Chapter Text
“This is so stupid, why did we let her drive?” Jay questioned the green ninja. He, Nya, the green ninja, and the young, red ninja were flying to the administration in order to find arin’s parents. Unfortunately, they were all on an unwieldly ship driven by the youngest member of their group.
“My ship, my rules!”” The red one, Wyld-something shouted to him, sticking her tongue out as she spun the wheel in a full circle.
”I’d hate to agree with the evil guy here-“ she was interrupted by ‘hey!’ from Jay, “- but this is pretty hazardous, Lloyd.” Nya remarked.
”I’m sure we’ll be fine, Wyldfyre knows how to steer a ship.” Lloyd replied. The ship almost hit a rock island floating in the sky, and he winced. “I think.”
“Ugh, I’m going to be sick.” Jay stated, covering his mouth and hurrying to the edge of the ship
”So… how are things with Jay?” Lloyd asked Nya quietly. “I’ve been training the younger ones a lot, so I haven’t caught up much with everything about him.”
“It’s… going.” She sighed, staring at Jay, who was leaning over the edge of the ship and retching. “I’ve had to change his leg bandages everyday, so I at least talked to him a lot. Sometimes he was okay, but most of the time he just got angry at me. I catch him staring a me a lot, but I don’t know what that means, he usually just pretends he wasn’t once I see him. I know he doesn’t like talking about his life before the merge, but I can’t help feeling like if I show him enough pictures, maybe it’ll jumpstart his memories or something. I don’t know,” She turned back to Lloyd and continued, “I’ll never give up on him, but I just feel hopeless right now.”
”That’s really tough.” Lloyd replied, sympathy written all over his face, “I have experience with loving evil people, but Harumi and Jay are very different situations.” They stood in silence for a few minutes, then Lloyd said, “I think you should try to be there for him, but don’t keep pushing the memories thing. Show him that you the ninja are good friends, regardless of the past. And maybe he’ll realize that you two are more than friends. Still give him space when he needs it though. Does that make sense?”
”Yeah, thanks Lloyd.” Nya smiled, “I can’t believe I’m getting love advice from my little brother.” She brought her hand to his hair and ruffled it a bunch, chuckling slightly.
”I may be younger than you, but I am the new master.” He joked, then, imitating Master Wu’s voice, said, “You must listen to me Nya, I am very wise.”
“Haha, but in all seriousness, that’s good advice, thank you.”
”No prob-“
”STEER UP!” Jay shrieked suddenly. “THERES A GIANT ROCK GOLEM THINGY THROWING A BOULDER AT US! UP! UP! UP!”
Nya fell on the deck as they suddenly swooped higher in the sky. Wyldfyre’s quick reaction had saved the ship from being split in two, the boulder instead made contact with one of the propellers and the boat started losing height and spiraling out of control. Jay released his grip on the rails and ran to Lloyd and Nya, who had regained her footing, looking startled.
”Lloyd!” Nya yelled, snatching his attention. “Go to Wyldfyre and make sure she’s okay, do not for any reason get seperated!”
Lloyd nodded and sprinted over the the stern. Wyldfyre was lying still on the wood, it was hard to tell on the spinning ship, but she seemed to be breathing. He cradled her head and gently shook her shoulders, trying to wake her up. She groggily lifted her head to look at him, rubbing her head.
Having confirmed Wyldfyre was okay, Nya snatched Jay’s arm and gripped it firmly. “Hey!” He exclaimed, trying to tear his arm from her hands. “Let go of me, lady!“
”We can’t risk getting seperated!” She argued, meeting his eyes. “If the ship goes down, we need to make sure we stay together!”
”Fine.” Jay grumbled. He wrapped his hand around her arm and searched their surroundings for more boulders.
Unfortunately, there was another one.
“Watch out!” The lighting master yelped as a smaller rock flew over the ship, heading straight towads them. He quickly backed up to avoid it, yanking Nya along with him. Jay wasn’t paying attention to where he was running, so he ended up toppling over the ship railing, accidentally pulling Nya over aswell.
They stared at each other in terror as they started free falling through the sky, both of them not having a chance to grap onto the rail.
Jay frantically began fiddling with the back of his mercenary suit with his free hand, trying to reach his metal wings. Seeing this, Nya adjusted her grip to his neck, so he could use both of his hands to release the wings. Suddenly, one side stuck out and they slowed in their fall a bit, their direction changing.
”Fuck! It’s jammed!” Jay cursed.
”We have to hold onto eachother!” Nya shouted desperately. “When one of us hits the ground, the other will be shielded!”
Jay grabbed Nya’s waist and pulled her in. This was not the time to worry about hating her, this was life or death. They held onto each other for dear life, closing their eyes, neither wanting to see the ground rapidly approaching.
Jay hit the ground with a loud thump. Nya was on top of him, and she let out an “oof” as she landed with him. All Jay feel was pain all along his back and head, he wasn’t even able to move. They lay there for a few minutes, both too stunned to move and check their surroundings.
”Owwwwww” Jay finally groaned, finding his voice.
This seemed to shock Nya into action, she rolled off of him, speaking quickly. “First Master! Jay, are you okay? I mean, obviously not, you hit the ground! I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t of just stayed still, I need to check you for injuries.” She stuck her finger next to his nose, searching his body for visible injuries as she did so.
”I’m still breathing, just in a lot of pain.” Jay grumbled quietly.
”Oh no, your wingsuit is still on your back, that must be painful to have landed with.” She grabbed it and gently slipped it off his back. Then she reached for his belt and started untying it.
”AGH!” Jay yelped, jolting up. “What are you doing, lady!?” He tried to swat her hands away from his waist, but started to fall back onto the ground, feeling dizzy.
”Calm down,” she replied, wrapping one arm around his neck to stop him from hitting his head a second time. “I just need to take your loosen your belt so I can take off your tops and take a look at your back.”
“Okay.” He said skeptically. “Just… don’t do anything weird!”
”Dont worry, I’m just checking your injuries.” Nya caught his eye, observing the fear and embarrassment on his face. “Just please try to calm down, you need to rest your body.”
Jay nodded as she laid his head back onto the ground. He hoped the blush on his cheeks was quickly receding. Nya slowly, to be gentle, removed his dark blue layer, then his light blue layer. Jay was zoning in and out of reality, feeling very lightheaded. Why is her hand so red? And why is is dripping? He thought drowsily as he caught sight of her hand.
”Shit.” Nya muttered wiping her hand in the grass. “Jay, can you hear me?”
”Hmm?” He responded.
”I don’t want to scare you, but you’re loosing a lot of blood right now, how do you feel?”
”mmm… no more pain… why is the world spinning?”
”Fuck, okay, just focus on me right now okay. Can you do that?”
”Sureeeee, you’re face is pretty.” He had a faint thought that he shouldn’t be saying that, but he couldn’t really control what was coming out of his mouth. It was all slurred nonsense.
”Why do you already have bandages wrapped around your chest?” Nya asked, half talking to herself as she unwrapped the seemingly useless bandages that were over his black undershirt.
”lookscooolllll.” Jay replied, his words blending together.
Finally, Nya started to take off his black undershirt and exposed his skin. “Alright, gonna have to flip you over so I can bandage your back.
”Hrghghh”
She gently rolled him over onto his stomach and finished removing his shirt. “Urgh this is not good.” Was all that Jay heard before his eyes closed and he fell unconscious.
Jay jerked awake to something cold touching his back. “AGHHH!” He screamed. He’d had this awful dream where he and Nya had gotten lost in a forest and he’d gotten injured and said something stupid. He couldn’t remember it all, but it was strange.
”Shhh!” Someone whisper shouted, covering his mouth with her cold, dripping hands. “Jay we don’t know what’s out here, we have to keep quiet.” She released her hands and asked, “How are you feeling?”
”Nya?” Jay turned his head to check, sure enough, it was the infuriating master of water kneeling beside him, taking care of him. So this wasn’t all a bad dream. “Cold. My back is cold and wet, and my head is throbbing.”
”No dizziness?” He shook his hand and she continued, “I managed to get your back to stop bleeding, I was just starting to clean it off when you woke up.”
”Yeah, that makes sense, I think i woke up because of something cold.” He thought for a moment, then, “By the way, did I, happen to say anything… weird earlier?”
”Like what?” She asked, raising her eyebrows and smiling slightly.
”Uhh, you know what, never mind! It’s not important.” He quickly turned his head back to the ground and heard her chuckle for a moment.
”I still have to wash your back, it’s covered in blood.” Nya told Jay. “It’s gonna be cold, but I’ll do my best to make it not hurt.”
Jay gulped and steeled himself. It’s just a bit of water, don’t be a baby. When she started rubbing his back, he froze. He was prepared for water, not for her hands on his skin. It’s not anything weird, she’s just cleaning your injuries, stop thinking about her! Jay frantically tried to focus on anything else. “How long was I asleep for?” He asked, noticing the sun close to the horizon.
”An hour or two. I organized our supplies and built a campfire, I just need your lightning to start it.” He let out a gasp of pain as she pressed on one of his wounds. “Sorry.” She added.
”I’m surprised you need to me start the fire, you’re clearly capable in the wilderness.”
”I could’ve scrapped together some way to start it, but it would’ve been a lot more work, and we’re both exhausted so figured I’d just ask you.” She smirked, twirled a finger in her hair, and asked, “Was that a compliment?”
”Oh, c’mon, don’t make it weird.” Jay replied, trying to stifle the redness in his cheeks. She was teasing him. She started laughing. He was halfway through thinking of what he could do to make her keep laughing, when he caught himself. Stop that!
“Alright, I’m done washing your wounds, now I just need to bandage them back up.” Nya dried her hands in the grass and continued, “You’ll need to sit up for this. Can you do that on your own?”
”I think so.” Jay pushed himself off of his stomach and onto his knees. He flipped over to sit on the dirt. He thought he was fine, but after a second, he started to feel faint and began tilting over backwards. Nya caught him the back of his neck and his waist. Their faces were only inches apart. They stayed like that for a few moments, both registering where they were. After forever and a bit, Nya coughed awkwardly and brought Jay back to a sitting position. She turned around to grab the bandages.
She turned back to Jay. ”What are you doing?” She asked, chuckling.
”Uh, nothing!” Jay said. He had been holding his hands to his neck and flopping around dramatically. His stupid brain had gotten lost in his thoughts again and he hadn’t seen her turn around before he could stop.
”You’re so weird.” She observed affectionately.
They sat in silence for a while, it wasn’t awkward, though, both were just lost in their own thoughts.
”Why are you helping me? I know we landed together, but you could’ve just run off, you’re not injured, after all.” Jay longed to know why she was doing this. His shattered soul was not capable of understanding.
”Because ninj-“ Nya cut herself off, “Because we asked you to come on this mission with us. Technically it’s my fault you’re like this, if I hadn’t held onto you, the wingsuit wouldn’t have been as weighed down. You probably would’ve been fine.” She hesitated for a moment, then, in a low voice, not meeting his eyes, she continued, “And, because I love you.”
Jay couldn’t think of a reply to that. Maybe he should say something about her lying about being in love, but he couldn’t bring himself to. She was taking care of him. While the average person probably would’ve ran off and left him to die, she didn’t. Even though she was probably lying about their past together, none of this seemed fake. She really did care about him.
Nya started wrapping the bandages around Jay’s waist. He tensed when she set her hands on his skin, but forced himself to relax. She continued encircling his back and finished at the bottom of his chest. Nya tied a knot and ripped off the remaining bandage.
“All done.”
“Do you want me to start the fire now? It’s getting dark.” Jay asked, leaning towards the wood she had set up.
”Yes, please.” As he lit the fire, Nya stood up and walked over to a pile of fabric. “I found a part of the bounty not far from here, it was mostly destroyed, but it had a first aid kit and emergency supplies in it.” She grabbed the fabric and walked over to him, “Here’s a blanket.”
“Thanks.” The master of lightning grabbed it from her an laid down to sleep, covering himself in the blanket. He caught sight of Nya laying a a few feet away, holding herself. “Was there only one blanket?”
”Yep.” She responded, voice wavering slightly.
”You can… Um… If you’re cold, we can share this one. It’s big and we’ll conserve body heat.” Jay was glad that it was dark now, Nya didn’t have to see whatever stupid expression was on his face. “I mean! Only if you’re cold though! It’s not-I’m not-Not asking you-“ He cut himself off before he could say anything stupid.
She shuffled over to him and took one side of the blanket, “Thank you.” The blanket was large for one person, but not for two. In order to both be under it, Jay and Nya had to be nearly touching. This was a fact that Jay was not comfortable with. “Goodnight, Jay.”
”’Night” he grunted and rolled over so his back was facing her. Jay was exhausted, but he had a feeling that sleep was a long time coming.