I posted this on Ao3, but I personally am really proud of it, so I'ma post it here. Heh.
The first part will be up now, and I'll post the second part a little later. ^^
Just assume that when Zane and Kai were put in the arena, that they didn't reveal their powers.
Jay was worried. The red petal in his hand was mocking him.
He'll never love you, and that's why you have this disease.
Every time his thought of the Master of Fire, he'd cough up a petal. One of Wu's old scrolls told him it was called Hanahaki.
This is your fault and you can't fix it.
He exited their small hideout, panicking. He had been attempting to seem cool all day, so he wouldn't seem worse than usual. He had said he accepted it. Although, he did not enjoy their predicament, being stuck in the Oni and Dragon Realm.
And here, you can't get treatment.
Jay hated the idea of removing the flower, and his feelings for Kai, but if he didn't he could would probably die. But it was impossible here to take it out, with no hospitals and such. They couldn't remove the flower here, He'd have to die- Or the other ninja would have to confess his feelings for him.
That wouldn't be possible, you're nothing.
He looked up at the moon, wondering what it would be like if the fire ninja did like him back, maybe- A coughing fit began. A single red petal fell to the ground before him. A rose? That's what he suspected. The coughing got worse and worse the more times it happened, and every time he thought of Kai.
You're going to die out here.
Jay knew that that was most likely true. But he pushed the voice to the back of his head, hoping to ignore it. Sitting down, he watched the stars until he fell asleep on the ground, right there.
Dawn was silent. The realm was quiet, their crash site empty. The Bounty still in shambles, Jay awoke on the ground. His neck was sore and and he had to pop his shoulder. There was a slight chill to the morning, the few petals around him frosty, their blood-red color taunting him.
The lightning ninja rubbed his eyes, the sun in the realm finally rising. He brushed away the offending plants, most of them blowing away in the almost eerie breeze. One stayed, sticking to his hand. He took a moment to pick it off and send it into the breeze, after the other few petals.
He stood up and made his way back to the Bounty, the chill getting through his gi. He waled up to the other ninjas and the young Wu, looking down, avoiding eye contact. Especially with Kai. No more petals right now.
"Where were you?" Cole asked, Wu beside him. Their young master had seemed to have grown up over night, he was no longer a toddler, but now a child, probably a little younger than Lloyd when they had first met them. "You weren't with at all overnight."
Jay hugged himself before looking out to where he fell asleep. He pointed to the spot where he was all night, not speaking.
Kai grunted quietly and Zane spoke. "Did you sleep out there?" His question was only answered with a shrug from the lightning ninja. "That isn't good to sleep away from a heat source in this kind of cold. Add that to sleeping on the ground in general, and that isn't very good for your health."
Jay's head whipped around to face them with a reply, but it was cut off by a fit of coughing. Nothing happened. No petals this time. He mentally sighed, eyes looking to the ninja and master by him. Cole rolled his eyes, Zane was slowly nodding, and Kai. The fire ninja looked genuinely concerned, maybe he-
Before he could cough again, and before the chance of a petal, Zane spoke up. "You're sick. If you would like, I could scan you and see what's-"
"No!" He protested, waving his hands back and forth in a feeble attempt to stop the nindroid from actually scanning him at all. "I'm fine! I'm fine! It's just a cold or something! It's okay! I'll be fine!" He stepped back, worry encasing his thoughts. Zane could probably tell that I have it. They shouldn't worry about me.
The team gave him odd looks before going on. He knew they were still worried, but he brushed it off. He wouldn't think of it. He had to find a way to survive the stupid flower.
Cole and Wu had gone off to look for food. That was fine. It just meant they had to stick together a bit more. He decided to entertain himself by pretending that a piece of wood that was a game console. It got his mind away and his eyes off of Kai.
Speaking of the fire ninja, he and Zane were working on some kind of communication device so they could contact Ninjago. Won't work. No chance. He thought, quicky correcting himself. Positive, or we won't escape. Positive...
He acted as though he wasn't listening. He really was. The worry was so much.
"So, whatcha doin Jay?" Kai's question surprised him, but he hid it as well as he could and spoke quickly.
"It's my new video game console. I built it myself." He groaned at a 'loss' before immeadiately continuing, thankfully getting Kai off of his case.
"Uh-huh... Is it working?" The fire ninja had moved over to Zane.
"It's working!" The nindroid exclaimed, the crackling in the machine turning to garbled words.
"Really? Jay? Do you believe it?"
"hm. Ain't no video game console without unlimited plays!" He had to ignore Kai. He just had to.
"You hear that?" The fire ninja spoke up.
"On my count-" The radio crackled, the words coming through.
"From Ninjago?" Jay was now near the others, watching the device. It could be possible.
Another voice broke through. "Have mark? Waylay."
Zane shook his head. "It doesn't sound like it's coming from Ninjago. It's possible we've intercepted a transmission originating from this island."
Jay's eyes widened. No. "Who do you think it is?" A wave of panic washed over him. "Oni?"
"Mark too. Waylay. Waylay now." The radio signal was stronger now.
"Who's Mark? And what's a waylay?" The fire ninja looked to the ice elemental, concern dotting his gaze.
Zane answered quickly. "A mark is another way of saying "target." And a waylay is an ambush."
Kai stepped back. "No... Ambush? They're talking about us. We gotta get out of here!"
Jay looked at Kai. "Where?"
Kai's head turned and he made eye contact with Jay. "Anywhere! Run!" Jay froze, the eye contact was enough to make him start to cough. "Jay? Are you alright?"
The lightning-holder looked up. "Go. I'll be fine." He was out of breath, and a petal was lodged in his throat. If he could just sacrifice himself...
"No! We have to go!" Kai grabbed his arm. "And I'm not leaving you behind!" They began on their dash, soon catching up to Zane. "Where are they?"
"I don't have a visual. Is Jay-" A chain wrapped around the nindroid's legs, pulling him away.
"Zane!" Jay yelled, tripping and falling, rolling into the shade underneath a rock. A small cave. From his spot he could see Kai.
Kai was standing in the middle, the fog floating in on him. "Jay! C'mon, you have to be okay, I can help you, we have to run-" A chain wrapped around him, pulling him away from the area. "No!"
The area grew eerily quiet. With the others gone, several vehicles rolled by, shaking the ground. They had missed him.
Jay was alone.
He spent a while in that hole, only a few petals to give him comfort. Eventually, he got out, the sun halfway up in the sky. He rubbed his eyes, beginning his trek across the almost endless desert. His gi torn, the lightning ninja wiped his brow, looking for food. There were dragons, oni, and whatever had taken Zane and Kai. He shuffled along, watching for tracks, or something.
Jay had cursed himself multiple times for walking away from the trail in the first place. And he wasn't going to walk back at this point. He kicked some dirt up, some of it flying into his face. Muttering, he wiped it away as best he could, feeling a slight scratch in his throat.
He pushed on, the sun sinking down to the line where the land meets the sky. It was becoming night, and he was lost.
A beach was his resting place, the cold back. Sand was in his hair, and his clothes, and it wasn't pleasant. Jay shook as much as he could off, the morning peaking once more. It had begun to rain, and he knew he had to find any tracks before they were washed away. He began his trek as soon as possible, petals following him as he walked away.
Kai and Zane were stuck. In a cage. Above an arena. They had 'defeated' the dragon from earlier and now they were watching an empty arena, waiting for another dragon that they could challenge.
Cole and Wu had been there for a little while, and had been pushed away in the crowd. So here they were, stuck.
And then there was the whole Jay deal. The boy had seemed to be sick. Staying away from and ignoring his team. And, now he was most likely lost, nowhere near any of his team. The lightning ninja was in danger with this, the oni and dragon were inhabiting the realm. What if he was hurt?
The rain had begun, drops landing around, on, and in the cage.
Kai hugged himself. This was not good.
Jay was running. Well, he had been running until he had grabbed onto a dragon. More like the dragon had grabbed him, but, whatever. He was not holding on to the dragon's leg for dear life, getting farther and farther out by the second. The lightning ninja assumed that the dragon had started the rain, it seemed to be controlling it at least.
When the dragon dipped low enough, he let go, tumbling to the ground. It hurt him, but it was nothing, looking up and seeing that there were tall pillars with what looked to be dragon skulls on top. The petals were getting worse. He was worrying about the other ninja, especially Kai. The fire elemental. The one he had fallen so helplessly in love with. The one these stupid petals were for.
Before he knew it, he was coughing up petals by the minute, the flowers falling around him, piling their way up. He passed out, the coughing ceasing. The petals still stood around him.
Little did he know, some dragon hunters had found him, along with a very concerned Cole and Wu.
"Kai! Zane!" Kai woke up to Cole yelling up at their cage. "We found Jay!"
Kai scrambled to the edge of the hanging prison. "Really?" Where was he? He just had to be okay...
"Yeah," Wu said, "But, he's not doing well. He was found almost dead really far away."
"How would that happen?" Zane asked, "He was sick before, maybe it was that?"
"I don't know, but he was surrounded by-"
"Wu, we have to get going. The people are filing in. I have no idea what they are doing, but staying over here and talking to them could blow away our cover." They walked off, leaving Zane and Kai alone.
"What are they doing?" Kai whispered to himself, "And what was Jay surrounded by?"
Iron Baron's voice boomed around the arena. "Now, you may wonder why we are back here so soon... But we found ourselves something quite interesting on our last hunt, didn't we?" Cheers were heard around them.
The man stepped off of his chair. "We found a new petal child to play with. Quite interesting, I do say so myself. And nice to know, not one of us, no one-sided love on our part. This will be fun." He nodded to someone, signalling to send the new 'friend' up.
The platform rose, revealing their 'petal child.'
"Jay!"