “What did we just walk in on?” And indeed, Zane and Wu were behind her, peering into the room with near identical expressions of perplexion.

As one, Kai, Jay, and Lloyd turned their attention to the doorway. “Cole doesn’t remember anything!” Jay yelled through eyes starting to prick with tears.

Nya’s face fell. Zane’s expression melted into naked worry, and Wu began to stroke his beard. “Is this true?” He asked, though the expressions on everyone’s faces was answer enough. “Perhaps going through the Rift at the last second had… consequences.” Wu suggested, stroking his beard.

Heat pricked up in the air around Kai. The tv screen flickered, and Jay twitched. Wu sidled away from Zane as the air around him dropped slightly in temperature.

Cole looked about helplessly, before moving to pry Kai and Jay off of himself.

“Well, whatever!” Nya declared. She pointed directly at Cole. “We’ll just have to make new memories!” The confidence in her voice didn’t quite match the storm in her eyes.

“Yeah.” Lloyd agreed. He turned to Cole. “And maybe your old memories will come back someday.” It sounded more like a question, when he said it—but nobody challenged the notion. Wu even hummed in what might have been agreement—and if anyone would know, it’d be Sensei Wu.

Jay breathed, staring up at Cole. All of their history, from the stupid parts to the best parts—all of it was forgotten, just like that. It was almost akin to the night after Nadhakhan’s defeat, when only he and Nya could recall the entire experience; it had been jarring, to have memories that the others didn’t. But this… no, Jay wasn’t going to think like that. Cole was human again, and that was all that mattered.

It would get better. It had to.

+=+=+=+=+

Things did not get better. Cole did not get better.

If anything, he was getting worse. He was barely eating, he seemed to stumble every other step—Kai was pretty certain he wasn’t sleeping, either. He wasn’t forgetting anything that happened since the Rift, but—it was almost like he just didn’t care, no matter what it was. Kai hated that. He wished Yang was still around so he could punch his stupid face. He wished Cole had made it through the Rift intact.

Kai wished for a lot of things he couldn’t have, really.

It all came to a head when Kai found Cole in the bathroom at—well, Kai didn’t know the exact time, just that the sun wasn’t due to rise for another hour or more—at ass o’clock in the morning, standing in front of the sink with the water on full blast, hand in the spray.

Kai almost didn’t notice him there—but he could have sworn that Cole’s reflection had a soft glow to it in the unlit bathroom. At the sight of what looked like glowing green eyes in the mirror, Kai choked, flailing for the light switch.

The light was blinding. The water continued to pour as Kai stumbled back, moving to cover his eyes against the sudden onslaught he’d brought upon himself. Cole didn’t move at all in the time it took Kai to recover his ability to see.

In the bright light of the bathroom, any glow that Cole may have had was gone. It was probably just a trick of the light, if Kai thought about it. Cole wasn’t a ghost anymore—there was no reason for him to be glowing.

“Heeeey buddy.” Kai gripped the door frame as casually as he could manage. Cole stared back at him blankly, water still going. “Uh, whatcha doing with that water?” Man, what would it take to be able to piss in peace on this ship? There was always something.

“It doesn’t hurt.” Cole said, turning his attention back to the sink.

Kai chuckled awkwardly. “Course it doesn’t, Cole. You’re not a ghost anymore.” He walked over and reached for the faucet. “C’mon, let’s turn it off before Sensei gets on our asses for wasting water.”

“It’s supposed to hurt.” Cole said, as Kai gently pulled his hand away and turned off the water. “I’m dead—it’s supposed to—”

“Whoa, whoa, hey.” Kai grabbed Cole’s shoulder, looking him directly in the eyes. “You’re not dead, Cole.” His eyes narrowed as he spoke, something like frustration creeping into his throat. “Remember? You went through the Rift of Return?” He wrapped his arm around Cole’s shoulders and started to drag him towards the door. Pissing could wait… apparently.

“I…” Cole’s brow creased. “I did do that, didn’t I?” He stumbled on nothing, his full weight swinging into Kai as he lost his footing.

“Yeah,” Kai grunted as he caught Cole. “Let’s get you to bed, okay? Since you’re alive and all, and you need to sleep just like the rest of us—”

Cole jerked away, leaning against the wall. “But I’m not.” He whispered. “I’m not alive.”

“Cole.” Kai hissed. “This isn’t funny.” The memory loss was one thing, and the lack of appetite or interest was another. But this—this strange insistence on death, when Cole was right there, was starting to get on Kai’s nerves.

“I’m dead.” Cole repeated, hand grasping at the wall he was leaning against. It landed on a door handle, and Kai could only lunge forwards uselessly as Cole tumbled backwards into whatever room he had opened. Kai landed between Cole’s legs, the wooden floor rough against his palms. Cole scoot-crawled backwards—in the low light of this new room, his skin seemed to take on a very faint glow.

More than that, Cole looked scared.

“You all want me to be something I can’t.” Cole moaned, grasping blindly behind him and shoving his foot against Kai’s chest. “You want—you want me to be him.” Kai shoved Cole’s leg to the side and scrambled forwards, intent on scooping Cole up into a hug until he came down from whatever was making him freak out so badly.

“But I can’t be him.” Cole was saying, scrambling backwards and upwards until he was leaning against—a counter, it looked like—were they in the kitchen? “I can’t be him, because he’s dead and gone.”

“Cole—” Kai grunted, “Just because—” Cole’s hand shoved at his chest, and Kai stumbled backwards several steps before regaining his footing. “Just because you can’t remember who you were before doesn’t mean you’re dead.” Okay, so subduing Cole was a no-go. Kai raised his hands nonthreateningly, fighting down the urge to spark. “C’mon buddy, let’s just… calm down, and take a deep breath, okay?” He took another step back, but Cole didn’t relax.

“He’s dead.” Cole muttered, still pressed as firmly against the counter as he could be.

“But you’re not.” Kai insisted. Fuck, he was never good at deescalating—that had always been Lloyd’s talent, not Kai’s. “Look, it’s late, you haven’t really been sleeping—” Kai also hadn’t slept super great, if he was being honest. “Let’s just take a deep breath, okay? Get some sleep, buddy, you’re too tired to think straight right now.” Before becoming a tireless ghost, Cole would have made a joke about never being able to think straight. But Cole only stared back at Kai, hand grasping at something on the counter. With only what little light from the bathroom made it down the hall and into the room, Kai couldn’t quite tell what Cole had grabbed.

“No, you don’t understand.” Cole breathed. Was it just a trick of the light, or were his eyes glowing faintly? “Cole is dead.” He swung whatever he had grabbed forwards, his other hand moving to meet it. “I’m just the corpse.”

Kai lunged forwards the moment he registered what Cole was holding. He grabbed at Cole’s wrists—but the knife had already been plunged into Cole’s hand, sticking straight through to the other side. It looked like one of their good steak knives, too.

Kai wasn’t thinking. He tore Cole’s hands apart, yanking the knife out without a second thought about the potential bloodloss. “Fuck fuck fuck—” He cradled Cole’s injured hand in his own, almost dizzy with panic.

“I’m dead.” Cole repeated, voice oddly even given the knife wound in his hand. “I shouldn’t be here. Not like this.”

“Shut up.” Kai hissed. Fuck, where were the bandages? Not in the kitchen—the supply closet? The bedroom? Fuck, he should try yelling to wake everyone else up—

The tiniest trickle of blood traced a line in Cole’s palm. Kai grabbed Cole by the arm and began to physically drag him out of the kitchen, to where one of the medkits should be.

Pissing could definitely wait.

+=+=+=+=+

“Don’t mess with your bandage.” Nya warned, voice tired. Cole looked as miserable as everyone felt, sitting curled up in his bunk. Dark bags had formed under his eyes, and his hand was still bandaged from when he had stabbed it the night previous.

Honestly, Nya didn’t know what had gotten into him. It was almost heartbreaking, to see someone who had always been so strong and steadfast looking like he might fall apart at any moment. Cole hadn’t been eating, he clearly hadn’t been sleeping—he looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here, curled up on his bunk being watched in case he tried something else drastic. The lack of food and rest had taken its toll on his body, leaving his skin looking almost discolored. If Nya thought about it, it almost looked tinted green.

But that was just a trick of the light, because Cole was alive. He had just barely eaten or slept for two weeks. That was all.

Not that that was good in any sense, but—Cole was alive. He wasn’t a ghost anymore. He just wasn’t.

“What’s the point?” Cole grumbled, tugging at the bandage. Nya glared. He stared back and didn’t stop messing with it. “I’m already dead.” His insistence on that fact had gone from annoying to worrying all the way back around to frustrating, but no arguing otherwise could convince him. Even though he had a heartbeat, even though Nya could still see his chest rising and falling, however slight—whatever had afflicted Cole—whatever had taken his memories and scraped him of seemingly everything that made him Cole—had him convinced he was dead.

“Dead.” Cole repeated. “Dead, dead, I’m dead and gone.”

“Cole, shut up.” Nya hissed. “Don’t talk like that. We’ll fix this.” They did not go through the Great Devourer, the Overlord, Chen’s cult, the Preeminent, and Nadhakhan just to give up now. There would be a way through this. There had to be. And they’d find it, no matter what, because ninja never quit.

“He’s dead,” Cole said, ignoring Nya. “Dead and gone, dead and gone.”

“SHUT UP!” Nya huffed, leaning forwards. “You’re not dead! I can see you breathing!” She poked his chest, “You have a heartb—” Wait.

That… didn’t feel right. Nya pressed her fingers against Cole’s chest, feeling it through the shirt—

That… that didn’t feel normal. Nya pulled down the hem of Cole’s shirt, revealing just enough of his chest to see—

Nya let go like the shirt had burned her, and Cole stumbled back. She could have sworn that it looked like—but there was no way. It just—it couldn’t—

Nya grabbed at Cole’s shirt and pulled down the hem again. The shirt couldn’t actually stretch very far, so the moment Nya saw the flash of green again she switched tactics to just grabbing the bottom hem and shoving the whole shirt up onto Cole’s shoulders. Cole barely reacted at all—not that Nya noticed, when all of her attention was locked onto the glowing green gash covering Cole’s chest. It throbbed in time with the rise and fall of Cole’s chest, shimmering with unearthly energy.

Had that been there the whole time? Nya racked her brain, trying to remember any point in the last two weeks where someone—anyone—would have seen Cole shirtless. He hadn’t really changed out of his gi that first night, having been too tired… and everyone but Wu’s bunks were all in the same room, Nya included. Not once could she remember Cole changing without facing the wall.

The green gash seemed to flare, pale light dancing through it. It extended from just above Cole’s collarbone down to his stomach, jagged and ugly and rotting. Nya took the only course of action available to her. She opened her mouth, took a breath, pitched her voice—

—and screamed.

+=+=+=+=+

Everyone was crowded into the bedroom within moments, staring at the bright green gash across Cole’s chest in varying states of horror.

“That’s not natural.” Jay began to panic. “Anyone else notice that that’s not natural? Because thAT’S NOT NATURAL! IT’S A GIANT GREEN THING IN COLE’S CHEST!” Nya grabbed his arm, and Jay cut off with a gasp, still staring at the glowing green gash.

“This is a terrible omen.” Wu’s voice was thick with worry.

“You know what this is?” Lloyd asked, glancing at Wu before going back to staring at Cole’s chest gash thing.

“There is a rift in his heart.” Wu stroked his beard as he spoke. “Something has been torn from him, and unless it can be returned…” He let the words hang in the air, but the implication was clear. Cole wouldn’t be Cole until he was whole again. If he could be whole again.

“So how do we find this something?” Kai asked, gripping the hilt of his sword.

Wu sighed. “I… am not certain.” He admitted. “It is possible that whatever has been torn from Cole no longer exists to be found.” His voice creaked as he spoke, brow pinched in worry, nails quickly turning to claws carding through his beard.

“That’s not good enough.” Nya spat. “Whatever’s wrong—we’ll fix it.” We have to went unsaid.

“But how?” Jay’s voice was reaching a very high pitch. “Where would we even start?”

“Yang’s the one who cursed him in the first place.” Kai hissed Yang’s name like it was poison.

“But Yang disappeared when the temple restored itself!” Jay argued back. “And all his students went off to who-knows-where!”

Cole had pulled his shirt back down, covering the rift. “He’s gone.” He said, staring blankly at nothing. “Just give up and bury me already.”

“Absolutely not!” Kai snarled. “Ninja never quit!”

Jay stumbled forwards, hands trembling. “Please,” He gripped Cole’s shirt with white-knuckled fists, the fabric bunched in his hands. “I just want my friend back.”

Cole had nothing to say to that.

“We need to start looking somewhere.” Zane interjected into the silence. Everyone looked at each other, as if a suggestion might miraculously appear.

“We gotta go back to where it all started.” Lloyd suggested. “To the temple, and the rift.”

“But didn’t Cole shatter the Yin Blade?” Jay pointed out. “And without a Yin-Yang Eclipse, there’s no way to open the Rift of Return anyway!”

“It’s our only starting point.” Nya argued. “It’s where Cole was cleaved.” She clasped Jay’s hand in hers, grim determination etched into her face.

Jay swallowed. “Right.” He clenched his hands into fists, static sparks dancing over his knuckles.

“Let’s start getting some answers.”

+=+=+=+=+

The sun was dipping below the horizon as the Temple of Airjitsu came into view. The Bounty pulled up alongside it as the last slivers of light clung to the horizon. Slowly, the Bounty parked—Jay couldn’t stop his leg jittering with impatience as the gangplank extended to the floating island.

Why was this place still floating anyway? Jay hoped this wasn’t some kind of sign that Nadhakhan would return someday. Facing the Djinn once was more than enough.

“Alright, we’re here.” Kai broke the silence as everyone made their way across the gangplank, Cole following along behind Zane. “Now what?”

“Go into the temple, I guess.” Lloyd suggested. “We can start looking for answers there.”

With that, they all headed towards the temple. Lloyd reached for the doors—they swung open seemingly on their own.

“Oookay, that’s creepy.” Jay commented.

“Seems this place isn’t as empty as we thought.” Kai gripped the hilt of his sword anxiously. “Let’s stick together.” He added, to general agreement.

They all made it just inside the entryway when the floorboards creaked ominously. Candles set along the edges of the room that hadn’t been there before suddenly flickered to life, bathing the whole group in gentle golden light.

And there, standing just in front of the stairs, was the pale ghost of Kodakuna Yang.

“You!” Kai lunged forwards, but Yang simply sidestepped him.

“There’s no time for petty squabbles.” Yang hissed. “Your friend is unwell.”

Indeed, whatever was going on with Cole’s chest had suddenly escalated, green glow starting to eat through the fabric of his shirt.

“Do you see the new moon? Do you feel the winds starting to build?” Yang asked, walking in a circle around the group. Indeed, there was hardly any moonlight coming in through the open door—but wind was already creeping in, making the candle flames flicker erratically.

“Whatever you’re trying—” Kai started, stopping when Yang raised a hand.

“I’m not doing any of this.” Yang said. “Something else is acting upon the world, trying to get in.” He gestured to the floor, where the ninja had unknowingly smudged a massive circle. “Something that sings of earth.”

“How are we supposed to believe you?” Nya demanded, water swirling around her hands.

“You have no reason to, it’s true.” Yang admitted. “But Cole helped me come to terms on the Day of the Departed. I only wish to return the favor.”

The wind began to really pick up, now, despite the fact that the ninja were inside.

“You have to close the circle.” Yang urged. “Or your friend could be forever lost!”

The ninja erupted into a cacophony of noise. Could they trust Yang? When he was the person to turn Cole into a ghost in the first place? What choice did they have? What if it was a trick? What did they have to lose?

It was Cole who settled the argument, walking to the center of the circle. He bent down, gently touching the paint lines—green light traced its way out from his fingers, matching the green light of the rift on his chest.

The winds blasted into the temple, now, putting out half the candles in the process. The roaring din shoved all of the ninja to the floor. When they picked themselves up, they were scattered across the room—except for Cole, who stood unmoving in the center of the circle.

There seemed to be little other choice. They had to close the circle.

“Kai!” Lloyd yelled, “Relight those candles!”

“On it!” Kai started blasting thin streams of fire out at the candles. The winds tore at his fire, but he adjusted and pushed more into the fire springing forth from his hands.

Nya and Zane moved without needing to be told, Nya re-wetting the paint and directing it to rebuild the circle; Zane froze the lines in place the moment the green glow spread through them.

Another blast of wind rattled the temple. Outside, the moon became a riot of colors. Everyone stumbled to the floor, fighting against the winds to stand again.

“Close the circle!” Lloyd urged, fighting to stand despite the winds.

“But what if it’s not a good idea?!” Jay asked, only faring slightly better.

“It’s the only idea we’ve got!” Kai responded, shooting flames at the final unlit candles. Zane froze the final section.

Silence.

The wind wailed as the circle began to glow in earnest, Cole standing in the center of it. Kai’s hands burst into brilliant scarlet flame—and as he looked around at everyone, he could see their elements forming around their hands. By some miracle they were each standing at equal points around the circle.

The circle glowed a brilliant green.

Cole stumbled back—they all stumbled back as the glow intensified and lifted up from the ground. The air itself split open, the green glow of Cole’s chest drowned in the light. Several shapes tumbled from the hole in reality, and the green glow intensified to blinding. The winds roared, the sky screamed, the ninja all grabbed onto each other—

The shapes that had tumbled from the rift resolved into a pile of people, all groaning as they attempted to disentangle themselves. Above that, though, casting a flickering green glow matching the hole in Cole’s chest—

Jay gasped. The ghost floated forwards, staring at the body standing just before it. Holes ate through the ectoplasm of the ghost’s form, and it seemed to flicker in and out of visibility—

But it was unmistakably Cole floating there, staring at the body. Cole stumbled forwards as Ghost-Cole floated forwards, the two seemingly drawn towards each other. Both raised their left hands, tentatively reaching forwards until their fingers touched—

There was a very bright explosion.

.

Silence.

.

.

.

When the ringing finally faded from Kai’s ears, he sat up, coughing. Everyone else was picking themselves up—and the people that had fallen from the rift had been flung onto the stairs, still piled up.

Cole was kneeling in the center of the circle, staring at his hands. Was he… ?

“Cole?” Zane was the first to speak. “Are you—”

“I’m alive.” Cole breathed, as if he couldn’t quite believe it. He flexed his hands, breaths coming in harsh and fast turning into teary-eyed laughter. “I’m alive!”

It was at that point that he was dogpiled by the rest of the ninja. Cole laughed, bright and alive—as his family hung off of him, all of them cry-laughing with relief. Cole was alive. He was alive!

A jagged scar crept down the side of his head, and there was surely a similar scar across his chest. But Cole was alive, heart beating, breaths coming in and out uneven from the sheer joy of being alive again. Kai buried his face in Cole’s shoulder, pleased to feel it shaking with Cole’s overjoyed sobs.

Slowly, with great reluctance, they all untangled enough to stand. “I can’t believe it.” Cole breathed, arms slung over the shoulders of Kai and Zane—only because they were the closest. The group as a whole moved to head out to the door and regale Sensei Wu with their near-miraculous success—

“Hey, wait!” The ninja finally turned their attention to the interlopers, the bodies that had accompanied the ghost through the sudden portal—

The teenagers who bore a strong resemblance to the ninja, and were staring at them all with equal surprise. There was no mistaking the resemblance—not with the obvious color-coding.

Kai—the Kai standing next to Cole, rather than the lookalike in the pile—broke the silence first, and summed up everyone’s thoughts in the process.

“What the fuck?!”